What Makes Dental Health So Crucial Is The Knowledge It’s Constantly Unfolding

So many beliefs change over time because new technologies or new perspectives make it possible.

Even in relation to ideas held over centuries – Newtonian mechanics being one; with both relativity and quantum mechanics deviations of that.

Its basis was the expectation that particles and antiparticles behave in the same way. Within that, was the presupposition that the laws of physics are the same with parity symmetry – meaning that even if the world was mirrored, physics would continue to conduct itself wholly predictably.

Both were proven to be wrong.

These laws behaving as expected while simultaneously applying both symmetries (that is, replacing particles with antiparticles and mirroring the universe) also turned out to be wrong.

What is also no longer, is the once widely accepted scientific belief that gravity is a force,.

It’s important to recognise that theories are never proved: the principles of western science rely upon the ability to refute, rather than necessarily support an hypothesis. So as long as something cannot be proven to not be true, then it’s a premise that’s considered convincing.

It may be weird, but it’s part of what makes the evolution of knowledge so interesting.

It’s basically been only 25 years since the oral-systemic health link was made; it was in the year 2000 that the mouth was first considered the window to general health by the US Surgeon General. Taking care of your teeth and gums is a primary step in the prevention of serious disease, and minimising the risk of complications from chronic conditions.

Good oral health extends to supporting robust mental health; it’s even been shown to affect performance in both education and career.

Much research has been done, and many articles written about the ever-increasing list of chronic and debilitating afflictions associated with poor oral health. Malnutrition, tobacco or alcohol use, stress, medication and immunosuppression are just some aspects – aside from genetics, and availability and access to dental care – that dictate the level of oral health a person is likely to have.

None of it is simple.

Yet plainly, it is a major factor in the global consequences of a catalogue of illnesses and syndromes. They include, although are certainly not limited to, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and insulin resistance; oral and colorectal cancer; gastrointestinal diseases; respiratory conditions; autoimmune diseases, adverse pregnancy outcomes, dementia and Alzheimer’s.

It’s quite a mouthful. And deeply concerning that not everyone appreciates how imperative those six-monthly dental appointments are. A lot of people are reminded of it only with the onset of a toothache, or painful gum infection.

The classic dental care advice of brushing for two minutes twice a day, and flossing is changing.

It’s not simply that two minutes is now three; but the necessity and benefit of flossing has long been under fire. Some dentists abide by it; others claim the action does more gum damage and infection-spreading than justifies its worth. Dental floss is also viewed as a non-recyclable environmental disaster, deadly to wildlife and a known, and relentless threat to marine creatures and the fragile environments that sustain them.

The Australian Dental Association states that good dental hygiene means “brush for at least two minutes morning and night, using a soft-bristled toothbrush with a small head and a flexible neck”. All well and good, but with 41% of the population using electric toothbrushes to which flexible necks are unheard of, that’s a good proportion automatically getting 25-50% of what’s recommended, wrong.

Instrumental to a greater shift in perspective is getting to the root cause of disease.

There is a change in viewing oral health as merely a warning system, but rather the issues of tooth decay, gum disease and crooked teeth are reflective of a diet that is not serving us.

With a background in biomedical science, Australian dentist Dr Steven Lin, has forged a scientific outlook on dental disease that has nutrition, rather than brushing, preventing cavities and issues of inflammation and infection. Through ancestral medicine, epigenetics and examining oral and gut microbiome, Dr Lin has developed food-based principles for a holistic approach that’s also designed for children to develop naturally straight teeth.

Teeth are the marker of attractiveness, success, health – and even happiness. Yet we segregate dental care from the rest of the body, and commonly experience it with anxiety, fear, and financial stress. We continue discovering the many facets oral health influences, overall; and vice versa.

It’s time to redefine the paradigm, because it’s not working well.

Maybe it starts with keeping our oral microbiome balanced is essential for creating and maintaining a healthy and wholesome self.

Maybe it moves to eliciting change within national health schemes, so that dental is finally fully included as having free, and subsidised services.

Maybe the best tool for the best oral health is our mind. Maybe the answer to it all is dedication to stripping our diet of the harmful foods that create diseases of the mouth, and understanding that bad breath for instance, is an issue about improving microbiome, not using better mouthwash.

Maybe the crucial aspect of our dental health is that it’s empirical, not theoretical.

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