Serious gum disease works a bit like a leaky gut. As you chew your food, very small particles that should go through your digestive system can enter into your blood stream. This can wreck all kinds of havoc on the immune system, causing an inflammatory response that perpetuates the gingivitis.
An infection in the tooth can lead to serious disease, especially if an infection is left in the tooth and the tooth is filled. Cavities, cavitations, and root canals can be little tiny bacteria incubators that store and develop incredibly powerful bacteria. This infection, at some point, will ooze out into the body, entering the bloodstream, and causing all kinds of issues and diseases.
Bacteria has a knack for surviving in difficult conditions and becoming much more powerful, as you see in the news with all the superbugs. They epitomize the phrase, “Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”
Fix the Diet
The American diet is highly acidic, high in inflammatory fats, high in sugar, and all-around toxic for many other reasons. Acidity in the body has to be corrected. The blood has to stay a certain pH no matter what, which is slightly alkaline. When we eat raw produce, even if it’s acidic like lemons, they have an overall balancing effect on our pH levels. Nearly all refined, processed, commercialized foods are acid forming.
When the blood is acidic, the body pulls minerals from any sources it can find to correct the pH. This leaves fewer minerals for bones and teeth. Fats are either inflammatory by nature or they have the opposite effect. Both are totally necessary, but the American diet is full of inflammatory fats, and to make matters worse, many are fats that do not occur in nature and are very toxic to us. So the average American is significantly inflamed throughout the body in many different ways.
Foods to Avoid For Good Oral Health
- Refined Foods
- Sugar
- Acidic Foods
- Processed, prepackaged foods
Gingivitis is an infection, and sugar feeds infection. Sugar feeds us too, but we benefit from sugar when it’s in a whole food complex form. Refined sugars are for parasites. When food is processed in a way that strips it of its minerals, no amount of fortification will bring the food back to whole. That food, be it bread, pasta, white rice, or chips will acidify the body, which damages teeth and opens them up to infection that leaks into the gums. Refined foods will feed the infection in the mouth too.
What To Eat For Healthy Mouth and Gums
To promote oral health eat produce, more vegetables than fruit, but whole raw produce. That is what heals. Brown rice, quinoa, sprouted legumes, vegetable stir frys, and other whole foods have benefit, but raw, fresh, organic produce is what heals the body.
Balance the Gut
It is extremely difficult to have good oral health and poor gut health.
Anyone with serious mouth problems should consider a detoxification protocol that repairs the gut, kills Candida and other parasites, and balances the gut microbes. Good health starts in the gut, and so does bad health.
Chew On This…
Chew on garlic, with an open mouth; breathe in and out. Get the juices all around any infected areas, and spit it out when it gets too intense. Try this with cinnamon bark, turmeric, and ginger as well. Do this a few times a day or more.
Stop Smoking
Smoking anything – tobacco, marijuana – anything, is very harmful to the mouth. So is vaporizing, but not as much so. If you want to have a healthy mouth, but you continue to smoke regularly, the best you can hope for with this regimen is for things to stay the same and not get worse. In my experience, those who do this and continue to smoke do notice that their mouth is not getting any worse, and generally symptoms will improve, but their mouths do not completely heal.
Lose the Toxic Toothpaste and Mouthwash
There are some decent toothpastes out there, but even if they are in the health-food section, make sure they do not contain any of the following ingredients.
Toothpaste Ingredients to Avoid
Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS): A toxic foaming agent that has been shown to increase frequency and intensity of canker sore outbreaks. There are plenty of other reasons to avoid this ingredient, too.
Triclosan: A toxic hormone disrupting, environmentally damaging chemical used to kill bacteria.
Artificial Colors, Flavors, or Anything Artificial: No man made chemicals! All of these ingredients have been shown to be problematic to health, and you don’t need toxins in an infected mouth.
Hydrated Silica: This is the stain remover of the ingredients, but this chemical has been shown to build up in the teeth over time and damage the enamel. It works at first, and someone using a tooth-whitening toothpaste for the first time will generally be very pleased with the results, but over time the teeth will begin to dull.
Alcohol: It dries the gums, damages soft tissue, and leads to more inflammation. There are better ways to kill bad mouth germs.
Floss Every Day, and Floss Correctly
This is how you floss:
Most people do not floss correctly, if at all. Flossing is imperative for anyone with gingivitis because the sides of the teeth need to be cleaned so the food debris doesn’t feed the bacteria. If you hate flossing, then the good news is you can quit flossing once you get your gums back to optimal health. But you will need to eat a nearly perfect diet, with tons of nutrient dense, raw, organic vegetables, chew on anti-microbials regularly like garlic, and keep your whole body very healthy. If you do this, and you have a healthy mouth, you will not need to floss, or even brush the teeth to have much healthier gums and teeth than the most other people. But your teeth would be all nasty looking, so it’s not a plan I recommend. But the point that I can’t stress enough is that oral health begins in the gut. Heal the gut, health the whole body.
Brush Your Teeth With Your Own Toothpaste
Brush your teeth three times a day with the following recipe
Simple Natural Toothpaste Recipe:
- Equal parts of coconut oil and baking soda
- Add essential oil to taste
- Add stevia (if desired) to taste
For 6 tablespoons of oil to 6 tablespoons of baking soda, add 10-15 drops of essential oil. Try peppermint, eucalyptus, cinnamon, clove, lemon, orange, rosemary or any others or any combination that sound good to you. Each essential oil provides more than taste; each adds its own benefits. Add drops of one, or experiment with combinations. Be sure to buy your essential oils from a reputable source and be sure you are getting the right genus species. Many oils come from different species and contain different properties.
Your dry ingredients can also be altered. Try adding trace minerals, calcium magnesium powder, bentonite clay, and/or diatomaceous earth to the mix, removing an equal amount of baking soda and adjusting for consistency. Trace minerals, calcium magnesium powder, and diatomaceous earth will all aid in re-mineralization, while bentonite clay will aid in drawing out impurities as it, like the aforementioned dry ingredients, adds grit.
Hydrogen peroxide is added to many home toothpastes, especially those formulated for whitening. But hydrogen peroxide can irritate the gums, so it is best to avoid it.
There is a third step in dental care for anyone who is struggling with gingivitis or wants to use a preventative treatment : Dr. Shillington’s Tooth and Gum Formula, which can be used as a mouthwash (one dropperful to a cup of water), on your toothbrush as or with your “toothpaste” (8-12 drops on your toothbrush after brushing your teeth), or with a water pick (2-4 dropperfuls, but rinse out after use so the tee tree oil does not shorten the life of the rubber seals). After each of these methods, do not rinse; allow the ingredients to continue working.
You can make your own Tooth and Gum Formula with Dr. Shillington’s recipe or purchase the Tooth and Gum Formula through Green Lifestyle Market.
Dr. Shillington’s Tooth and Gum Formula Recipe
(Use Organic ingredients where ever possible).
- 10 oz Echinacea Tincture
- 1/4 cup of Tea Tree Oil
- 4 oz. Bayberry Tincture
- 2 oz. Oak Gall (or 3X Oak Bark) Tincture
- 2 TBS. Cayenne Tincture
- 2 1/2 Dropperfuls of Peppermint Oil
- 2 1/2 Dropperfuls of Clove Oil
A ‘part’ is a measurement by volume. Blend all ingredients together and make into a tincture using a 50 – 50 Blend of Alcohol and distilled water. For more, see How to Make a Tincture.
A dropper-full is considered to be about 1/2 way up the dropper from a two-ounce bottle.
Be sure to shake well before each use.
Oil Pulling
Oil pulling is a traditional Ayurvedic method of oral care that involves swishing oil around in your mouth for 15-20 minutes. Traditionally, sesame oil was used, but these days coconut oil is more often recommended, and it’s my preference as well. To increase the potency of this protocol, use essential oils, such as peppermint, cinnamon, or clove. Tea tree oil and oil of oregano are two good options, but they can get really intense. Start off with just a small amount.
Here are some suggestions with the essential oils for oil pulling. Add these to a tablespoon of coconut oil.
- For bad breath: 2 drops of cinnamon, spearmint, or peppermint essential oil
- Toothache: 2 drops of clove or tea tree essential oil, or one of each
- Canker sores: 2 drops of holy basil essential oil.
- Gum disease: 2 drops of cinnamon, clove, or tea tree essential oil.
- Receding gums: Add 2 drops of Myrrh essential oil.
- Cavities: 2 drops of clove or tea tree essential oil, or one of each
- Any infection in the mouth: 2 drops of clove or tea tree essential oil, or one of each
How to Oil Pull
Swish the oil around in your mouth (like you would with mouthwash) and pull through the teeth, for 15 to 20 minutes. Don’t swish hard, or your cheeks will get sore very quickly.
The longer you do it, the more benefit you’ll get. 15 to 20 minutes is ideal, and I like to do it while I write articles, but even just doing it for a few minutes is very beneficial. You may need to take your time and build up your mouth strength. (I did.)
Spit it out! Do not sallow it. That oil gets nasty, and it’s better to dispose of it than swallow it. Follow with tooth brushing, or at least thoroughly rinsing the mouth. And don’t spit it out in the sink. The oil could stop it up.
Conclusion
The protocol above is a complete and truly holistic approach to gum disease and cavities, and most other mouth ailments, too. Holistic is the key; for the mouth to heal, the body has to be in good overall health. For the body to heal, the gut has to be balanced and healthy, too. If oral health issues are not your only issue, check out Kill Candida and Balance the Gut Quickly.
Take pictures! Before you start, take a pic of your teeth and gums, and see how it compares after about a week. You’ll likely be amazed.
Recommended Products:
- Shillington’s Tooth and Gum Formula
- Earthpaste Spearmint Toothpaste
- Peppermint Oil
- Cayenne Tincture
- Shillington’s Herbal Snuff
- Shillington’s Echinacea Plus
- Diatomaceous Earth
Further Reading:
- Periodontal Disease, Gum Disease – What you need to know
- 80% Raw Food Diet
- Mercury Fillings, Root Canals, Cavitations – What You Need to Know
- How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem
- Still Have Candida? How Mercury Fillings Cause Candida Overgrowth
- Fight Cavities and Gingivitis Naturally With Homemade DIY Oral Health
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