The Benefits Of Oral Probiotics

Photo Credit: STEVE GSCHMEISSNER – https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/726921/view (Wikipedia)

Did you know that oral probiotics, similar to probiotics taken for gut health, use beneficial bacteria or microorganisms in the form of supplements, lozenges, or other formulations to promote healthy oral flora? This helps keep the microorganisms that are living in the oral cavity in a natural, healthy balance.

Here are some reasons why taking oral probiotics can be so beneficial:

  • By taking an oral probiotic not only enhances the health of your mouth, it can also help support the balance of bacteria in your gut. Since your mouth is the entrance to your digestive system, it is the first step in the proper function of the GI tract.
  • Oral probiotics can also enhance immune response by stimulating production of antibodies, enhancing the activity of immune cells, and helping to maintain a healthy balance of gut bacteria which can positively influence overall immune function.
  • Maybe the most important contribution that oral probiotics make is by inhibiting the growth of harmful bacterial in the mouth. This includes bacteria that causes dental decay and gum disease which often contribute to bad breath and oral infections.

Most everyone would benefit from taking an oral probiotic, especially those that are affected with dental disease. Realize too, that oral bacteria and microorganisms can be passed within a family, especially from parents to a baby. So it is important that everyone have healthy microorganisms in their mouths since they can be transferred to others. Helping a baby or young child develop a healthy oral microbiome will help set them up for hopefully a lifetime of dental health instead of a lifetime of dental disease.

In certain circumstances Oral DNA tests can be completed to understand what is specifically causing an infection and a specific oral probiotic can be recommended. If you struggle with dental disease, whether it is dental decay or gum disease, ask your dentist about an Oral DNA test.

One of my favorite Oral Probiotics as a dentist is the BioGaia life of probiotic supplements for gums and teeth. Click here for the sponsored link for BioGaia probiotics.

Why Breathe, Live, Nourish?

Breathe, live, nourish is a simple, yet very powerful mantra that I believe promotes physical and mental well-being. It is all encompassing of a way of life.

Breathing is the true essence of life. Without breath we cannot survive. We also know that breathing caries great power. Breathing deeply and consciously, controlling breath, can do things like reduce stress and anxiety, improve digestion, and increase energy levels.

Living is being. Living in the present moment and focusing on passions and purpose can create a life of fulfillment.

Nourishing is the act of giving our body what it needs to survive. Sure, this can be something as simple as nutrient-dense foods, and it can also include self-care practices, together which support overall health and vitality.

By incorporating these three elements into daily life, one can enhance their overall sense of well-being and live a more vibrant and fulfilling life. That is why breathe, live, nourish. Everything that we do really does root from these three things.



Babies and Kiddos love their Paci, Binky, Noonie, & Me-Me…..but who does it really pacify?

For years the pacifier has been used to comfort children, but is the risk really worth the benefit?

Here’s a little background info:

Babies are born with something called a suckling reflex which involves a front to back movement of the tongue.  This allows the tongue to be deeply cupped so that the infant can extract milk while breast-feeding.  The reflex of suckling while breast-feeding creates a tight contact of the baby’s lips around the mother’s breast.  The lower jaw also moves forward in synergy with the tongue so that a negative pressure is formed in the baby’s mouth allowing for efficient aspiration of milk. Correct breast-feeding and suckling determines a newborn’s facial growth, and develops muscles, oral functions, and facial bony structures by generating considerable intermittent forces.  This reduces the risk of the baby developing facial abnormalities, like an overbite, a deep bite, deficient lower jaw, etc.

The baby is able to control the suckling reflex starting at about 2-3 months, and typically suckling should disappear by 6-12 months of age when the baby develops a more mature pattern of sucking which allows the baby to transition into solid foods.

The action of sucking is different from suckling in that it involves more of an up and down movement of the tongue and it also involves more active use of the lips and elevation of the tongue to the palate.  By about 4 months a baby should have established a true sucking pattern which allows the tongue to seal the first one-third of the mouth.  These are all steps in developing a more mature swallowing pattern.

So what is a pacifier actually doing?

With use of a pacifier the suckling reflex continues (often long past the normal time that it should exist) because it encourages the front-back motion of the tongue.  Continued use of a pacifier, or even bottle feeding, causes the tongue and cheek muscles to develop a compensating function that is not normal.  Pacifiers lack the ability to create the important negative pressure in the baby’s mouth that breast-feeding does, therefore the forward movements of the lower jaw and tongue are decreased.   Overtime, this causes an adaptation to form and function that can change the dental and facial bony structures which will lead to incorrect ways that the teeth come together, also known as malocclusions.

While the medical community has put out several statements regarding pacifiers and their potential benefit in decreasing the risk of SIDS, there is also a very real risk of affecting facial development and growth with long-term use of a pacifier.  And while I am in no way discounting the research the medical community has done, I do question how this research has been done, because I assume it is unlikely one child was put at risk of greater incidence with no pacifier while you see if there is a benefit to another child.  As with anything, it is your decision to make for your child based on information you have gathered.

What I can tell you though, is that pacifiers, from the very first use, start to change how a baby sucks, the tongue position, and ultimately can affect facial bony formation, which in turn will ultimately affect the development of the airway and breathing.  And while initial use may not cause irreversible harm, prolonged use absolutely does.

So I leave you with this final thought.  If pacifiers don’t have any sort of nutritive function, their sole purpose being to quite a crying baby and then developing a non-functional habit for the child, I ask you this….were the pacifiers designed to benefit the baby, or to pacify the parents?

Tongue Tied?

What exactly is a tongue tie?

The tongue helps with all sorts of things….eating and swallowing, speech, and breathing. But what if your tongue is literally tied down….unable to perform the necessary tasks?  That is the definition of a tongue tie.

Everyone has a small tissue attachment under the tongue known as the lingual frenulum.  It is normal, except when the length of the frenulum is shortened or the attachment is too close to the tip of the tongue.  Both of these abnormalities can affect tongue movement.  A tongue should be able to easily left to the roof of the palate when eating, drinking, swallowing, resting (this includes breathing….through the nose).  However, if the frenulum attachment is too tight the tongue does not have the proper range of motion and so rather than rising up to the palate during function it will actually protrude out (known as a tongue thrust).

5-17313 - KIRA BELL - Initial - Occlusal Lower

This picture shows a severe tongue tie.  She was 16 years old at the time of her tongue tie release.

5-17313 - KIRA BELL - Initial - Intraoral Right

This is the flaring of her front teeth and open bite she developed as a result of tongue tie and improper tongue movement.

Improper movement of the tongue can lead to other issues.  A continual tongue thrust can lead to the movement of teeth, creating an open bite.  If the tongue is unable to lift properly to the palate to open the airway for nasal breathing it continues to sit low in the mouth which can contribute to narrowing of the airway and be a factor in causing improper mouth breathing.

Fortunately there is a fix for a tongue tie!  A simple procedure can be done to release the attachment so that the tongue can function freely as it is supposed to.  The earlier this can be done in babies and infants the better so that they develop proper feeding, speaking and breathing habits.  However, the procedure can be performed at any age and can be quite freeing….literally!  However, the older you are, the more your tongue has developed bad habits, and you may need several visits with an oral myologist to re-learn proper tongue function once it has been released.

Baby Food…to mush or not?!?

Lets talk for a minute about baby food.

Have you ever noticed that children in underdeveloped countries who are often photographed have a perfect smile, and perfectly straight teeth?  Clearly there generally isn’t access to an orthodontist….so how can this be?  And why is it that children from developed countries like the States often need orthodontic care?

Often in underdeveloped countries, babies are breast-fed until they are several years old.  They are strapped to mom’s back and given things like sugarcane and biltong to chew on to keep their attention.  Here in the States and in other developed countries our babies often aren’t breast-fed for as long, and we feed our babies rice cereal and other pureed foods.  (Please know that I am not comparing facial development with nutrition.  Sadly, so many of these underdeveloped countries face malnutrition, especially in their children, however, I do want to focus on the normal facial development that often occurs.)

Beautiful, broad smiles that often develop are due to several things.  Breast feeding over bottle feeding really helps develop the arch form of the mouth.  It makes the palate broad and flat, allowing all of the teeth to erupt into their proper positions.  By having a baby chew on food rather than be served mush, he/she is developing facial muscles which intern is developing the bony structures underneath.  Chewy things challenge the skeleton to develop…mush does not.

This is why breast feeding is ideal as long as you are able to and feel comfortable doing so. I understand that this may not always be possible for a myriad of reasons.  I also recommend that you give your baby foods that challenge facial development.  Allow them to chew on foods as they eat rather than spoon-feeding pureed foods that are easily swallowed without really any muscle use.

Here is an amazing book that discusses just this!  (link below to purchase)

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Affiliate Link for Purchase

Doesn’t everyone snore?

Snoring, you know….that thing your dad does when he falls asleep in the recliner, or your husband does after a few drinks.  Or maybe you know you do it….but you are in snoring denial.  Snoring never seems to bother the snorer…just those that happen share a room with that person.  Most people consider it normal, but is it??

The quick answer is NO.  But lets look a little more into it.

DSC_0637 

And since I’m all about being real…Yes, this flattering picture is me (taken on a trip with friends in India)….and yes, I snore.  However, I am currently on a mission to fix that…and why I want so badly to share what I am learning.

 

What is snoring exactly?  Snoring is a clinical symptom of something called sleep disordered breathing (SDB).  Sleep disordered breathing encompasses several breathing abnormalities including upper airway resistance syndrome, and sleep apnea.  We will discuss these in more detail in later blog posts.

Snoring results from changes in the upper airway that, in a sense, are due to a decrease in size or collapse of the upper airway (this can be due to an anatomic size abnormality).  Tissues that normally should not touch, end up becoming close or touching creating a vibration known as snoring.  There are many ways that snoring can occur.  Some reasons why snoring can occur are:  A collapse in the airway itself due to lack of tonicity.  Excess weight around the neck (due to being overweight or obese) applying pressure onto the airway.  Inadequate anatomic airway size.  It can also be caused to improper tongue position (sitting down and back), or a longer than normal soft palate.  And if that isn’t enough… to compound the problem, if you are breathing through your mouth and the tissues become dry they because much more likely to stick together because they are no longer hydrated and moist (yep….I just used that word).

Unfortunately, as we grow older we lose muscle tone….which make us more prone to snoring.  We often gain weight as we get older….which applies more weight and stress to the airway.  Double whammy!!  And no….it isn’t just a man thing.  Women, as we go through menopause our hormones change….and as it was said to me oh so nicely by my mentor….”if the airway problems aren’t corrected before menopause, you will become a fat old man”.  Snoring tends to be more of a male issue….until menopause and then it also becomes a female issue.  And with that we also see an increase in cardiovascular disease in women….which can also be linked to sleep disordered breathing.  We’ll talk more about this later.

One thing I do want to say with conviction is….even though snoring is not good in adults….it is NEVER normal in children.

Lets figure out what is causing the snoring…  Is in inability to breathe through the nose? Is it enlarged tonsils?  Is it poor tongue position?  Is it weight?  Is it an anatomic problem?  Lets fix the problem if we can….rather than trying to manage it later in life with something like a cPAP.  We’ll dive more into this when we discuss sleep apnea.

Lets Talk Tonsils

We all know about tonsils….you know…those ball things in the back of the throat that collect all sorts of junk when you are sick.  Or, maybe you are one of those lucky people who gets tonsil stones.  Mmmm…don’t those smell great (not!).

But what do tonsils actually do?  

Tonsils are a collection of lymphoid tissue.  They are part of the bodies first line of defense toward foreign pathogens.  Humans have several sets of tonsils.  There are the palatine tonsils (these are the obvious ones that sit in the back of your throat…and that you can often see when you are sick with something like strep).  There are also adenoid (pharyngeal) tonsils, and a lingual tonsil (at the base of your tongue in your throat).

Tonsils may become enlarged….but it maybe isn’t just because you’re sick.  The only tonsils that we can typically visualize are the palatine tonsils and we call tell if they are enlarged.  But the other tonsils aren’t easily visualized….and you may not know how enlarged they are.  But regardless if you can see them or not….they can affect you.  Lets talk about reasons why tonsil enlargement might occur.

  1.  Tonsillitis. – Inflammation due to being sick.  Tonsillar swelling should subside once you are feeling better.  This one is pretty obvious.
  2. Mouth breathing.  Yes, I just listed mouth breathing.  Lets think about this one…. If you review the video I posted previously you’ll notice that if you breathe correctly and you are a nose breather your nose is the first filter for foreign pathogens.  However, if you are a mouth breather your tonsils end up being your front of the line filter as pathogens enter your mouth.  As more foreign pathogens filter through the tonsils they create inflammation of the tissues leading to enlargement of the tonsils.  This enlargement can be a chronic issue, unlike tonsillitis from being sick.
  3. Other things that can cause tonsil enlargement are things like a tonsillar abscess, or cancer (but these are rare).

Lets focus on mouth breathing and chronic enlargement of tonsils.  So what if your tonsils are big???  A lot of people don’t think this is such a big deal….but in my opinion they shouldn’t be so sure.

Enlarged tonsils can affect speech making it more difficult to enunciate correctly and my also make speech hyper nasal.  But the biggest thing is that enlarged tonsils can lead to is an upper airway obstruction….in other words….difficulty breathing!!

Now, I don’t claim to know everything, but I do know that in order for our human bodies to thrive we need to get oxygen to all of our functioning body parts.  So….I’m going to go ahead and make a blanket statement that breathing is pretty darn important.

So, lets really think about this.  We often see enlarged tonsils in small children.  We also know that tonsil size peaks around age 3 or so.  But tell me this….if a 3-year-old has the same size tonsils as an older individual, but a much smaller airway circumferentially….who do you think that enlarged tonsils are going to affect more?  So, why is it that physicians are so quick to wait and watch tonsils….assuming that a child will “grow into them”.  Hummm….but if that child has an obstructed airway due to the enlarged tonsils??  We have to ask….what is that doing to their growth and development?

A very wise man, and the Godfather to airway (at least to me, and I know many others), Dr. Jeff Rouse once said…“Yes, your child may grow out of enlarged tonsils and adenoids, but are you sure that it is the same kid as the one who [no longer had enlarged tonsils and] breathed better every night for all those years?”

Think about that for a second….if a child is snoring, or mouth breathing, he/she is not breathing properly.  If children aren’t breathing properly their little bodies likely aren’t receiving all of the oxygen they could be.  What is that doing to their growth?  What about their brain development?  We will never know…..

Lets be proactive and help the littles that aren’t getting the oxygen they need so that they can grow to their full potential!

And by the way, if you are an adult with enlarged tonsils, you too can have an airway obstruction….and yes, you deserve to breathe too!

Do you breathe through your nose?

Did you know that the humans are supposed to be nose breathers?  Did you know that mouth breathing can actually be harmful to the body system?  Did you know that the majority of the population does not breathe correctly?

When we nasal breathe our bodies humidify the air and remove toxins and bacteria. Nasal breathing allows the body to increase the amount of oxygen the lungs can transfer into the blood which maintains a good oxygen to carbon dioxide balance and maintains a balanced pH in the blood. When we exhale through our nose, the small size of the nostrils (as compared to the mouth) creates back pressure in the lungs giving the lungs more time to extract oxygen from the air breathed in.  Because this allows for great efficiency in how the body receives oxygen, nasal breathing allows the number of breaths we take per minute to decrease. Proper nasal breathing and decrease hypertension (high blood pressure), stress, asthma, and even allergies.  It also allows for proper tongue position (tongue up and resting against the palate when the mouth is closed) which allows for proper development of the dental arches (in children).

When we breathe through our mouth the body often senses the carbon dioxide is being lost too quickly (because the same back pressure is not created as when we exhale through the nose) which causes the body to constrict blood vessels.  Oxygen that was able to be absorbed into the blood during nasal breathing no longer can be.  This is because of the constriction of blood vessels, but also because there is no back pressure keeping the air in the lungs to allow for longer absorption.  The decrease in oxygen uptake into the blood causes the body to adjust to have to breathe more frequently.  It is very difficult to maintain regular breathing when breathing through the mouth and often causes hyperventilation (over-breathing).  Mouth breathing, as a result of over-breathing elevates blood pressure and heart rate, worsens asthma and allergies, can lead to snoring and sleep apnea, which ultimately deprives your heart, brain, and other organs of optimal oxygenation.  Mouth breathing can also result in narrow dental arches, crowding of the teeth, and improper bites.

Even if breathing through your nose is difficult initially.  If you sit calmly and breathe through your nose, as you do so it will become easier and easier to breathe through your nose.  Be aware of your breathing.  How do you breathe?

The take away from today:  IF YOU BREATHE THROUGH YOUR NOSE, IT IS EASIER TO BREATHE THROUGH YOUR NOSE, SO JUST BREATHE THROUGH YOUR NOSE!

 

Open Your Eyes To The World Of Airway!

What you see when you look at someone doesn’t tell you the whole picture.  There is a world out there that may be unidentifiable to the normal eye….but when you know what to look for you realize there is a huge number of people affected.

Are you tired?  Do you wake up at the same time every night?  Do you grind your teeth?  Do you have crowding of your teeth?  Are you a mouth breather?  Were teeth removed when you had braces?  Do you have anxiety?  Do you snore?  Have you been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD?  How about fibromyalgia or IBS?Do you have TMJ disorders?

While I am not making any sort of medical diagnosis, and I can’t guarantee a cause and effect between your ability to breathe and these symptoms….I believe that we need to dive in and recognize that there may be a connection.  I am here to share the dental perspective.  You can draw the conclusion yourself….I just want to present the evidence that has been so eye opening to me, as a person that lives with a major airway problem.

One must be willing to look into the development of the airway through genetic factors as well as environmental factors to really understand the effects that it can have on a person.  Please explore with me as we discuss various topics around airway development, symptoms, prevention, etc.