Now let's talk about some protocols that involve changing the chemistry of your mouth, not just immediately after meals or during brushing or flossing, but really around the clock. And one of the key protocols that I'd like to discuss is the use of an artificial sugar called xylitol. Xylitol is a very low calorie sweetener.

I can place it among the other low calorie sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, stevia, et cetera. But what's unique about xylitol is that very much like standard sugar or any kind of carbohydrate sugar, the bacteria Streptococcus mutans loves to eat xylitol. But when Streptococcus mutans eats xylitol, it doesn't, meaning it cannot produce the acid that normally would demineralize the teeth and create cavities.

In addition to that, when Streptococcus mutans eats xylitol, it kills Streptococcus mutans. So what this means is that if xylitol is present in the oral cavity after a meal, say in the minutes and hours after a meal, then any Streptococcus mutans that happens to be there is going to preferentially feed on the xylitol, not other sugars, and it won't be able to release acid.

And because xylitol can actually inhibit the growth, and that is the proliferation of more Streptococcus mutans, we've got a twofer. We've got a situation where Streptococcus mutans can't release acid to demineralize the teeth and potentially cause cavities, and the total amount of Streptococcus mutans that can grow, that can proliferate in what are called colonies, literally the bacteria colonizes on the teeth and that forming that biofilm, well, then that can't happen.

So xylitol is a very potent tool for improving oral health in this way. In addition, xylitol reduces inflammation of the gum tissue and other soft tissues of the mouth. And so xylitol is providing an array of positive benefits, especially when it's present to the mouth immediately after meals. And for that reason, there are a number of different dentists that have created xylitol products in the form of gums or in the form of mints, specifically to be used after meals.

So by chewing a few of these xylitol mints, or by chewing a xylitol-based gum immediately after a meal, you're taking substantial steps towards improving the chemical milieu of your mouth and inhibiting the proliferation of cavity-forming Streptococcus mutans. Now, you can also find some literature on other proposed benefits of xylitol, such as improving overall microbiome, such as reducing inflammation in other tissues besides the gums and within the mouth.

There is some evidence that it can support the gut microbiome because, of course, the oral microbiome and the gut microbiome are contiguous. They have different compartments. I mean, you might even be surprised to learn that within your mouth, there are different niches, as they're called. For instance, there's different microbiota that live on the gums versus the hard palate versus the soft palate back in the throat, and then as you descend into the gut, et cetera.

And it does appear that xylitol has certain positive benefits for all of those different gut microbiome niches. But the literature on that is less well-substantiated than, for instance, the literature showing that if xylitol is put in as a surrogate sugar substrate for Strep mutans, that it disables Strep mutans and can prevent the formation of cavities.

Now, as far as I know, when consumed in mint form or gum form, I'm not aware of any specific side effects or bad effects of xylitol, provided that it's not consumed in excess. But as with everything, dosage matters. So if you're somebody who wants to explore the use of xylitol gum or xylitol mints after a meal, I wouldn't suggest going from consuming zero xylitol mints to consuming 50 a day or something like that, or even 10 a day.

You might start off slowly and just consume one or two after a meal, maybe just your morning meal, maybe just your evening meal, something of that sort, rather than chewing xylitol gum all day long, et cetera, et cetera. I'll just mention one other positive benefit of xylitol gum, which is if you use xylitol gum after, say, your noon meal or your early day meal, it further increases the production of saliva, which, as we talked about before, is a great thing because one of the best ways to support oral health and tooth health is to have a long stretch of time in the middle of the day where you're producing a lot of healthy saliva in large amounts, because again, saliva is this incredible stuff that's supporting remineralization of the teeth.

So lots and lots of reasons to think about, maybe consider using xylitol gum or xylitol mints. There are a number of different ones available out there. I have zero, again, zero financial relationship to any of those mint or gum companies. I'll provide a link in the show note captions to one source.

The company and the products were developed by a dentist, Dr. Ellie Phillips, who is quite prominent in the public health education space around dental health. Some of her views are a little bit controversial, like her views on flossing. Other of her views, I find, frankly, quite ahead of their time in that she's been talking about a number of these things like promoting the health of the oral microbiome and the potential value of xylitol gums and mints, et cetera, for some period of time.

I think most of the information that she puts out there is supported by other dentists, and she still suggests regular dental visits. So, you know, nothing renegade out there or heretical. Again, there are other sources of xylitol gums and mints that you could consider. I'm simply putting a link to the one that I use because I happen to use them and like them.

So I'd like to use the discussion about xylitol as a segue into a discussion about toothpaste, because there is a lot of controversy out there about which toothpaste are better for us, maybe even bad for us, and best for us. I think it's fair to say, based on what we all now know about xylitol, that if you can find a toothpaste that contains xylitol as a sweetener, that can only be a good thing.

And indeed, there are a number of them out there. We'll talk about specific sources in a little bit, but let's just put xylitol on the short to not so short list of things that would be great to have in a toothpaste for all the reasons that you now understand.

The real big question with toothpaste is always, should I use a toothpaste that has fluoride or avoid toothpastes that have fluoride? And in order to answer that, we have to go back to our earlier discussion about fluoride. It really depends on whether or not you're somebody that thinks that fluoride is great because it creates these super physiologically strong bonds within our teeth.

The crystal structures are that much stronger than when formed by hydroxyapatite, or whether or not you're somebody who is wary of fluoride, that you're concerned about potential brain health issues or thyroid issues. And here, I think people really do fall into either camp or the camp, frankly, of, I don't know, should I be worried?

I don't know if I should be worried. I personally grew up using fluoride toothpaste. We had the kind of standard name brand fluoride toothpaste in our bathroom. I brushed my teeth with those for years. Whether or not that negatively impacted my health or not, I don't know. Get my blood work done.

My thyroid hormones are normal. My brain works at least reasonably well. But I do realize that some people are very concerned about fluoride and they just don't want it anywhere near their kids. They don't want it anywhere near themselves. So if you're somebody who's going to err on the side of caution with fluoride and you are seeking a non-fluoride containing toothpaste, there are such toothpastes out there.

And most of those, if not all of them, contain, you guessed it, hydroxyapatite. They contain the minerals that naturally form the bonds that create that additional enamel that can potentially fill in cavities by remineralization of the enamel and some of the deeper layers of the tooth. So if one is seeking toothpaste and you want to avoid fluoride, you'd want to find something that ideally had hydroxyapatite and something that had xylitol.

And they often also contain some sort of mild abrasive. Okay, not a really scratchy abrasive substance, but a mild abrasive that can really allow for breaking up with the biofilm that we talked about earlier. Now I've provided links to a couple of sources for such toothpaste and also for these little toothpaste tablets that I've been using lately as well.

I sometimes switch back and forth between the two. These are tablets that you chew up and then you brush your teeth immediately after with your wet toothbrush. Both of them work quite well. Again, I want to be clear that the companies that I've provided links to in the show note captions are companies for which I have absolutely zero financial relationship.

I do know some of the people that started these companies. I actually discovered these companies because these people are dentists or periodontists or other people in the oral health field. But I also want to be very clear that there was no exchange of promotion of their products for information or otherwise.

I simply tried and liked the products and I just so happened to have learned some things about oral health care from these people, separate and away from anything about toothpaste or xylitols, et cetera, okay? So I want to be very clear that I do believe these are quality sources.

These are the toothpaste and tooth tablets that I happen to use, gums and mints that I happen to use, large part as a consequence of researching this episode, but I pay full price for them. I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone else has to use them. They just represent one option if you're looking for non-fluoride containing toothpaste and some other things to promote oral health.

And I'm sure there are other sources out there. And if you'd like to refer the various viewers and listeners of this podcast to those sources, 'cause you feel very strongly about those other sources, just put those in the comment section on YouTube. (upbeat music)