Mouthwash
Oral health doesn’t typically find itself among the hottest topics, but there is great value in understanding its positive effect throughout the body.
If you’ve ever experienced Chinese Medicine, whether it be acupuncture or herbalism or cupping, the practitioner probably asked to see your tongue. Actually, most physicians, whether naturopathic or not, will ask to see the patient’s tongue.
This is because many of our ailments, whether we know about them or not, are expressed through the mouth.
Good oral health varies for each individual, but the average routine is brush & floss twice daily.
I have gone to countless dentists, from professionals with many years of experience to new students in dental school, and rarely was I instructed on what the order to brush and floss actually meant.
For example, I was not instructed on the proper way to brush my teeth with a traditional toothbrush until I was in my 20’s. I’m sure I wasn’t doing a bad job, but a little instruction may have prevented some cavities or other issues.
Just the same, I was not instructed on proper flossing technique until about the same time.
And to be fair, maybe I just wasn’t listening. But as someone who has spent most of his adult life uninsured, I do everything I can to prevent damage, especially costly dental damage.
Regardless of where the blame lies, one thing that has DEFINITELY not been covered by any of my dental experts is mouthwash or mouth rinse.
Recent studies have pointed to the negative effects of chlorhexidine mouthwash (Ex: Peridex, Perio-Aid, Halita) on mouth microbiome health (article). In the study researchers found that the chlorhexidine increased lactate-producing bacteria, which lowered the pH of the saliva (creating a more acidic environment). The lowered pH, along with lowered microbiome diversity, may increase the risk of tooth damage.
Furthermore, antiseptic mouthwash (alcohol-based, Ex: Listerine, Breath-Rx, generic antiseptic mouthwash) plays a negative role in blood pressure regulation when mouthwash is used before AND after exercise.
A University of Plymouth study showed that participants using an antiseptic mouthwash before exercise had no change in nitrite levels after exercise, while participants who rinsed with water experienced elevated levels of nitrite after exercise.
What the hell?
Your body circulates digested nitrate from foods such citrus, leafy greens, and dark chocolate. Some of these circulating nitrates are released through the salivary glands. Beneficial bacteria in the mouth’s microbiome reduce the nitrate into nitrite. The nitrite then reacts with enzymes in the body to produce NITRIC OXIDE. Nitric oxide plays a key role in many different functions throughout the body.
Check out the chart below and imagine your life without it.
So, in the study, by using the antiseptic mouthwash and eliminating some of the microbiome, the remaining beneficial bacteria in the mouth were unable to properly convert nitrate to nitrite — resulting in lower nitric oxide levels after exercise.
If the goal of dental hygiene is to promote oral and whole-body health, then the use of antiseptic mouthwash is counterproductive.
Similarly, participants who first exercised and then rinsed with an antiseptic mouthwash experienced a 60% decrease in nitrite production within the first hour of recovery. After two hours their bodies completely stopped nitrite production.
This means the bacteria in your mouth have direct influence on the reactions that occur throughout your body!
And it gets wilder!
Improper nitric oxide production can even result in metabolic disorders such as diabetes (study).
The importance of the microbiome throughout our bodies cannot be overstated.
It is critical to understand that the microbiome has an ACTIVE RELATIONSHIP with its host (study). How you decide to treat your microbiome may play a direct role in how you feel and function. And sometimes we must suffer with our microbiome when a surprise hits — like the drinking water in Ecuador.
After ingesting some local water on a salad, my sister and I proceeded to suffer from intense diarrhea. Our microbiomes were not prepared for the new intruders, and the intruders were given about 2 weeks to wreak havoc before being tamed.
Nearing the end of the first week, a week filled with tales of near disaster and untellable embarrassment, I went to a local pharmacy to see what options they had to offer.
The pharmacist’s English was malo and my Spanish was terrible, so we communicated in a variety of ways. He brought out a small box with a single pill. He pretended to swallow the pill and followed his esophagus down to his stomach, then made an exploding noise while opening his arms.
Taking the pill will destroy ALL of your microbiome, he signaled.
I decided to skip nuking my guts and instead suffered another week of unsureness and situational panic.
Besides, the close-calls that create stress and discomfort during the trip become tales of honest humor once looked back on.
Weeks later, once our microbiomes had recovered and we could begin laughing about the experience, we met a traveler who took the gut bomb. She said her experience with diarrhea and discomfort was similar to ours and she didn’t want it to ruin her trip, so she took the pill.
Apparently it worked too well.
She confessed that under the same circumstances she would never take it again.
After the microbiome destruction she became more sensitive to foods that did not previously effect her, felt her sleep disturbed, and suffered from a lower level of energy throughout the day.
She was doing her best to encourage biome regrowth by eating probiotics, exercising, resting throughout the day, etc, but her body couldn’t speed through the process.
She didn’t feel back to herself until a couple months after the micro-massacre.
Her body’s reaction makes a lot of sense: the communication and processing it understood was cut off. It had to rebuild the many pathways that serve both known and unknown purposes.
Since our microbiome is present to help us function optimally, it seems fitting to take care of it in any way possible.
For me it was accepting the fear of crapping my pants everywhere I went throughout Ecuador and Peru, just to give that microbiome the time it needed to bounce back into balance.
A much simpler and more peaceful way to begin taking care of your microbiome is by making your own mouthwash.
I enjoy rinsing with salt because it is the most recommended method of oral maintenance, old and new.
My mother always recommends salt rinses for toothaches and sore throats, and when my wisdom teeth were removed I was instructed by my oral surgeon to salt rinse at least twice a day to encourage wound healing.
Here and here are a couple articles focused on the positive influence salt rinses have on oral health. In addition to faster wound healing, salt rinses prevent bacterial plaque and, most importantly, DO NOT attempt to eliminate the entire microbiome.
What you’ll need for 16 oz of mouthwash:
1 teaspoon Salt (Himalayan Pink Salt)
Water (Distilled or Reverse Osmosis)
Essential Oils (optional) - Be sure to use essential oils that are approved for topical and oral use
8 drops Frankincense
6 drops Tea Tree
6 drops Wintergreen
Optional — Add a teaspoon of baking soda for added whitening and to neutralize pH.
STEP 1
Pour salt and drop essential oils into container. Fill 1/4 of container with hot (boiled) water.
STEP 2
Mix the container so most of the salt dissolves.
STEP 3
Fill the remainder of the bottle with room temperature water.
Use about 1/2 an ounce per rinse.
Use this mouthwash whenever brushing your teeth or when you’d like to freshen your breath.
It also helps heal canker sores or fresh inner-cheek bites (the worst!).
Most importantly, enjoy taking care of the wondrous bacterial world that exists within you.
