Transcription
[Music] Have you ever had a dentist talk you out of a cleaning? Well, I'm going to try. And I'm Dr. Ellie, and I am here to help you have the healthiest mouth ever and avoid unnecessary dental treatments. And in my opinion, you need to be thinking about dental cleanings in a more practical way than you probably do. Everybody gets these cards and calls from the dentist or texts these days. Time for your recall, six-month recall. And you go to the dentist and you have a cleaning because that's what they do. But do you need a cleaning? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. Do you think it stops you from getting cavities? How does that happen? What's the science? And particularly when it comes to little children, I get really mad because some mothers pay for every child to have a cleaning. And do they need it? And is it beneficial? So I want to unpack all of that.
And the first way that we need to look at this is to determine why are you having a cleaning? Do you need it? Well, if your dentist or your hygienist tells you yes, you do need a cleaning because you have that crusty stuff that they call tartar, calculus, plaque in places around your mouth, then you do need to do something about that. The hygienist could clean it off your teeth, but believe me, it's going to come back. And you don't have to have that. Plaque is a bacterial infection. Yeah, it's not a thing, it's not a substance. It looks like a substance in your mouth, but let's go down a microscope and start at the beginning.
In your saliva, in the liquid in your mouth, are lots and lots of kinds of bacteria. I think they're now saying about 900 different kinds of bacteria, and most of them are really good and helpful. One particular kind of this bacteria is called Streptococcus mutans. What they do is travel around a mouth. Say, a mouth of an infant before they have teeth. They can't land anywhere because the only place Strep mutans can multiply is on the hard surface of a tooth, a non-shedding hard surface. They love teeth. And Strep mutans consume sugars. So if you have sugars in your saliva from the foods and drinks you eat or drink, Strep mutans will take those sugars and use it as an energy source to multiply and also to make sticky pads that glue Strep mutans to your tooth and to other Strep mutans. So they start lining up and maturing. And then when they mature, they're kind of little columnar, like little pencils under a microscope, lined up, stuck to each other. And then they form these blankets. And then the next blanket comes on top. And so they layer not only sideways but thicken. And when they grow so thick, they can actually be seen. That is when you have plaque on your teeth.
So if you scrape with your fingernail and get a soft white fluffy stuff off your teeth, and you were to look at that under a microscope, it is a seething mass of these bacteria that are all glued together with the sticky glucans from sugars that you have eaten and been eating or drinking. Now, yes, you can brush that stuff off your teeth. You can floss it off your teeth, but it's not going to go away because in your saliva, you have more Strep mutans just waiting to land on your tooth. And it takes about 12 hours for a Strep mutans to land on your tooth, call its buddies to come and join it, and start developing into this infected mass. So you have to brush your teeth every 12 hours, otherwise you are going to develop plaque. But that is an ongoing process that never gets better.
The suggestion I would make is that you start using the strategies I recommend. You see, we knew in 1970 that if you consume a tiny amount of xylitol, this sugar from birch trees, at the end of meals, and then you don't eat or drink over a period of a month, the xylitol will feed all the bacteria in your mouth. Feed all the good ones. It will also feed those nasty Strep mutans that are on your teeth. The thing is, Strep mutans cannot use xylitol. It's the wrong shape. It's a five-carbon sugar, and it's just like the wrong cog in a wheel. It cannot use it for energy. And without energy, Strep mutans can no longer make their sticky pads to stick to your teeth. So they become slippery. So you can wash them away when you clean your teeth at night with a mouthwash. The ones I recommend are particularly good for this. And your Strep mutans, when plaque back forming bacteria, just disappear. And the good bacteria, when the teeth are clean and they're plenty of good bacteria, they will take the place of the ones that you just eliminated. And in a month, your teeth will be cleaned of Strep mutans. No more will be landing on your teeth.
If you have a good toothbrush, the kind I recommend, don't use soft, silly, battery ones, use the good manual brushes I recommend and with vigor, brush your teeth. You will stop these so-called kind of dying or non-useful plaque bacteria that just stick on your teeth. You'll get them off your teeth, and your teeth will look clean. They will feel shiny and smooth. And after six months, you won't have any more Strep mutans, even in your saliva. You will have got rid of the entire life cycle of Strep mutans if you are consistent and regular in your use of xylitol. So no longer do you have the possibility of plaque. And you can actually test this. I test my own saliva periodically. I have zero plaque-forming bacteria in my saliva. How cool is that?
Well, if I go to a dentist and ask them, do I need a cleaning? I have no plaque. I have no calculus, because calculus is calcified plaque deposits. You have to have plaque first for it to calcify. So I have no calcified plaque, and so there's nothing to clean off. And you too can get to that place. Is there an advantage? Well, the reason I don't have a cleaning and I haven't now had one for 40 years, and all the way along I have been checked, I have gone to dentists for evaluations. Why don't I want to clean my teeth? Because when you have healthy bacteria in your mouth and no plaque, the healthy bacteria form a very thin coating over your teeth and over your gums that is protective. It is like a bulletproof shield over your teeth. It stops your enamel wearing away. If you've been told you've worn your enamel away with how you brush your teeth, maybe you didn't have healthy protective biofilm. And that biofilm also, it protects you from the damage done by temperatures, the temperature fluctuation from hot coffee to a cold drink of water. The protection is in this biofilm layer made up of healthy bacteria that you cannot see. If you see it, it's infected. If it's healthy, it's just a clear film that you can feel on your teeth, just as a slick coating, almost like a waxy coating over your teeth, and that is protective. And I don't want that cleaned off.
Just because somebody thinks they want to. Cleanings were invented or created or somebody came up with the idea of cleanings when they thought plaque was kind of like stale food or particles of things. It was a substance. It's not. It's an infection. And you don't get rid of an infection with a length of string or a brush. You have to get rid of that infection in a better way. You have to allow your body to really kind of get rid of the damage that's being done. So have I talked you out of having cleanings? That could be tricky. When you go for your next dental visit, you could ask why you need a cleaning. And then the next time, maybe you go and ask for they could do a test to see if you have plaque bacteria. And if you need a book to take with you, I have a book called Mouth Care Comes Clean, that might be of interest to your dentist or your hygienist because it explains this. And if they have want to go online, there are studies done. Most of these studies were done in countries where there's socialized medicine. In England, they have done studies because, you know, they're looking at do you really need to go to the dentist every six months? And even the American Dental Association admits that risk factors, how much at risk of plaque are you? Because one of the great things is if you don't have plaque, you're not at risk for cavities. And if you don't have plaque, you won't form gingivitis, which is the first stage of gum disease. You basically are going to keep your teeth, teeth, and mouth healthy by eliminating plaque. A whole new concept. And it's not done mechanically, it's done with xylitol. So if this piques the interest of your dentist, suggest that they follow this channel as well. If you want to learn more, I have a lot of information on my website at Dr. Ellie dot com. And I have a video boot camp where we go through things like your habits, how you can eat and drink anything you want, but you have to do it in a particular way. So do learn more, do enjoy, and good luck at the dentist.