A couple years ago I noticed my front / incisors were loose. I could wiggle the teeth with my tongue. Upon visiting the dentist he confirmed thoughts, I was eventually going to loose those teeth. I asked him if there was anything I could do to avoid that for which he had no advice. They continued to get worse until I told that story to my friend Nathan. He introduced me to Dr. Ellies protocol and a few other tips. To my amazement (and my dentists) those teeth have healed!
DISCLAIMER: This is my experience. I have a lot to share as my teeth and health are very personal to me. What I’m not, I’m not a molecular biologist, I’m not a dentist, nor a medical professional. I’m a mere mortal engineer with a need for answers and I’m sharing my quest for better oral health here. If you’re one of those super smart people I described who can constructively add to what I’m sharing here, then please reach out to me. I’d like to add you to the conversation.
Misnomer your teeth cannot heal
Common knowledge people as well as dental professionals is that your teeth cannot heal themselves. I’m here to tell you they CAN. I’ve had some great dentists over the years. Genuinely concerned with helping me. Some of them thought outside the box and experimented with different advice which I will share here. However, all of them I spoke in detail with were of the belief there’s no process for teeth to regenerate lost enamel & tooth structure.
My experience 100% contradicts that. Nathan introduced me to a dentist that describes a hygiene process which creates an ideal environment for your teeth to heal. I watched days of her content, where, she describes the same hygiene process over and over. Each time explaining how it helps improve gum health and health of teeth.
https://www.youtube.com/@dr.elliephillips
We’ll get to her process after I describe the necessary foundation for oral health.
You’ll never have healthy teeth if your gut is unhealthy
I have personal experience with damaging Periodontal disease. It’s eroded much of my jaw and exposed the lower parts of my teeth. I grew, long in the tooth, as they say. A huge amount of people are being diagnosed with this as of late and if left unchecked your teeth will fall out!
Another intellect I follow, Dr. Ray Peat, talked several times about periodontal disease. It’s a wasting of the oral bone structures (jaw and teeth) due to bacterial infection. Dental professionals have always told me this is a “chronic”, incurable condition, related to “genetics”. Dr. Peat stated the obvious. It’s a bacterial infection that can be gotten rid of.
Genetics misnomer: when a medical professional quotes “genetics” as a reason. Replace the word genetics with, “I don’t know”. Genetics is a face saving response to a question medical professionals don’t have an answer to. Sure there’s probably a few cases where the answer literally is genetics but most commonly genetics is used to sound smart while not knowing the answer to your question. I’d rather medical professionals say, I don’t know, or that’s a tough question that hasn’t been answered yet. The latter would be a more accurate and honest response. Genetics is a hopeless answer for which no action can be taken. It’s like saying your body isn’t good enough so you need me, the medical professional.
Your gut is directly linked to your mouth (oral health)
Dr. Peat described a dentist he met at a conference that was treating periodontal disease with laxities. This helped reset their microbiome (gut) and get rid of the damaging bacteria! The damaging effects of periodontal disease were gone once the microbiome returned to a healthy state. Unfortunately, bone loss is a different story but we can combat that too.
Dr. Peat mentioned charcoal tablets instead of the laxities. These are marketed as “fart pills” at the pharmacy. I order them online and get hundreds for a few bucks. If you buy at pharmacy you get a handful for that price. I digress… Prior to contrary belief farting is not healthy. It signals an imbalance in your microbiome / gut. If I eat something that causes gas I immediately take a charcoal tablet to avoid brewing the wrong bacteria in my gut which among other things ultimately damages your teeth! I’ve since become more keen about what I eat, but three or four times year I still resort to the pills.
AGAIN: A bad gut leads to oral health issues!
Raw vegetables are BAD for your health! Cook them instead!
Prior to contrary belief most raw vegetables are NOT healthy for your gut! The fiber rips it up and damages the delicate insides of your gut leading to multiple issues. There are also natural chemicals in vegetables designed to keep them from being eaten by insects! Cows are one exception with their four stomachs but we’re not cows and cannot break these harmful things down in our gut!
On the contrary well cooked vegetables mostly are fine and quite healthy. This also goes for home canned garden vegetables, they are much healthier than raw vegetables. Salad eaters, listen up, salad is bad for your gut. I know that’s hard to swallow, no pun intended. You need cooked vegetables.
Raw carrots are an important exception
Raw carrots are one of the few exceptions to raw vegetables. A freshly pealed raw carrot cleanses the gut. It binds damaging estrogen (think plastic pollution in your gut) and helps keep you flowing. I try to eat a raw carrot or two a day. This alone was a big help for my health!
Healthy saliva (quality calcium in diet)
Saliva is the lifeblood of your mouth! It contains vital minerals which remineralize damaged teeth. The dental industry should be doing a periodic saliva profile (lab testing). They could learn tremendous amounts about your oral health from a swab of saliva. I personally feel this would be even more advantageous than their x-rays.
I digress… You need to be getting quality calcium in your diet in order to have healthy saliva. There’s likely some additional nutrients you need. I’m not a microbiologist but everybody healthy knows bones need calcium in the least.
The easiest way to get calcium is from milk and dairy products. Be VERY carefully of calcium supplements! Many are not paired with the correct binding elements and actually are damaging to your health. If you are scared of milk then you can hard boil eggs (to clean the shells). Next put the shells in a coffee grinder and eat the powdered eggshell on your food. I believe it’s the “calcium bicarbonate” your after that’s in milk and egg shells. I think a third source is shell fish (e.g. oysters) however, you need to research that further to confirm!
Oral inflammation
My dentist indirectly introduced me to oral inflammation. This is an effect of periodontal disease where the harmful bacteria (from your gut!) not only eats your bone but creates inflammation in the surrounding tissues.
On a separate track, my friend Nathan said Aspirin (Acetylsalicylic acid) can help reminerlize teeth. I was so skeptical of this, I did however, do some research on the idea and uncovered a medical study supporting this so felt why not try my teeth are going to fall out anyways and the dentist has zero advice to help me.
For 6 months I rinsed with pure Aspirin diluted in water (more on how to do this below). I revisited the dentist and told them nothing of this as I feared they’d diagnose me as insane. They were shocked at how well my teeth looked for the first time ever the dentist didn’t have anything about my oral health to pick on me about. They literally said whatever I’m doing I need to keep it up.
I’ve since gotten a bit lax on using Aspirin rinse. I only use it now when I have a inflamed (irritated) spot in my mouth. And I make sure to spit the rinse out. I then let my mouth rest (don’t eat or clean it) for about 30 minutes. After which I drink (and swish) milk to neutralize any residual the acid. Closys rinse (in hygiene section) will have a similar effect.
There is a war on Aspirin. Much of it is medical misinformation and propaganda studies. It is a blood thinner in larger amounts but is one of few side effects. I’d try this with 100 mg, but did go up to a 1.5g / day swallowed! That said I have to tell you to ask your medical professional and do this at your own risk!
Aspirin was originally a popular tea from tree bark (willow tree?) which had a relaxing effect. It’s nothing new, people have been using it for thousands of years. It reduces estrogen in the body as well as the damaging inflammation which is harming our teeth! Unfortunately, it’s nearly free, cannot be patented, and virtually no profit can be made from it. Other pain killers however, are patentable and profitable, however, few if any can compete with the efficacy of Aspirin.
Obtaining pure aspirin: Companies are sabotaging over the counter aspirin with toxic additives. I would take the tablets and dissolve them in water (~3 fluid ounces). Most if not all the additives settle to the bottom of the glass. Rinse with the clear liquid (Aspirin solution) and discard the rest.
The modern medical industry (and dental) has changed in the last 70 years. It’s transitioned from it’s core mission of healing to a heavily biased for profit industry. I get people need to make money but you’d have to be blind to not notice how this is affecting the quality of our medical care. When I described this to my 97 year old grandma, she literally said people used to do this when she was little. There’s a lot to be learned from time tested healthcare which has been replaced with for profit biased “medical studies” (aka medical propaganda).
Oral Hygiene (Dr. Ellie’s Protocol)
This is a lengthy process but once you’ve made it habit it only takes a few minutes twice a day to complete!
Step 1: Neutralize Acid in your mouth
A major issue with modern diet is the acid we accumulate in our mouth. The foods tend to create an environment that is harsh for oral health. This is not necessarily sugar more on that later! Even worse is when we brush our teeth in an acidic environment. A dentist years ago told me to rinse my mouth with water, or even wait 30 minutes after eating or drinking anything before I brush. I’ve since learned drinking milk and or eating other dairy products can help mitigate acid in the mouth.
Ulra Sensitive CloSYS oral rinse this is an over the counter oral rinse that helps normalize your mouth before brushing. It’s fairly expensive but does the trick and allows you to brush your teeth without resting them after eating.
I have heard of making a similar rinse with “trisodium phosphate” a common chemical for cleaning and one of the main ingredients in CloSYS. However, I’ve not tried that. Another alternative I fiddled with is referred to as oil pulling. You swish with oil or coconut oil for a few minutes then brush.
Step 2: Crest Cavity Fighting Original Tooth Paste
The word is this is one of the only toothpastes that was proven to fight cavities and it says it on the container to this day. I’m also told this is the most important component of this hygiene process as a result of that. Comparing it with other toothpastes the ingredients are clearly different. It contains “Sodium Fluoride” while the others mostly have “Stannous Fluoride”. Is that why it works so well? Maybe, but clearly it’s not the same as others so you cannot substitute it and get same results.
Use more than a pea sized amount of tooth paste I was once told we all use too much tooth paste to only put a pea sized bit on my brush. I now ask what could that hurt? I put enough tooth paste that foams in my mouth and I can swish it around. After I am complete with following I do exactly that before spitting it out.
Focus on massaging gums, not just scrubbing teeth I have a soft bristled tooth brush. I start by massaging all my gums. I don’t so much as apply pressure as I move the brush across the tissue gently massaging it.
Flick brush UP on sides of teeth this was an excellent tip from my retired dentist! His hygienist was very proactive in monitoring and improving my results! She said to gently work the brush down between the teeth then flick it up. This is much more effective in getting debris out from between your teeth.
I then focus on tops of teeth to remove any potential debris there. Then swish the foamy toothpaste in my mouth and spit it all out.
Step 3: Flush out any harmful bacteria in your mouth
My retired dentist and his hygienist gave me this tip years ago. Then I heard Dr. Ellie repeat it. Some people have issues / sensitivity to bacteria in mouth. This is part of the periodontal disease I struggled with (still struggle with?). This harmful bacterial (produced in your gut) eats your teeth and jaw bone! You have to flush it out.
Original Listerine is formulated for exactly to kill harmful bacteria you need to rinse with original Listerine. Again, ORIGINAL LISTERINE do not substitute. The newer formulas have different effects because they changed the formulation so it doesn’t burn or has a different minty flavor, etc. They do NOT have the same effect!
You don’t have to use the recommended dose on the bottle. That’s so they can sell more. I only take a 1/2 tbsp. or so. You can also dilute it with PURE DRINKING WATER (NOT TAP WATER) and or hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide may also have a similar bacteria fighting properties. If water, 30% dilution. If hydrogen peroxide 50% dilution (as instructed by dentist).
Step 4: Neutralize the acidic Listerine
As a general rule of thumb your teeth don’t heal well in an acidic environment. Unfortunately, the Listerine leaves your mouth somewhat acidic. We need to correct that with this step. The ORIGINAL AND ONLY ORIGINAL Act formulation has Sodium Fluoride. You’re going to rinse with that to neutralize the residual acid in your mouth.
Fluoride Phobia: is fluoride a harmful industrial waste product? I think we all know the answer to that. However, it does have some value in demineralizing teeth, which they sold it to us as. Especially when formulated as “sodium fluoride”. I’m not a molecular biologist, you’d have to ask them how that works. In the insanely small doses found in toothpaste you’ll likely never realize the harmful side effects. For this reason I think the benefits of nearly immeasurable small dose has on your teeth far outweighs any fear of a harmful side effects many orders of magnitude larger doses could have. However, again, ask your medical professional, you assume all risk as is your body. I’m only sharing experiences I’ve had with mine.
Step 5: Activate your salivary glands (tooth healing soup)
Our last step is to activate yours salivary glands. Dentists used to commonly recommend this an numerous studies (before medical propaganda became commonplace) showed that xylitol helped health teeth.
Xylitol is the original sugar free diabetic sweetener. You can sometimes find it for cooking in the grocery store. It’s more commonly sold in gum now. It’ll be marketed as tooth friendly Xylitol gum. I started with the gum. It’s nice to keep in the car or where ever for a quick mouth freshening when you’re out and about. However, it’s expensive. I ordered the cooking Xylitol and take a 1/4 tsp let it dissolve in my mouth, swish it, then spit it out.
REST YOUR MOUTH this is one of the most important steps! You have to develop a habit of breathing through your nose (always) and take a two hour break from eating or drinking anything. Your teeth need a break for the saliva health them and your mouth to relax. Nose breathing keeps your saliva from drying out so it can do it’s magic! You should always focus on nose breathing as it’s a healthy habit!
You’ve now completed Dr. Ellies protocol! Your teeth are clean!
It seems like a lot but this only takes me 2 or 3 minutes twice a day once I established the habit. It’s a bit trickier when I travel to take all the stuff but I find ways around that and you will too. I cannot tell you how much better my teeth are after adopting these habits. There’s still more I need to share with you.
Shortcuts / Skipping Steps
Each step is intended to fight a challenge with have with our oral health. Be it, bad bacteria, acidic mouth, cavities, etc. You might be able to custom tailor this a bit. However, I’m not monkeying with what works for me until I know I have 100% resolved my oral health. Honestly, I may never change it up as this currently seems to be working. If you’re starting out DON’T TAKE SHORTCUTS. FOLLOW THE PROCESS!
Thoughts on flossing
Dr. Ellie isn’t keen on flossing. She’s the first to have me question the whole flossing process. Here is the thought behind that as pertains to my challenge with periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is a “INFECTION” taking a piece of floss an agitating that inflamed and infected area can very well transfer that infection to another tooth! Especially if you’re working it under the gum line, further agitating, and potentially making that pocket bleed (which is easy to do)! Can you see the risk for propagating an already nasty infection to other areas including your internal body! Flossing a healthy mouth is also a risk. You can inflame your gums and increase potential for infection!
Here’s how I think of flossing: It’s like a bigger tool you take out say when you cannot drive a post with a hammer you take out a sledge hammer. Tooth picks are for getting stuck food out of your teeth, so is floss. However, with anything your jamming in-between your teeth you need to be VERY careful you DON’T harm your soft tissue!
Dentists tell you you have to scrape off debris from teeth to avoid it from forming plaque. The entire hygiene process described above is designed to ensure you don’t have the bad bacteria which forms the plaque in the first place! It’s like cleaning your car so you can then go home and scrub it again with a scotch bright.
Here’s how I look at flossing and yes I still very GENTLY and carefully floss! I do it at night as the LAST / final step in my teeth cleaning. I use it to GRADE my cleaning. I know if I missed anything there will be a bit of debris (soft gooey stuff) left. I can find it when I probe each tooth with the floss.
Again, I’m conscious of potential for spreading an infection (don’t inflame or agitate the gums). An alternative if infection and inflammation are present is to complete Step 3 (Listerine) with a water pick on a lower setting (don’t crank it up to super high pressure). Use 50% Listerine and 50% Hydrogen Peroxide and use the entire revivor. This was described to me by my favored dentist whom sadly retired.
Clean toothbrush is CRITICAL
If you have a dirty toothbrush why bother brushing at all? We never really think much of this. You can literally reintroduce an infection, making it a chronic permanent problem so long as you have a dirty toothbrush. This is so obvious I don’t know why no dentists have ever told me about it.
You need to store your tooth bush so it drains. I put it upright in a shot glass. Additionally, I have a morning brush and an evening brush. This helps ensure any harmful bacteria has completely drained off as well as dried off! Once a week I spray both brushes with hydrogen peroxide as well.
Teeth Photos
My favorite dentist took photos of my mouth. I’ve only ever seen one person do that. Him! He had an assistant use a small tool to hold my mouth open. Then he had (made?) a fixture that held the camera in exactly the same spot every time (at each visit). He snapped various angles so we could compare my oral health visually at every visit. I didn’t realize how helpful that was until he retired.
I now clumsily use my cell phone and fingers to dry and open my mouth and take similar photos. I cannot perfectly align them to show before and after like he did but its more helpful than nothing. I can see where my teeth got whiter, and monitor issues with fillings I have.
Teeth Fillings
The one area I cannot seem to make progress on is near my fillings. I have a a few on my rear teeth. Where the filling meets the teeth there’s minor cavities. They’ve not grown but they’ve also not improved. I learned that once you put a foreign material in your teeth it can; capture a bacteria or infection below it and or adjacent. This is extremely hard if not impossible to fight unless the filling is modified and subsequent tooth structure scarified for such. Moral of story, be as proactive as you can to avoid dentist having to drill cut or modifying your teeth.
