This post is all about the best tips for healthy teeth and gums.
These tips for healthy teeth and gums are seriously game-changing. It’s so important to take care of our oral health because our mouth is the gateway to the inside of our bodies. How we take care of our mouth affects our oral and gut microbiome. If our oral health is not being addressed properly, it causes imbalances in our gut, which affects our whole body, including our skin.
I’m going to be telling you the top tips for healthy teeth and gums, such as how to strengthen your teeth and gums naturally, how to improve gum health quickly, and teeth care tips at home.
Your oral health is going to shift dramatically after implementing all of these healthy teeth and gums tips. Your dentist will be in shock!
This post is all about tips for healthy teeth and gums.
Best Tips For Healthy Teeth And Gums
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1. Swish With Salt Water
When you rinse with salt water, you are alkalinizing the mouth, which helps to gently remove plaque. This is an important first and last step in the oral care routine! Saltwater is also very soothing and healing.
To take your salt water rinse to the next level, add a few drops of essential oils, such as Gumm Dropps from Pranarōm. This blend of essential oils promotes a healthy oral microbiome and is a great alternative to mouthwash. It tastes so good and fresh!
2. Tongue Scrape
If you’re not tongue scraping you are seriously missing out and neglecting a HUGE part of your oral and overall health.
Our tongues harbor so much bad bacteria and most of us just let this bacteria sit and build up on our tongues. Brushing and flossing are not enough.
Incorporating this simple, quick practice will eliminate bad breath, help prevent cavities, strengthen taste buds, and even improve your internal health.
I recommend using a copper tongue scraper because copper is naturally anti-microbial. This is my favorite copper tongue scraper:
3. Brush With A Gentle Toothbrush
I am not even kidding you when I say this toothbrush feels like a cloud on your teeth. It is the softest, gentlest, best toothbrush I have ever used. I cannot recommend this toothbrush enough!
It’s made with 13,000 ultra-soft, finely frayed filaments for a velvety soft feel, so it’s perfect for sensitive teeth and gums, aggressive brushers, and kids.
4. Use All Natural Toothpaste
Living Libations has the best toothpaste I’ve ever come across. All of the ingredients are completely natural and super effective. Some of my favorite toothpaste from them are frankincense for sensitivity, charcoal for detoxifying and whitening, and nano-hydroxyapatite for strengthening and remineralizing the tooth enamel.
5. Use Non-Toxic Floss
I know you’ve heard it a million times but flossing is a MUST for healthy teeth and gums. It’s important to stay away from conventional floss that uses Teflon and petroleum. These two ingredients are toxic, so the best floss to buy would be silk floss which uses a coconut oil, beeswax, or candelilla wax coating.
It’s a bonus if you use a floss that contains essential oils in it, like my favorite floss by Living Libations.
6. Oil Pull
Oil pulling is an ancient Ayurvedic practice where you swish oil in your mouth for 5-20 minutes to support a healthy mouth.
Coconut oil is the least expensive oil pulling option that is great if you’re on a budget.
I also love this oil from Terra and Co because it is packed with so many powerful ingredients. It contains hydroxyapatite which remineralizes and strengthens the teeth. It also has prebiotics, antioxidants, and high-quality botanicals.
Brush your teeth and tongue scrape before you oil pull. Then take a teaspoon of oil and swish it in your mouth for at least 5 minutes. The longer the better! And make sure you spit it in the trash when you’re done.
7. Apply Gum Gel
I used to suffer from receding gums, inflamed gums, and bleeding gums. As soon as I started using this gum gel, all of that went away. This ozonated gum gel was life-changing! It’s one of my favorite oral care products ever.
It can be used as a toothpaste, a quick breath freshener, gum gel after you brush and floss, or even a lip balm!
8. Stay Away From Conventional Toothpaste
Conventional toothpastes are very harmful to our oral microbiome. Why would something that is going into our mouths be “harmful if swallowed”? To me, that’s a red flag. If you think about it, it’s really just common sense not to put anything in our mouths if it’s going to be harmful when swallowed.
These are some of the damaging ingredients in conventional toothpastes:
- Sodium lauryl sulfate: causes canker sores
- Artificial Flavors and Dyes: linked to ADHD, cancer, and skin rashes
- Artificial Sweeteners: if you don’t know the terrible effects of these, read this article because there are too many to list
- Triclosan: toxin; linked to cancer; hormone disruptor; causes allergies; environmental hazard
- Propylene Glycol: banned in Europe; used to make antifreeze
- Abrasive Ingredients: cause receding gums, cavities, sensitivities in teeth, and damage enamel
- Flouride: toxic; hydroxyapatite is the safe alternative
*Interesting statistic: there are more people drinking fluoridated water in the U.S. than in all other countries combined. If you would like to read about all the dangers of fluoride in the water supply, including how it’s a neurotoxin, causes osteoarthritis, is linked to ADHD, lowers IQ in children, and much more, click here.*
9. Don’t Use Conventional Mouthwash
Like conventional toothpaste, most mainstream mouthwash is very harmful to us. It’s probably the worst thing you could use in your oral care routine because it strips your mouth of all bacteria, including good bacteria. This causes an imbalance in the oral microbiome and leads to cavities, bad breath, gingivitis, dry mouth, and much more. It is also linked to oral cancer.
10. Whiten Teeth From Within
Despite popular belief, the whiteness of our teeth comes from within, not from whitening strips, toothpaste, or mouthwashes. Our teeth are naturally clear, but they become white from vitamins like D3 and K2. They turn yellow due to malnutrition, aging, and trauma.
If you want to have white teeth you need to eat a healthy diet, get good sleep, reduce stress, and all of the other things we know to stay healthy.
{RELATED POSTs: The Ultimate Animal Based Diet Food List: What To Eat Daily And What To Avoid Completely, How To Change Your Lifestyle To Be Healthy (11 Lifechanging Tips To Start Right Now)}
11. Talk To A Holistic/Biological Dentist
I highly encourage you to find out more from a biological/functional dentist. I love askthedentist.com because Dr. Burhenne has tons of information on holistically taking care of your oral health. Unlike modern approaches to dentistry, he gets to the root issues and actually wants to help people have healthy, functional teeth. His information and approach are just incredible so definitely check it out if you want to dig deeper into oral health!
This post was all about the best tips for healthy teeth and gums.
OTHER POSTS YOU’LL LIKE:
The Ultimate Animal Based Diet Food List: What To Eat Daily And What To Avoid Completely
How To Change Your Lifestyle To Be Healthy (11 Lifechanging Tips To Start Right Now)
How To Make Homemade Toothpaste With Coconut Oil
References:
Artemis, Nadine. Artemis, N. (2017). Renegade Beauty. North Atlantic Books.
Burhenne, Dr. Mark. (2022, February 22). The Best and Worst Toothpaste Ingredients. Ask the Dentist. https://askthedentist.com/diy-toothpaste/
Burhenne, Dr. Mark. (2023, May 4). Current Research on Fluoride Toxicity: 70+ Scientific Studies. Ask the Dentist. https://askthedentist.com/current-research-on-fluoride-toxicity-70-studies/
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