The Case:  Evelyn is struggling with digestive issues as well as dental infections, tooth sensitivity and chronic bad breath. She brushed and flossed regularly, saw the dentist regularly, and tried all of the oral health products her dentist recommended She even tried natural toothpaste but nothing helped her teeth sensitivity or bad breath.   The Investigation After meeting Evelyn and learning about her challenges and health history, I knew there had to be other pieces to this puzzle! I suspected that we needed to investigate a few more areas of her oral care and her nutrition.  Understanding the Vital Importance of Oral Health Our mouths are so important to our overall health and often we disregard it. Youn Chang is the founder and CEO of OJOOK, an oral care company with a mission to help people develop mindful rituals that create harmony between the mind, body, and the environment. The concept for the business comes from her Korean heritage where mouth health and spine health are considered the key to vitality.  Philosophically and scientifically, her culture recognizes that the mouth is the gateway for all nourishment to enter the body, it’s where digestion starts (with chewing), and is also the first of two microbiomes (the other being the gut) that dictate good health. From this perspective, it’s easy to see why oral health is vital to overall good health.  She also shared in this episode that many of the dentists she works with will tell patients to seek medical help when they see things like sores, dry mouth, or other mouth issues because these are often the first signs of deteriorating health.  Oral Health is More than Healthy Teeth We tend to think of oral health as keeping our teeth clean and cavity-free. We focus on going to the dentist and routinely brushing and flossing our teeth. But, Youn points out that the mouth is so much more than just a place for our teeth. Our gums and the inner mouth lining tissue are membranes similar to our armpits and sexual organs. It’s a lot more absorbent than our regular skin so we need to be very aware of what we expose it to. When we put things in our mouth that contain chemicals, it is basically an expressway to the bloodstream.  Many conventional toothpastes contain chemicals, color dyes, SLAs, preservatives, endocrine disruptors, sweeteners, synthetic flavors, and even alcohol so we have to be careful what we put in our mouths.  Cautions Around Conventional Toothpaste Youn says the problem with conventional toothpastes is that they focus on cleaning. Our approach to dental care is all about scrubbing our teeth clean (I’m still working on not over brushing!) and sanitizing our mouths. She says that this approach focuses too much on preventing issues that could be caused by bad microbiomes and bad bacteria or food particles, but it doesn't really think of what could happen from over cleaning and over irritating the mouth as an organ. She says the mouth environment has a very delicate balance.  All too often, the focus is on killing the bacteria (which we know from our understanding of the gut) doesn’t allow for that healthy balance.  She uses a great analogy in this interview comparing how we treat the cleaning of our teeth to how we approach our skincare.  The Problem with Fluoride-Free Toothpaste There has long been a debate about the use of fluoride and it’s impact on overall health. Youn’s toothpase does not have flouride but she, and the dentist advisors at her organization, don’t discount the value of fluoride for dental health. However, she points out that anyone with a thyroid problem, autoimmune disease or fluorosis should consider the impact of fluoride on their health.  If someone is looking to avoid fluoride for health reasons, they have to be careful with fluoride-free toothpastes because these can leave the enamel of the teeth vulnerable and unprotected. This is why they include a fluoride alternative in their toothpaste formulation.  What is Nano-Hydroxyapatite