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From gum disease to colon cancer, When Would You Want to Know that problems in your mouth affect your overall health? The Queen of Dental Hygiene, Barbara Tritz, joins today’s episode to go deeper than just brush, floss, drill and fill. Protect yourself by learning more about the connection between your oral health and the rest of your body. Generally, what is it that people believe about oral health that you know to be wrong? Barbara [4:16]: "If you're going to use a manual toothbrush, you need to brush much longer. It takes about 15 minutes to get all the plaque off with a manual toothbrush. So, that's where the electric toothbrush comes in because it keeps you on task, but even the electric toothbrush takes two to four minutes to get all the plaque off." "80% of the population has gum disease in the United States. So those two cleanings a year are not sufficient to reduce the plaque biofilm and the bacteria that's in your system. And so we've got to brush longer, we've got to brush more thoroughly and with better tools." "Flossing, again, most people floss incorrectly. They don't floss deeply enough and they're using a Teflon coated floss that glides right over the plaque. And then, the bacteria that's in there, number one it’s contagious, so we pass it through the whole family." Where does plaque come from? Barbara [6:25]: "Plaque is, in 20 minutes after you leave there, it starts to build up again. It's a mixture of the minerals and the nutrients in your mouth, the bacteria and the food debris. So plaque is natural. We want plaque, but we want healthy plaque." "When you have the bad bacteria, then it changes the biofilm and the bacteria then are, it's in an anaerobic environment so no oxygen and it's more acidic. And so those bacteria are now pooping acid in your mouth and that then lowers, again, the pH of the mouth and that's where disease starts." What's the oral health end-point? Barbara [9:39]: "The end-point is pink, healthy, tight tissue, no bleeding, stippled texture, like an orange peel and a nice letter U shape; no swelling, no bleeding, no pus, no smell. Those are my end-points. We can do it. It’s not just about brushing and flossing." Why should people care more about their gums? Barbara [10:35]: "When the gums are bleeding, I call them leaky gums, then that means your arteries are leaky and that's inflammation in your arteries. And then the bacteria from gum disease can also go into your brain and they have research that directly connects periodontal disease, gum disease, to dementia. So, everything in the mouth is connected to the rest of the body." "Gut health, we reseed the gut with our oral microbiome and then that contributes to leaky gut, which then causes a whole series of chronic inflammation, chronic diseases, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and the list is endless. Oral health is the crux of everything…it all starts with the mouth." What is a biological dentist? Barbara [15:11]: "We're going deeper than just brush, floss, drill and fill. We are looking in a biological world; we're looking at the root cause. Why are you getting tooth decay? Where is this coming from?" Barbara [19:52]: "The I.A.O.M.T (International Association of Oral Medicine and Toxicology) has a website and you can find a biological dentist in your area by looking on that website. Washington State has two; some states have a whole lot more, but there not a lot of biological dentists." To work with Barbara directly visit Green City Dental or connect with her on queenofdentalhygiene.net. This episode is chock full of When Would You Want to Knows, listen to the full episode on iTunes or jump to… Fluoride Poisoning [13:10] Mercury Fillings [21:17] Breathing Issues [22:45] Sleep Apnea [23:58] Jaw Pain, TMJ [28:23] Grinding [30:23]