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Dr Sampson: Your Oral Microbiome Is Linked To This Disease! — Transcript

by The Diary Of A CEO · 18,565 words · 2,778 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Is there a link between our oral health
0:01and our fertility?
0:02Yes. This is some of the newest research
0:04that's coming out and they found that
0:06over 90% of men who wasn't able to
0:08conceive with their partners had an oral
0:10disease. With those who got treated,
0:11there was a 70% improvement in
0:13pregnancy. Now, research has also found
0:15that if a woman has gum disease, it
0:16takes them 2 months longer to conceive.
0:19And I'm the only one who's talking about
0:20it.
0:21And who are you?
0:22I am the saliva queen.
0:23Dr. Dr. Victoria Samson is the
0:25trailblazing dentist
0:26whose datadriven research has uncovered
0:28the shocking link between our mouths
0:30and some of the world's most destructive
0:31conditions. More than 90% of diseases
0:34can be traced back to our microbiomes.
0:36And we now understand that having an
0:37imbalanced oral microbiome increases
0:39your risk of high blood pressure, heart
0:41disease, Alzheimer's, rheumatoid
0:43arthritis, and even men who have gum
0:45disease are 2.85 times more likely to
0:47have erectile dysfunction.
0:48Really?
0:49Yeah. And then another study also showed
0:51there's oral bacteria that can make
0:53cancer more aggressive and harder to
0:55treat as well.
0:55But what is it that causes all of this?
0:57Poor oral hygiene, sugar, stress, but
0:59also some of us genetically will have
1:01mutations which can cause disease. But
1:04there's ways to fix it. For example, I
1:05had a patient who had terrible arthritis
1:07and terrible gum disease. And when I
1:09treated the gum disease, her rheumatoid
1:10arthritis got better to the point where
1:12she was actually able to walk again.
1:14Wow.
1:15Yeah.
1:15So, let's talk about what we can do
1:16about it. Is there any time where I
1:18shouldn't brush my teeth? Do I spit or
1:20rinse after I've brushed my teeth?
1:21Chewing gum, coffee, mouthwash, good or
1:24bad for me?
1:25Let's go through all of that. So,
1:27weirdly,
1:29this has always blown my mind a little
1:31bit. 53% of you that listen to the show
1:33regularly haven't yet subscribed to the
1:35show. So, could I ask you for a favor
1:37before we start? If you like the show
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1:47everything in my power, me and my team,
1:48to make sure that this show is better
1:50for you every single week. We'll listen
1:52to your feedback. We'll find the guests
1:53that you want me to speak to, and we'll
1:55continue to do what we do. Thank you so
1:57much.
2:01Dr. Victoria Samson, what is the mission
2:05that you're on?
2:07Um, my mission is to show people that
2:09the mouth is the gateway to the rest of
2:11the body. And if they really want to
2:13achieve full body health, it starts with
2:14the mouth first.
2:16I've never heard of the term oral
2:18microbiome
2:19really until I met you and went through
2:22all of your work and your research and I
2:25think many people listening to this now
2:26also probably aren't familiar with that
2:28term or and also the importance of that
2:30term. So if you had to make a case to
2:32someone like me who's really unfamiliar
2:33with this subject as to why it's so
2:35important from a very topline
2:37perspective,
2:38what would you say? I think everyone
2:41knows that their gut has a microbiome.
2:43And for the past 10 years, we've always
2:44talked about how you can change your
2:46diet, probiotics, prebiotics for the gut
2:48microbiome. But what a lot of people
2:50don't understand is that the oral
2:52microbiome is the second largest and
2:54most diverse microbiome after the gut.
2:56It's also a lot easier to change and
2:58actually it's been shown to have a
3:00massive impact on general health. So,
3:02uh, having an imbalanced oral microbiome
3:04increases your risk of oral diseases
3:07like gum disease and decay, but also can
3:09increase your risk of other systemic
3:11diseases like high blood pressure, heart
3:13disease, infertility, Alzheimer's. Um,
3:16and it's something that is so easy to
3:18manage and balance.
3:20How many people does this impact and how
3:22many people is it relevant to? So, an
3:24understanding of my or oral microbiome
3:26is going to help me in a number of ways
3:28as it relates to my overall health. But
3:29how many people does it really really
3:31have an impact on?
3:33I think it depends on what you're trying
3:34to get out of the oral microbiome
3:36testing. Um, I would argue that it
3:39benefits everyone. We all have teeth. We
3:41all have mouths. Um, and everything that
3:44we do, every time we breathe, we eat, we
3:46drink, we kiss, uh, we are impacting our
3:49oral microbiome every single time. And
3:51then every time we swallow or we breathe
3:53that bacteria that is putting into our
3:56mouth will travel elsewhere to the rest
3:57of the body and cause problems
3:58elsewhere.
3:59You said it's the second biggest
4:01microbiome in the body.
4:02Yeah.
4:02How many bacteria are in my oral
4:04microbiome?
4:05So you have 700 approximately 700
4:08different bacteria which make up two
4:09billion bacteria overall. And what's
4:11also very weird about the oral
4:13microbiome compared to any of the other
4:14microbiomes is that you've got lots of
4:17different environments or niches within
4:19the same mouth. So, if you think about
4:20the bacteria that would like to live
4:23under the gums or at the back of your
4:25throat or on your teeth, they're all
4:28very different environments. Some are
4:29hot, cold, you know, wet. And so, you've
4:32got lots and lots of different parties
4:34of bacteria within the same microbiome
4:36in the mouth.
4:37Okay. And you mentioned a second ago
4:40that things like kissing, breathing,
4:42swallowing have an impact on my oral
4:44microbiome.
4:45Yes.
4:45In a significant way that I need to know
4:47about.
4:48Uh, yes. So, it's more about how often
4:50you're doing those certain habits. So,
4:52you know, for example, with kissing, the
4:54research has shown that you need to kiss
4:56more than 11 times a day for you to be
4:58sharing the same bacteria or microbiome
5:00as your partner. Um, but also even the
5:02habits that we have, um, the air quality
5:04that we have, everything will dictate
5:07the environment that our mouths are
5:09living in and therefore what bacteria
5:11will live in our mouths. And on the
5:13subject of oral diseases and things like
5:15tooth decay, how many people are
5:17impacted globally by oral diseases?
5:21So the World Health Organization has
5:23come out um saying that 3.5 billion
5:25people have some sort of oral disease.
5:28They've also found that 10% of our world
5:31population are suffering from severe gum
5:33disease which makes gum disease one of
5:36the most prevalent inflammatory
5:37conditions um in the whole body. this
5:40conversation around the oral microbiome.
5:41Have you seen it developing over the
5:43over recent years, have you seen it
5:45become more sort of pertinent to people
5:47in society?
5:49Massively. I think I've been doing this
5:50for for years. It's been something that
5:53I've loved. Um, and no one really knew
5:55what I was talking about most of the
5:56time. They all thought I was a bit of a
5:57dreamer. Even dentists, patients, they
5:59all thought, okay, well, doesn't really
6:01matter, does it? But in the last year or
6:03two, I've had people traveling from all
6:05around the world just to get their oral
6:07microbiome tested to understand more
6:09about what's going on in their body. And
6:10I think we're seeing a shift in the
6:12generations in terms of this new
6:14generation want to understand their
6:16health a lot more. So we're all sitting
6:18there wearing, you know, trackables,
6:20wearables. We're, you know, calculating
6:22how much sleep we have, how much we're
6:23eating. And for uh now we're actually
6:26also wanting to understand our oral
6:28health. So that trust between a dentist
6:31and the patient is not necessary
6:34anymore. We want to actually understand
6:35what's going on in their mouths and
6:37actually, you know, be able to track
6:38things, see what bacteria we have, how
6:40much inflammation we have, our risk of
6:42diseases, and what we can do to change
6:44that.
6:45Last question before I ask you a more
6:47sort of personal question about
6:48yourself. Um, what other diseases in my
6:50body or sort of implications in my body
6:52are linked and can be traced back to the
6:54oral microbiome? We now understand that
6:57more than 90% of diseases can be traced
7:00back to an imbalanced microbiome. Uh if
7:02we zone into just the oral microbiome,
7:05it's got connections with infertility,
7:08heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's,
7:10rheumatoid arthritis. Um and the list
7:14goes on. Erectile dysfunction. Um and
7:17what's also very interesting going back
7:18to your question about you know is there
7:20been a new interest in this in the last
7:22few years we've actually been able to
7:25show that there is a strong connection
7:27and causation between the oral
7:29microbiome and general diseases whereas
7:31prior to maybe 5 years ago there was a
7:34lot of kind of is this correlation is it
7:36just that okay there's the same risk
7:38factors with gum disease and with heart
7:40disease for example smoking and now
7:42we're actually seeing that no it's not
7:44just correlation there is strong
7:46causation between the two.
7:47And who are you?
7:49Um, I am Victoria Samson. I'm a dentist.
7:53Um, I do a lot on the oral microbiome.
7:56Um, people call me the saliva queen.
7:58That's my name on the streets.
8:00And what's your sort of what
8:01professional experiences and education
8:04have brought you here today? And how
8:06long have you been doing that? How many
8:07mouths and how much saliva have you
8:08seen? Give me a a sort of a a big view
8:11on the the wealth of experience you have
8:12on this subject. Um so originally I
8:16trained as a dentist. Um and that's six
8:19years of training. Um I would say I was
8:21a pretty traditional conventional
8:24dentist as I graduated. Um I'd done some
8:27training um at the Karolinska Institute
8:29during my university and the the
8:32Karolinska Institute is the best dental
8:34school in the world. Um but they're very
8:36focused on the mouthbody connection on
8:39testing saliva. Um, and what they
8:41thought was that, you know, you go to
8:43your doctor and you have a blood test.
8:44Why don't you go to your dentist and get
8:45a saliva test? So, from even dental
8:48school, I had this in the back of my
8:49mind, but I still didn't have the
8:52training. And so, I just became a
8:53dentist. Um, I was working half NHS,
8:56half private, and then as time evolved,
8:59I then, um, shifted to fully private.
9:02Um, and then when COVID happened, um, I
9:05started doing a lot of research and all
9:06the dental practices were closed across
9:09the country. Um, and I thought that was
9:11crazy because basically the government
9:13was saying dental practices, uh, or
9:15dentistry is not a necessity. So, uh, I
9:18thought that was insane. And so I
9:21decided to do a lot of research and I
9:23wrote a paper which was connecting, um,
9:26oral health with poor with CO
9:28complications. So what we found was that
9:30patients who had poor oral health or gum
9:32disease were at a much higher risk of
9:34COVID complications. Um and then that
9:38evolved into me doing some studies with
9:39universities and hospitals. But the
9:42issue was that we couldn't go into um
9:45hospitals and check people's teeth and
9:47gums because they had CO. So instead
9:49what we did was we would collect their
9:50saliva and we would take it to the lab
9:53and we had this beautiful snapshot of
9:55what was going on in a patient's mouth
9:57at that moment in time just from their
9:59saliva. So we did a lot of research and
10:01we found that uh COVID sufferers or
10:04patients who had gum disease were nine
10:06times more likely to have COVID
10:07complications. But also what I took from
10:10that was that why aren't we using saliva
10:12you know more regularly? Why don't we
10:14use this in more commercial aspect and
10:16for our patients. So after that I
10:19devoted a lot of time into developing
10:21oral microbiome testing. We had gut
10:24microbiome testing. you've got urinary
10:26microbial, you've got every single
10:27microbiome has a test, but the oral
10:29microbiome didn't really have one. So, I
10:32built one of the first oral microbiome
10:33tests in Europe um and that was a couple
10:35of years ago and then now have come out
10:38and uh kind of left and created my own
10:41one um about a couple of weeks ago.
10:45That research you mentioned,
10:46specifically the research paper which
10:48was titled, could there be a link
10:49between oral hygiene and severity of co
10:52infections
10:53was the first research paper to link gum
10:55disease with worse co complications and
10:59I was reading that it was the most cited
11:02research paper by the one of the sort of
11:05dentistry publications.
11:06Yeah. Yeah. So the British dental
11:08journal is one of the most cited and
11:09viewed articles. Um and what it also
11:12helped do was um the World Health
11:14Organization and SAGE picked that up and
11:17they said, "Oh, wait a second. I think
11:19that oral health is really important for
11:21general health and also we should reopen
11:23dental practices." So this also paved
11:25the way for dental practices reopening
11:27later on.
11:28What's going on there? Can you explain
11:29that to me like a 10-year-old? So if I
11:32have a bad or a unhealthy oral
11:35microbiome, I'm nine times more likely
11:38to end up in ICU with CO complications.
11:41What what's the link?
11:43So there's a few. So the first one is
11:45inflammation. So CO we know um it
11:49releases a lot of inflammatory markers.
11:51So it's what we call the cytoine storm.
11:53So it's essentially the storm of lots
11:55and lots of inflammatory markers. And
11:57gum disease separately um is essentially
12:00inflammation of the gums. And so what
12:02gum disease does is it releases lots of
12:04inflammatory markers from the mouth
12:06elsewhere to the rest of the body. So
12:07then when you add those together and you
12:09have your cytoine storm from COVID and
12:11you've got your inflammatory markers
12:13from gum disease, it's just adding
12:15petrol to the fire. So you're just
12:16making that cytoine storm even worse.
12:19Um but then on the separate side, it's
12:20also bacteria. So if you look at the um
12:23autopsies and the research of CO uh
12:26patients um most of them didn't die from
12:28the virus itself. You no one really died
12:30from COVID 19. They died from
12:32complications. So the number one
12:34complication was actually a bacterial
12:36infection. So imagine your body you've
12:38got COVID you are really unwell and your
12:41immune system is on absolute overdrive.
12:44This is the prime time for bacteria to
12:46come into your body and to cause what we
12:48call a bacterial super infection. And so
12:50actually when you looked at the
12:51autopsies of a lot of these patients,
12:53they had oral bacteria from their mouth
12:56traveling to their lungs and causing
12:58bacterial super infections which would
13:00result in things like pneumonia. And
13:02that's actually the cause of death for
13:03most patients.
13:05You don't really think that your oral
13:07microbiome can be fatal. It can kill
13:10you.
13:11No. And even I think as a dentist we
13:15weren't really taught how important
13:17bacteria was or how important the mouth
13:20was for the rest of the body. Uh the
13:22number the only one that we ever learned
13:24um and a lot of people would know this
13:26one is that if you um have heart surgery
13:30you can't actually have a hygiene for
13:32about 6 months after the heart surgery.
13:34A dental hygiene.
13:35Yes. And the reason for that is because
13:37you're at a very high risk risk of
13:39something called infective endocarditis.
13:41So this is oral bacteria which travels
13:43down to a faulty heart valve um and can
13:46actually cause death. Um so we know that
13:48but we never really look at it for other
13:51diseases or other problems.
13:53I want to um I want to take a step back
13:55before we go through the links between
13:57our oral microbiome and all of these
13:59diseases. But also I really want to also
14:00talk about how what we can do about it
14:02because I've got so many questions
14:03around it. I've got all of these
14:05products down below my chair from
14:06mouthwashes to toothpaste to all these
14:08kinds of things which I want to talk
14:09about as well. But just taking a step
14:11back to something that one of my guests
14:12previously was telling me about. I think
14:14it was James Nester. He was telling me
14:16that the the mouth itself and the jaw
14:19because of processed foods is an
14:22abnormal shape. And when I say abnormal,
14:24I mean um in relation to how it was
14:26supposed to develop because we're eating
14:28so many processed foods which aren't,
14:30you know, which are designed to be easy
14:31to chew. the mouth itself and the jaw
14:34have changed. Is there any truth in
14:35that?
14:36Yeah, 100%. So, there was a man called
14:39Western Price um and he was a dentist
14:42and he basically suspected that and he
14:44was like, "This is strange. Why is it
14:46that um people who are in more
14:49industrialized and westernized areas
14:52have higher levels of decay and they
14:53have loads of crowding?" So, they had
14:55basically lots of crowding of the teeth
14:58um and sper jaws. And so he basically
15:00traveled around the world and he looked
15:02at lots of different um tribes,
15:05villages, countries and he compared the
15:08teeth of uh for example twins. One twin
15:11would be in a very industrialized
15:13westernized area and the other one was
15:15not. And what he found was that in the
15:18twins who were in these
15:19non-industrialized areas, they were
15:21eating harder foods. Uh they were having
15:24less sugar and actually their jaws
15:26developed a lot better. So they didn't
15:27have crowding. They had perfect teeth
15:29actually and they had no decay compared
15:32to the children or the the twins who are
15:34in more industrialized areas and it is
15:37because our food now has become so
15:39processed. A lot of children are not
15:41having hard foods. Um and so we don't
15:44develop the jaws and the muscles at an
15:46early age and so the teeth haven't
15:48changed size. The teeth are exactly the
15:49same size as they were previously. But
15:51what we're seeing is that those teeth um
15:54don't have any space to grow anymore and
15:55that's when we're getting crowding. And
15:57can you see that in any of those models?
15:59So, uh, yeah, in this model you can
16:02actually see at the very back. So, a lot
16:03of people will have wisdom teeth. Um,
16:05and, uh, one of the biggest issues at
16:08the moment is that a lot of people have
16:09impacted wisdom teeth. So, this is
16:11basically, imagine your teeth are all
16:13upright. Your wisdom tooth is coming out
16:15at a completely horizontal angle and
16:17it's pushing on the rest of the teeth.
16:19It's an absolute nightmare as a dentist
16:21to take out. It's even more of a
16:22nightmare for a patient to have to
16:24endure. But also we're seeing that there
16:26are a lot more impacted wisdom teeth um
16:29in the last 30 40 years than there were
16:31previously
16:32uh because the diets have changed.
16:33Because the diets have changed a lot
16:34more children are needing orthodontic
16:36treatment now as well just because they
16:38have crowded teeth. Teeth are
16:40overlapping um and so they need braces
16:42to straighten those teeth out. If you
16:44think about cavemen, cavemen didn't have
16:47dentists. They didn't have braces. They
16:49didn't even use toothpaste. But they
16:51didn't die from gum disease or decay or
16:54crowded teeth. So, it's been something
16:56in our industrialized or more kind of
16:59westernized diet that has changed that.
17:02My wisdom tooth is coming through on my
17:04left side at the moment and I think
17:05actually also my right side at the same
17:06time. And I'm 32 years old now. So, I'm
17:09like, why why the hell am I growing
17:10teeth at 32 years old? I thought I was
17:12on my way out or something. Um, so I got
17:14two questions just before we crack on,
17:16which is what the hell is a wisdom
17:17tooth? Why is it called a wisdom tooth
17:18and why is it coming through at 32 years
17:20old?
17:21Um, so we have teeth erupting at
17:24different kind of times of our lives. So
17:28usually you have your baby teeth, they
17:30will erupt up to the age of about 6 or 7
17:32years old. Um, and then you have your
17:34adult teeth coming through and usually
17:36they will stop erupting around 12 years
17:38old. Um, and then you have nothing.
17:40You're chilling. You have nothing,
17:41nothing, nothing nothing until about
17:43maybe 18, 19 years old. And that's where
17:46you start to get your wisdom teeth. The
17:49name behind wisdom teeth from what I
17:51understand is because it's it erupts
17:54when you're older. It's when you have
17:55more wisdom and you're more wise. So I'm
17:57wise now.
17:57So you're just very wise.
17:59Okay, makes sense.
18:00And so some people will get it at 18.
18:03Some people don't have any wisdom teeth.
18:05Some people will have wisdom teeth which
18:06erupt perfectly and are all completely
18:08fine. and others will have their wisdom
18:10teeth tooth erupt at 32 years old and
18:12maybe be a little bit impacted or cause
18:14problems. So, they're also very strange
18:18teeth. Um, they're very unpredictable
18:20the way that they are.
18:21Is there any evolutionary basis for why
18:23we need them? There must be some kind of
18:25evolutionary reason for them.
18:27Not that I understand. What is also
18:30happening is that um apparently and this
18:32is some research is that less people are
18:34having wisdom teeth because more
18:37children or or adults are getting their
18:39wisdom teeth taken out and as evolution
18:42goes um eventually some people are
18:45actually not having wisdom teeth at all
18:46because their ancestors haven't had
18:48wisdom teeth so why would they have
18:49wisdom teeth? Um but overall no there's
18:52no real need for wisdom teeth. I never
18:56like to take them out unless needed
18:58because I mean more teeth
19:00the better
19:00the better and you never know if you
19:02have to have something taken out and we
19:04can use your wisdom teeth for something.
19:06If I were to look at my ancestors from
19:09500 years ago, you said they don't have
19:11dentists, they don't have toothpaste and
19:12all those kinds of things. But you also
19:14said they don't have tooth tooth decay.
19:16Yeah.
19:16Does that not therefore mean that I
19:19shouldn't need a dentist and I shouldn't
19:20need toothpaste or mouthwash or floss?
19:23If you had a caveman diet, then
19:26potentially you might not need
19:28toothpaste, floss, or even a toothbrush.
19:31Um, and there's a lot of argument as to,
19:33you know, there's a lot of people out
19:34there saying, you know, you don't need
19:36to use any toothpaste, you don't need
19:37floss, anything like that. And fine, go
19:40ahead, do that. But only if you are
19:42going to be eating, you know, meat, raw
19:45meat sometimes, and you're only drinking
19:47water and you're not having anything in
19:50your diet which has any sugar or
19:52carbohydrates in it.
19:53I mean, doesn't that speak to what the
19:54perfect diet is supposed to be? Can't we
19:56tell what the perfect diet is supposed
19:58to be by looking at the mouth?
19:59Yeah. So, uh, another issue is that with
20:02a lot of the food that we eat now, um,
20:05they have a lot more sugar in them and
20:07that will impact the acidity of your
20:08saliva. And essentially what decay is
20:11is, uh, you have sugar or you have some
20:14sort of carbohydrates and you've got
20:16this bacteria in your mouth and they
20:18feed on that sugar. And as they feed on
20:20that sugar, they release acid. Um, and
20:23if that acid is left there, then it can
20:25cause demineralization of your teeth.
20:27and that demineralization will end up
20:29with decay.
20:31Okay. So, let's talk about the personal
20:35oral microbiome. Um, is my oral
20:37microbiome different from say Jack's
20:39over there and from my girlfriends?
20:42Yes. Massively.
20:43Massively different.
20:44Yes. Maybe massively I would say. Um, so
20:48one of the issues that I used to have
20:50was I was doing lots of oral microbiome
20:52testing. Um, and I would have, you know,
20:55let's say you and your girlfriend do an
20:57oral microbiome test and both of you, I
20:59would see your results and they would
21:00come out pretty much the same because
21:02we're only looking at certain bacteria.
21:04We can't look at all 700. So, we would
21:06look at the top 20 bacteria that cause
21:08problems. So, I would look at both of
21:10them and then I would look inside your
21:11mouth and one of you, I don't know in
21:14this case, had raging gum disease and
21:16terrible, terrible oral health and the
21:19other person would be completely fine.
21:20So then I realized that actually it's
21:22not just bacteria that causes disease or
21:25problems, it's how your body responds to
21:27that bacteria and the strains of
21:29bacteria that you have as well. So for
21:31every bacteria um there'll be multiple
21:34strains and some of those strains can be
21:36really aggressive and really horrible
21:37for your mouth and other strains are
21:39completely fine and are not going to
21:41cause you any problems. So when I
21:43developed my test, what we did is we
21:45looked at strains. So we looked at the
21:46strains of certain bacteria um and we
21:49would be able to differentiate between
21:50patients who had the really bad strains
21:52and the really good strains. But then
21:54also we looked at the ratio of good and
21:56bad bacteria in someone's mouth. So
21:58their diversity as well as their genetic
22:00mutations and also their inflammation.
22:02So when you put all of it together and
22:04you it's like a puzzle piece then you
22:06can actually have a better insight into
22:08someone's oral health. So, I guess my
22:11answer is that everyone's oral
22:13microbiome is a little bit different,
22:14but it's also how your body responds to
22:16that microbiome and bacteria that really
22:18dictates whether or not you're going to
22:20have disease or problems.
22:21So, you could be someone who takes care
22:23of their teeth really, really well, but
22:24still have a bad oral microbiome
22:27relationship with the rest of your body
22:29effectively.
22:30Yeah. And I see it every day. And we
22:31have a lot of patients who suffer from
22:33terrible gum disease and they come to me
22:35and they brush three times a day.
22:36They've never touched a cigarette. They
22:38have immaculate oral hygiene. They eat
22:41very well, but they have terrible gum
22:43disease. And for those patients, they
22:44might have genetic mutations that
22:46predispose them to gum disease and to
22:49inflammation. So even the smallest
22:51amount of bacteria, their body responds
22:53in a very aggressive and inflammatory
22:56destructive way, which can cause
22:57disease.
22:58When I was speaking to I think it was
22:59Tim Spectre about the gut microbiome, he
23:01was telling me that the gut microbiome
23:03turns over, i.e. the bacteria dies every
23:06couple of days or weeks or something.
23:09How often does the oral microbiome die
23:14turn over and why does that matter?
23:16So, what's interesting or different
23:19between the oral and gut microbiome? The
23:20oral microbiome, if someone doesn't go
23:23in there and mechanically disrupt the
23:25bacteria and the plaque in your mouth,
23:28then that bacteria can stay forever. So,
23:30the gut, what happens is you've got
23:31something called paristelis. got
23:33movement. So the bacteria moves, it it
23:35changes, it regenerates, there's
23:37turnover in the mouth. So the teeth are
23:39the only non-shedding surfaces in the
23:41whole body. So that
23:42non-shedding surfaces.
23:44So imagine if you if you never had a
23:46shower in your life. Uh you would still
23:49selfwash because the skin cells would
23:51shed.
23:52Mhm.
23:53But if you never brushed your teeth,
23:55then your teeth are not shedding.
23:56They're going to stay like that. So that
23:58bacteria will just keep on growing and
24:00growing and growing and growing and
24:02you'll get this really thick plaque. So
24:05that's why actually the oral microbiome
24:07you need to mechanically remove that
24:09bacteria and that's why brushing your
24:10teeth is super important or um using the
24:13correct toothpaste or etc. going and
24:15seeing your hygienist because you need
24:17to mechanically remove that bacteria
24:19quite regularly.
24:21Okay. And the the two ways I was reading
24:23in your work it said that the two ways
24:24that oral health impacts overall health
24:26are by the spreading of bacteria and the
24:28other sort of central issue is it causes
24:30inflammation.
24:31So on this point of spreading bacteria
24:34I'm always concerned this is a bit of a
24:36superstitious thing but anytime that I'm
24:38sick I'm always like don't part of me is
24:40like don't swallow because in my head I
24:42think if I'm sick in my mouth or if I've
24:44got um like a sore throat or something
24:46I'm like if I swallow it the rest of my
24:48body is going to get sick. It's super
24:50super superstitious, but is there any
24:52truth to any of this?
24:54Um, so not from just being sick like a
24:56common cold. And it's actually really
24:58interesting. I had a patient yesterday
24:59and bless him, he's very young, 7 years
25:01old. Um, and he had exactly that same
25:05mindset. He just randomly woke up one
25:07day and he said, "This is kind of gross.
25:09Why am I swallowing my saliva? There's
25:11all these bad bugs and gross things in
25:13my saliva and I'm swallowing it every
25:14day and it's traveling to the rest of my
25:16body at seven." And so what he ended up
25:20doing was refusing to swallow his own
25:22saliva. And so he would basically just
25:24dribble and he would just wipe his the
25:27saliva off with a sleeve or he'd carry a
25:29towel with him and just wipe it. So
25:31bless him, he had a big rash around his
25:32his um his face. Um and it it was a bit
25:37of a weird moment for me because I was
25:39like, you're kind of right. Like I mean
25:41it is a bit weird especially as a child
25:43to sit there and think like yeah you've
25:45got 700 different bacteria two billion
25:47bacteria overall and then you're
25:49swallowing it and it can travel
25:50elsewhere to the rest of the body. So
25:52yes in in short yes bacteria from your
25:55mouth when you swallow it can travel
25:57elsewhere to the rest of the body.
25:59However a lot of the bacteria um dies.
26:02So the acid in the stomach can kill a
26:05lot of the bacteria. So it's only the
26:06really really bad bacteria that are able
26:09to survive and cause problems. And
26:10that's why it's so important that you
26:12have a good oral microbiome and you
26:13balance it well.
26:14And the other central way that it can
26:16cause
26:18negative impacts to your overall health
26:19is via inflammation. What is the link
26:22between inflammation and my my oral
26:24microbiome? So it's uh something that we
26:28call lowgrade chronic inflammation and
26:30imagine so you've got this delicate
26:32balance of bacteria in your mouth which
26:34is your microbiome and we all have bad
26:36bacteria in our mouths but most of us
26:39hopefully have better levels or higher
26:42levels of the good bacteria. So there's
26:44always that balance and what happens in
26:46an imbalanced oral microbiome is that
26:48shift changes. So you get higher levels
26:50of bad bacteria and you don't have
26:52enough good bacteria. These bad bacteria
26:55firstly yes they can travel elsewhere to
26:56the rest of your body as you discussed.
26:58The second is that they can release
27:00inflammatory markers. So they basically
27:02release inflammation and this
27:04inflammation can travel from your mouth
27:06to the rest of your body and contribute
27:08to inflammation elsewhere. So for
27:10example if you had rheumatoid arthritis
27:12and then you had inflammation from your
27:14gums that inflammation from your gums is
27:17making your arthritis in your wrists
27:19worse. So it's contributing to it. Now
27:22what's also interesting and that's why
27:24it's called lowgrade chronic
27:25inflammation is often you wouldn't even
27:27know that you have it. I have so many
27:29patients who say oh you know my gums
27:31bleed but that's normal. If your eye
27:33bled or if your foot was bleeding every
27:36day you would be worried and you would
27:38think actually there's inflammation
27:40here. There's a problem here. But so
27:42many people have bleeding gums and they
27:43don't understand that bleeding gums is a
27:46sign. It's your gums screaming to you
27:47saying that I have inflammation and that
27:49inflammation can travel. And then the
27:52third mechanism as well. So there's one
27:54more is um it's damage to your blood
27:56vessels. So again the same bad bacteria
27:58in your mouth. It releases these
28:00enzymes, these toxic enzymes and they
28:03can travel through the rest of your body
28:04through your blood vessels and they can
28:06actually damage your blood vessels. So
28:08these blood vessels are not able to
28:10dilate and constrict as well as they
28:12used to.
28:13On that point of arthritis, I read a
28:15stat which um I believe is true. I think
28:17it actually came from some of your
28:18research that said people with
28:19rheumatoid arthritis are eight times
28:21more likely to develop gum disease than
28:23patients without rheumatoid arthritis.
28:26Yes.
28:27Which is shocking.
28:28Yeah. So there's a really strong um
28:30birectional relationship between
28:32rheumatoid arthritis and gum disease. So
28:34that means that if you have really bad
28:36rheumatoid arthritis, you will have
28:38pretty bad gum disease. And if you treat
28:40your rheumatoid arthritis, your gum
28:42disease will get better. and vice versa.
28:44If you have if you treat the gum
28:46disease, your rheumatoid arthritis will
28:47get better. And that was actually one of
28:49the um first patients that really got me
28:53on my journey of the mouthbody
28:55connection. So like yeah, I was doing
28:56the saliva testing. I got it. You know,
28:58I was like, "Okay, cool. We are
29:00quantifying oral health. We're tracking
29:02things." But even me, I wasn't really
29:06fully sold on this whole mouthbody
29:08connection, how our mouth is connected
29:09to the rest of the body. So, I had a
29:11patient who was sent to me by um her
29:13functional medicine practitioner and she
29:16had been seen by uh four or five
29:18different practitioners. She had
29:20terrible rheumatoid arthritis and she um
29:23went to this final guy and he was the
29:25first guy to ever ask her, "Have you
29:27ever had your teeth checked? What's
29:28happened?" And she said, "Oh, I've had a
29:30few teeth taken out in the last year or
29:32two, about six teeth, but you know, it's
29:34just it is what it is." And he was like,
29:36"I I don't think that's normal." So he
29:39sent her to me and he was like, "Can you
29:40do your saliva stuff that you do and see
29:42if there's anything up going on there?"
29:44And we did do a saliva test, we saw that
29:46she had super high levels of
29:48inflammation, of collagen breakdown, um
29:51high levels of bad bacteria. And what
29:54was the most important was that when I
29:56treated her gum disease, she had
29:57terrible gum disease and that's why she
29:59was losing her teeth. When I treated the
30:01gum disease properly and aggressively,
30:03um, yes, her gums healed, but more
30:05importantly, her rheumatoid arthritis
30:07got better to the point where she was
30:09actually able to get off steroids and
30:11medication and be able to walk again.
30:14Wow.
30:14Yeah.
30:16By treating her gum disease.
30:17Yeah. And I think that, you know,
30:19sometimes as a dentist, we treat a lot
30:22of gum disease and we treat a lot of
30:23things and we don't necessarily see the
30:26systemic consequences because the
30:28patient doesn't come back or you know um
30:31or it's such a small impact that you
30:33don't necessarily see it. But this was
30:35the one time where I was like wow like
30:37what we do is actually really really
30:40insightful and really important. And you
30:42mentioned alongside that um inflammation
30:44also has an impact on cardiovascular
30:46functioning and health. I believe it's
30:49the case that cardiovascular disease is
30:51the biggest killer in the world from
30:52what I understand. Um so I was wondering
30:55if if you knew any of the stats that
30:57show the impact or the the increased
31:00likelihood of me having a heart attack
31:01or a stroke or something based on my
31:03oral microbiome.
31:06So um the research has shown that if you
31:08have gum disease you are at a 20% higher
31:11chance of high blood pressure. Um but
31:13also they are now saying that up to 30
31:16to 40% of cardiac um issues in hospital
31:21can be traced back to an oral bacteria
31:25um causing problems in the heart valve.
31:27Um so the reason for this connection so
31:30yes inflammation but also going back to
31:33that third mechanism I told you which
31:35was about the vasoc constriction so the
31:37blood vessels constricting and dilating.
31:40So these toxic enzymes which are being
31:41released by the bacteria they travel
31:43through the blood um and they basically
31:46stop the blood vessels from being able
31:48to widen and lots of blood to travel to
31:51the heart and also to constrict and that
31:53also is um one of the biggest
31:55connections with uh heart disease.
31:57I found this stat which might well be
31:59from your work or someone else's. It's
32:00from the study called the association
32:01between parodontitis and blood pressure
32:04highlighted in systemic systemically
32:06healthy individuals.
32:08Not mine but okay. And it found that
32:10people with gum disease were twice as
32:12likely to have a heart attack and three
32:14times as likely to have a stroke than
32:16those without inflammatory gum disease,
32:18which is absolutely staggering.
32:21Yeah. And then another study also showed
32:23that when you treated someone's gum
32:25disease, their levels of CRP, and CRP is
32:28an inflammatory marker that you can
32:30check in your blood, the levels of CRP
32:32significantly reduced. And for a lot of
32:34patients who suffer from heart
32:36conditions, they will get their CRP
32:37quite regularly checked through blood
32:39testing.
32:40And so this is a way of reducing their
32:42inflammation is just by having a a
32:43simple hygiene. And I've even seen um
32:46particularly in America, there's a lot
32:48of um uh cardiac surgeons and um doctors
32:52related to to heart health um who are
32:55now actually working with dentists
32:58because they understand that if they
32:59work together, then they're going to
33:01have far better results for their
33:02patients. And this is this is that
33:05swallowing thing we're talking about.
33:06This is because you're swallowing that
33:07bad bacteria.
33:08Yeah. And your heart valve um imagine if
33:10it's been it's faulty. Imagine you just
33:12had surgery. I always think of it like
33:15it's sticky. It's like velcro. So it's
33:17really prone to infection and problems.
33:19It's just like if you fell over and you
33:21had a scab and you were rolling around
33:23in mud all the time, you would get
33:25bacteria going into that scab and
33:26causing problems. There's the same thing
33:28with your heart valves.
33:29Doesn't the bacteria just travel on its
33:30own anyway? Cuz I feel like it's in my
33:32mouth. So I feel like it I don't know
33:34these are living organisms don't they
33:35just like find their way down even if I
33:37don't swallow.
33:38Yeah even through your blood um and also
33:41through your gums as well. So you can
33:43swallow your bacteria breathe it or it
33:46can go through your blood.
33:47At the start of this conversation we're
33:48talking you mentioned the sort of
33:50implications for your cardiovascular
33:51system and one of the things you said
33:52was erectile dysfunction and that was
33:55slightly alarming to me as a man
33:57um who's trying to stay away from
33:59erectile dysfunction. What is what is
34:00the research that supports this idea
34:03that my oral microbiome can have an
34:04impact on my erectile functioning?
34:08So men who have periodontal disease are
34:102.85 times more likely to suffer from
34:12erectile dysfunction.
34:142.8 times.
34:15Yeah.
34:16Is I'm pretty sure that's 280% isn't it?
34:18Yeah.
34:19Okay. So what is this perodontal
34:20disease?
34:21Gum disease. Okay. So uh it's kind of I
34:24would say it's a bit of a spectrum. So
34:26the early stages of perodontal disease
34:29or gum disease is just gum inflammation.
34:31So that's that patient who is brushing
34:33their teeth, spits in the basin and sees
34:35blood. So that's the you know the early
34:37inflammation. If they don't get that
34:39checked out and sorted that will just
34:40continue and continue and continue to
34:43what we call gum disease. Um and that's
34:45where yes you've got inflammation but
34:47actually you have really high levels of
34:49bad bacteria now. And this bacteria is
34:51essentially eating away the gums and
34:53also your bone. And uh it's it's now
34:57become irreversible.
34:58I'm just going to have a swig of this
35:01for your thought this
35:06and then at the very end of the spectrum
35:08is people who are losing their teeth
35:10having really terrible gum infections
35:12and all of these kind of mouthbody
35:14connections that we're talking about.
35:16Okay. And that can you just explain
35:19again as if I'm 10 the how my how that
35:23gum disease that parodontitis is it
35:24called
35:25has an impact on my penis I don't
35:27understand like I don't understand the
35:28link it makes all of my blood vessels
35:30exactly
35:31yes so it essentially stops your blood
35:33vessels from dilating
35:35and so you've got reduced blood flow to
35:37your penis
35:38okay
35:38and therefore
35:41doesn't work
35:41okay so this is an emergency this stuff
35:43this is really is important
35:44that's the one statistic whenever I have
35:46a and in the chair and he's like, "Oh, I
35:48don't want to brush my teeth." I'm like
35:492.85 times more likely to have erectile
35:51dysfunction. They usually will go
35:52straight to the bathroom to brush their
35:54teeth.
35:54The other thing, no, but it's true, but
35:56also the other thing that I I read in
35:57your research, which I found really
35:58really um shocking is the link between
36:03my oral health, my oral microbiome, and
36:06cancer.
36:07Yeah.
36:08I was reading specifically about female
36:10breast cancer,
36:11um which I know is affects a lot of
36:13women. um what is the link there between
36:15breast cancer cancer generally and our
36:17oral microbiome.
36:19So this is um I would say some of the
36:21newest emerging research that's coming
36:23out. So with breast cancer um I didn't
36:26know this before this research came out
36:28but your breast has uh its own
36:30microbiome. So that tissue within the
36:32breast um different bacteria are able to
36:35grow. And what they found was that in
36:37women who had breast cancer, they had
36:40high levels of certain oral bacteria in
36:42their breast microbiome. So the oral
36:44bacteria is called fusobacterium
36:46nucleatum. And they compared the breast
36:49microbiomes of patients who didn't have
36:52breast cancer versus those who had
36:53breast cancer.
36:54Sorry, what's an oral what's a breast
36:56microbiome?
36:57Just the collection of bacteria in your
36:58breast.
36:59Okay.
36:59Yeah. Um I didn't even know there was a
37:01microbiome in your breast either, but
37:03apparently so. And um so when they
37:05compared a healthy um woman uh her
37:09breasts to a woman who had breast
37:11cancer, the woman who had breast cancer
37:13had very high levels of the specific
37:15oral bacteria called fusobacterium
37:17nucleotum in their breast. Um there's
37:20also been research on colurectal cancer.
37:23Um and actually Apple News came out with
37:26something couple of months ago which was
37:28nice to see them kind of just spreading
37:30the word. But what they found was that
37:32in patients who had colarctal cancer um
37:36more than 50% of them had the the exact
37:39same oral bacteria from the breast
37:40cancer study that fusobacterium
37:42nucleotum in the colons and what they
37:45found was that oral bacteria uh made the
37:49cancer more aggressive and harder to
37:51treat as well.
37:53I was reading about a study in mice um
37:55that linked that oral bacteria to tumor
37:58growth. Mhm.
37:59Are you familiar with that study?
38:01Yes. And it's that specific oral
38:02bacteria. So the fusacter nucleotum
38:05which has been shown to accelerate tumor
38:07growth um within mice but also um for
38:10colorectal cancer and breast cancer as
38:12well.
38:14And what's your belief there? I know
38:15this research is fairly new but do you
38:17think there is a a causal relationship a
38:19significant causal relationship between
38:20the health of our oral microbiome and
38:22our probability of developing some form
38:24of cancer?
38:25I wouldn't yet say causal. I think that
38:30for most cancers it is multiffactorial
38:34and there are a lot of things that can
38:37impact whether or not you get the cancer
38:39and how aggressive the cancer is. Um I
38:42do think that oral health and some
38:44specific oral bacteria um are risk
38:47factors and can definitely increase the
38:50um aggression of those cancers or even
38:53the initiation of them. Um there's also
38:55been research and I think I'm waiting
38:57for the research to be published on what
39:00they're doing is they've created a
39:01antibiotic which only kills that oral
39:04bacteria that I was talking about. So
39:06fusobacterium nucleiatum and they are
39:08going to be issuing that uh antibiotic
39:11to those patients who have the colctal
39:13cancer which has the oral bacteria to
39:16see whether or not it slows down their
39:18progression or improves their their
39:20prognosis. So if I see those results and
39:22it shows it, then there's for sure a
39:25strong positive link between the two.
39:27But for now, I would say that it's
39:29multiffactorial and it's definitely a
39:30risk factor.
39:31That oral bacteria that you're
39:33describing that you called it fuzo
39:35bacterium.
39:35Yeah.
39:36What is it that causes that? Is it
39:38something that I'm eating? Is it a
39:39lifestyle choice I'm making?
39:41Uh multiple things. Poor oral hygiene.
39:44Um some of us genetically will have
39:46higher levels of it. Um it's what we
39:48eat. It's who we're kissing. It's what
39:50we're breathing in.
39:51Does my girlfriend have it?
39:54So, we would have to see. Um, but it's
39:56uh and that's the thing. That's the
39:57beauty of being able to test these
39:59things now is that you can actually see
40:00and also what's it's strange is that
40:03green tea um you know something so
40:05simple is extremely effective at killing
40:08fusoacterium nucleotum. So, it's just
40:10knowing those types of things, being
40:11able to do the test, knowing the right
40:13treatment plans and recommendations
40:15based from that. We know green tea is
40:17good for us and now we can really
40:19understand why.
40:20Okay, that's interesting. You you have
40:22actually tested Jack over there, right?
40:23And you said to me before we started
40:24recording that he's got a ton of that
40:26fuzo bacterium.
40:28Uh yes, he does. Yeah.
40:29And it's really getting out of control.
40:31That's what you said.
40:31Really badly out of control. Yeah. So,
40:33I've um
40:36I've given him a big vat of green tea as
40:38a gift.
40:39Green tea?
40:40Yes,
40:41green tea.
40:43This guy's going to edit that out. This
40:44is the problem.
40:48me up.
40:51Green tea.
40:51Yeah,
40:52that's good for my own microbiome.
40:53Yeah, really good. Stains, but really
40:55good. Um, it's anti-inflammatory. Um, it
40:59helps with what we call oxidative
41:00stress. So, this is um, basically stress
41:03of for the body. Um, and it's
41:05antibacterial. So, it actually is very
41:07effective at killing fusobacterium
41:09nuclei.
41:10What is your opinion of the impact that
41:12coffee has on my oral microbiome? I'm
41:15slightly biased because I love coffee.
41:17Okay.
41:18But there is no negative impact of
41:21coffee on the oral microbiome directly.
41:25Um coffee does dry your mouth out. Um
41:28and so you have reduced saliva and that
41:30can actually cause problems for the oral
41:33microbiome. So the saliva is super
41:36important in your mouth. It provides all
41:38of the food, the proteins, everything
41:41for the bacteria in your mouth. So, it's
41:42kind of like this delivery service. Your
41:45delivery roots traveling around
41:46providing all the food and bacteria um
41:49sorry, food to the bacteria and that's
41:51what keeps the good bacteria alive and
41:53happy. So, when you have a dry mouth,
41:55let's say you're drinking lots of coffee
41:57or you're very nervous or you are on
41:59anti-depressants for example, um which
42:01are a big one, then you just don't have
42:03as much saliva. So you those bacteria
42:06don't have as much food and those
42:08bacteria die and then you get bad
42:10bacteria growing in replacement.
42:12What about tea? We're a nation of tea
42:14drinkers in the UK.
42:16Um similar. So it also does dry your
42:18mouth. Not as bad as coffee, but
42:19otherwise no problems other than
42:21staining.
42:22What about if I put loads of sugar in
42:23it? Cuz a lot of people put a lot of
42:24sugar.
42:25Okay. Yeah. No, no, no. Never. No. No.
42:26So actually sugar in your tea is even
42:29worse than you having a biscuit for
42:32example. Um so because the sugar
42:34dissolves in your hot tea and the tea is
42:37hot when you drink it um it can actually
42:39cause more problems. Uh another thing
42:42with sugar is um I have a sweet tooth. I
42:45love sugar. But it's about how you eat
42:46your sugar. So let's say if you have
42:48your hot tea with five lumps of sugar in
42:51there and you're sipping it over an hour
42:53or two, that's where you start to see a
42:55lot of problems. So actually you need to
42:57be having a sugar attack. So just all
43:00the sugar in one go. And that way your
43:02mouth has all the sugar in one go and
43:04it's able to neutralize the saliva and
43:06get back to a good state as quickly as
43:08possible. Every time you sip your your
43:11tea with sugar, what happens is that the
43:13saliva has to go from acidic back to
43:16neutral, acidic, back to neutral,
43:17acidic, and then it starts to just not
43:19work properly and the saliva just stays
43:21acidic and that's where you start to see
43:23decay.
43:23So you want to just down the tea,
43:25down the tea or I don't know if you're a
43:27M&M guy, have all your M&M's in one go.
43:30Don't snack on M&M's every 10 minutes.
43:32What about other drinks like, I don't
43:33know, you know, Coca-Cas and these other
43:35sort of fizzy drinks that might have
43:38artificial sweeteners in things like
43:39that.
43:40So, they're not as bad as your natural
43:43sugars. Um, but for example, something
43:46like your Coke or or Fanta or whatever,
43:48it's also um very acidic. Um, and it can
43:52actually cause erosion as well. So this
43:54is essentially where the outer layer of
43:56your tooth, so the enamel is just worn
43:58away from having lots and lots of these
44:00fizzy drinks.
44:01Okay. So that it's not going to cause
44:02decay in the same way, but it might
44:04change the acidic balance which then
44:06decays my tooth, which makes me more
44:08susceptible to when I eat sugar to
44:10having a problem. Okay, got
44:12so going back to what we were talking
44:13about the the implications of an oral
44:15microbiome and the rest of my body,
44:16brain health is one thing that I was
44:17really curious about. Um, we've had lots
44:19of conversations on this show about
44:21Alzheimer's and dementia and just
44:23general sort of optimal cognitive
44:25performance as I age. Something I'm
44:26thinking a lot about. I want to have a
44:28sharp brain. It's quite important
44:29because of what I do. Um, so is there a
44:31link between my oral microbiome and my
44:33cognitive and brain health?
44:35Yes. Um so if we look at actually just
44:39the the occurrence of Alzheimer's um and
44:42gum disease or oral health, a lot of
44:45research has shown that um if you have
44:49gum disease for more than 10 years, you
44:52have a 70% increased chance of
44:54developing Alzheimer's. So that was a
44:56study that was done on over 20,000
44:58people and they followed them for 20
45:01years and they saw okay if you had gum
45:03disease um at baseline whether or not
45:06you get Alzheimer's at 10 years or 20
45:08years so a 70% increased chance of it um
45:11they've also done a lot of research
45:13where uh they've been looking at oral
45:16bacteria and what they found was that
45:18there are certain oral bacteria so uh
45:21one called p gingeralis that's one of
45:23the worst oral bacteria I would say out
45:25of all of them. So this penjavalis is
45:28able to travel from your mouth to your
45:30brain. It's only it's quite close by
45:32anyway. And what's unique about this
45:34bacteria is it's able to cross the
45:36barrier between uh in your brain. So the
45:39bloodb brain barrier um and it releases
45:41these toxic enzymes. So these enzymes
45:43are called gingipes and they're imagined
45:45these like horrible firefighter things
45:48and they can break down neurons. They
45:50can break down um a lot of brain tissue.
45:53And so when they looked at the cerebral
45:55spinal fluid and the brain fluid or
45:57tissue of Alzheimer's sufferers, they
45:59found that 97% of them had these toxic
46:03enzymes, these ginger pains in their
46:05brains compared to zero for the patients
46:08who did not have Alzheimer's. So this
46:10is, you know, the first study shows,
46:12yes, there's some sort of correlation,
46:13but there's a lot of other risk factors.
46:15The second one, which is looking at your
46:17ginger pains, is showing that there's
46:18definitely a strong causitive factor um
46:21between the two. And then another study
46:24which was very interesting was um
46:26looking at cognitive cognitive decline.
46:29So okay fine you have Alzheimer's
46:31unfortunately um is it is it too late
46:34should you stop brushing your teeth or
46:36what's the point? And so what they did
46:38was they had uh patients um who had
46:40Alzheimer's and they checked their
46:42cognitive function and they also checked
46:44their oral health. And then uh six
46:46months later they reviewed them and they
46:49found that the patients who had gum
46:50disease had a much more rapid cognitive
46:53decline than those patients who didn't
46:55have gum disease. So again, it is still
46:57important if you do get Alzheimer's that
46:59you maintain your oral health, that you
47:01have someone help you brush your teeth
47:03because your cognitive decline um will
47:06be faster.
47:07How do they unpick that from other
47:09causal factors that might be going on
47:11like bad food choices? Because in my
47:14head I was thinking, well, if someone's
47:15drinking sugary, fizzy drinks every day,
47:19they're more likely to have gum disease,
47:22but maybe also that the chemicals within
47:24that fizzy drink are impacting their
47:26chances of dementia. Maybe they're also
47:28someone that has an unhealthy lifestyle.
47:30Maybe they're more sedentary. If they're
47:31eating bad things, maybe they're more
47:33sedentary. And maybe it's that that's
47:34causing the rapid cognitive decline
47:37versus the gum disease itself. Is it
47:39possible to untangle all of this?
47:40I mean, it is very difficult. I think
47:42that for those types of things, you
47:44either, you're right, diet, lifestyle is
47:47super important and we know that
47:48Alzheimer's is again multiffactorial. Um
47:51I think it's really about the quantity
47:53of patients that they check. So they
47:55need to be looking at a huge number of
47:58patients and they did um to check
48:00whether or not there is a strong
48:02correlation between them. Um, also going
48:06back to the ginger pain study, so the
48:08one about the bacteria that shows it
48:10doesn't it's not diet or lifestyle or or
48:13nutrition. It is a specific oral
48:15bacteria that has traveled to the brain
48:17and released these enzymes which are
48:18then breaking down neurons. So there
48:21there's definitely a strong positive um
48:24effect.
48:24That is um fascinating. It's really
48:26really fascinating because dementia and
48:28Alzheimer's still seem to be a bit of a
48:29mystery. it is and and I work um with a
48:34team for Alzheimer's and what they've
48:36done similar to what you were saying is
48:38that they've kind of separated all of
48:39the the causes of Alzheimer's that we
48:42know um or the risk factors and
48:44thankfully they've put oral health as
48:46one of them as well and I think from all
48:49of the other risk factors so uh you know
48:51for example if you have uh the genetic
48:54mutations you got the APO4 or any of
48:57those mutations that's you can't change
48:58that unfortunately some of us have
49:00mutations which means that we are at a
49:02much higher risk of suff of getting
49:04Alzheimer's in the future. But something
49:07like that oral bacteria p gingalis and
49:09those gingi pains you can get rid of p
49:11ging javalis really easily again if you
49:13tested it you can even test for gingi
49:15pains um and then you can get rid of the
49:17bacteria before it starts causing
49:19problems.
49:21The test that you offer does it test for
49:22gingi pains?
49:23It does. Yeah. So, we're the only ones
49:25um on the market who do because that was
49:27something that I thought was super
49:29important. What's the point in us
49:31telling you that you have a bacteria if
49:33we can't tell you that that bacteria is
49:35being really bad in your mouth and
49:37causing a lot of problems?
49:38And people think I'm joking, but you
49:40have actually tested several members of
49:41my team, including myself. So, I am
49:43actually going to find out the results
49:44today. Um on the subject matter of the
49:46brain, is there a link between my mental
49:48health, depression, anxiety, and my oral
49:53microbiome?
49:54So again, there's been a lot of
49:55research. Um I think it's difficult for
49:58something like mental health and um and
50:03gum disease, which you know, with the
50:04chicken and the egg, which one came
50:05first? Um because one of the issues is
50:09if you have a decline in your mental
50:11health, you are less likely to take care
50:12of your oral health. um and therefore
50:15that can exacerbate issues. So there has
50:17been a lot of research to show that you
50:19know
50:20uh there's a correlation between poor
50:22mental health and poor oral health. But
50:24in my personal opinion that causitive
50:27connection is not there yet. Um there's
50:30also been some research with things like
50:31schizophrenia, but again it's the jury
50:35still in my opinion.
50:37Are you able to tell the state of
50:39someone's mental health by looking at
50:40their oral microbiome in your view?
50:43um you can know if something's up. Like
50:46for example, I I had a patient
50:48relatively recently. I've been treating
50:50her for five, six years now, and I know
50:52that she takes good care of her her
50:54teeth. She she takes good care of
50:55herself. And a few weeks ago, she came
50:58in and she was not taking care of her
51:01gums or her teeth at all. Everything was
51:02an absolute mess in there. And um so I
51:05did pull her aside and I was like,
51:06"What's wrong?" Like something's
51:08happened here. And I think it is quite a
51:10big um sign for a lot of people. It's
51:13the first thing that they kind of let go
51:14of is their oral health.
51:17And is that because of, you know, they
51:19start certain self soothing behaviors
51:21because they're stressed in other parts
51:22of their life. So if they're having a
51:24bad time in their relationship or work
51:25and they're stressed, they might start
51:27eating sugar more or
51:29or just not brushing,
51:30smoking or drinking more. Okay.
51:31Or just not brushing. Like with this
51:33woman, she just wasn't brushing her
51:34teeth anymore. Another thing that we can
51:36also see, I mean it's kind of a bit on a
51:39tangent, but also um eating disorders as
51:42well. So things like bulimia um or even
51:45sometimes anorexia, you can see in the
51:47mouth. So there's a lot of times where
51:48we'll see young teenagers um and I'll
51:51know that they are bulimic because they
51:53have certain issues in their mouth which
51:55they shouldn't have and that again is a
51:57telltale sign.
51:58Is that because the stomach acid is
51:59coming through their mouth?
52:01Yeah. So they get a lot of erosion on
52:02the on their teeth and then in some
52:04cases you can also get these marks on
52:06the roof of your mouth. So if they're
52:07trying to force themselves to to vomit
52:09then you can see that. Um and that's
52:12something that you know you have to pull
52:13the patient aside or tell their mother
52:15and explain that to them as well.
52:17And is there a relationship between
52:19stress and my oral health? So if I'm
52:20more stressed and my cortisol levels are
52:22higher, is that going to make everything
52:24in my mouth worse?
52:25Yes.
52:26Even outside of the lifestyle choices I
52:28might make in such a state.
52:29Yes. just that stress will increase your
52:32inflammatory markers, your inflammation.
52:34Um, it also will dry your mouth out and
52:36all of those things will be linked. Um,
52:39uh, we do a lot of testing at my clinic
52:42and so one of the tests that we look at
52:44is collagen breakdown. So, um, we have
52:47lots of different types of collagen all
52:48over our bodies and our gums are made up
52:51of a certain collagen. So we look at an
52:53enzyme called ammpn and this enzyme is
52:56responsible for breaking down that
52:58specific collagen. Um so we test the
53:01coll that enzyme all the time with our
53:03patients. It's a really nice way of
53:05knowing like um whether or not someone's
53:07about to have gum disease. Um how much
53:09collagen breakdown is happening from a
53:11biomolelecular level. So I had a woman
53:14very healthy, always been fine. Um and
53:17then she had her collagen breakdown
53:18tested and her levels were through the
53:21roof. her gums looked fine. She didn't
53:23look like she had any problems, but I've
53:25never seen such a high level in my life.
53:27And so, you know, I'm trying to think of
53:29what could be causing it. All of that.
53:31And she had lost her baby a couple of
53:33days before. And that type of intense
53:37stress on someone's body can have so
53:39many effects and impacts on the rest of
53:42your body. Um, and that was one of them.
53:44When we retested her six months later,
53:46she was back to normal again. But you
53:48can see even your mouth, you know,
53:50stress can really impact you.
53:52On this subject, I was thinking about I
53:54mentioned Jame James Nester earlier who
53:56was telling me about the research of um
53:58how the the mouth has changed shape
54:00because of the foods we're eating and
54:02how that that's caused a bunch of
54:03downstream implications for us. One of
54:05the also one of the other things he also
54:08mentioned was about mouth breathing and
54:10nose breathing. Yes.
54:11And there's a lot of people that have
54:13become incredibly interested in whether
54:14we should be breathing through our
54:15mouths or our nose. And I was wondering
54:17if you had a perspective on that. Um,
54:21and also the other thing that he
54:22mentioned to me was that there's a link
54:24between mouth breathing and things like
54:27ADHD. What is your point of view?
54:30Uh, completely agree with all of that.
54:32So actually my sister, she is an
54:34orthodontist. Um so she works at our
54:37clinic and um we run it together with
54:40our mother and um she is very very hot
54:42on um mouth breathing. And what she um
54:47mainly does is she basically tries to
54:50stop children in particular from
54:51breathing with their mouths open. And
54:53what she has found is that most of her
54:55patients um who come to her um are mouth
54:58breathers. They often have some sort of
55:00um ADHD. they have or some sort of
55:03attention deficit. Um they are uh bed
55:07wetters. They grind their teeth a lot of
55:09the time. Um and they have a whole
55:11cascade of other problems and uh she can
55:14treat it then and it's relatively easy.
55:17She would argue that it's very
55:18difficult, but to me I think it's easy.
55:20I'm like, "Yeah, there we go. You can do
55:21what you do." Um and because the the
55:23jaws of a child are very malleable, so
55:25they haven't fully solidified, so you
55:27can still move things. You can um get
55:29the teeth to meet. So if you get the
55:30teeth to meet correctly then uh the
55:34child won't want to breathe with their
55:35mouth open. The annoying thing is is
55:37that uh a lot of adults are mouth
55:39breathers because their teeth do not
55:41meet correctly or their jaws are in the
55:43incorrect position and uh at that point
55:46it is quite difficult to move the jaws
55:48into the correct position or to get the
55:50teeth to close in a way so that the lips
55:53are at rest and you breathe with your
55:55nose instead of your mouth. But again, I
55:57see those types of patients because they
55:59all come to me with a lot of other
56:01problems. So again, same thing. A lot of
56:03them have uh a lot of them have suffered
56:05from long COVID. A lot of them have
56:07inflammatory conditions. Um are always
56:10tired. They a lot of them chronic
56:12fatigue. It you know there's a lot of
56:15connections now uh between mouth
56:17breathing and those types of issues as
56:18well.
56:19Is there a link between the health of my
56:21oral microbiome and whether I breathe
56:23through my nose or mouth? cuz James was
56:24explaining to me that the nose is
56:26effectively like a a filter system.
56:28Yeah.
56:29There's a certain temperature in there.
56:30Yeah.
56:31Um there's like sinuses and stuff which
56:33are have some kind of mucus which helps
56:35to catch bacteria. So if I'm breathing
56:37through my mouth, am I more likely to
56:38have unhealthy oral microbiome?
56:41100%. So exactly the same thing. You're
56:43you're you've got a filter in your nose
56:45and so it will stop a lot of bad things
56:47from coming through. But the mouth uh
56:50there is no filter. I mean you breathe
56:51it in, it goes straight into your lungs.
56:53So, there's no way of stopping anything.
56:55A lot of people now are starting to
56:57mouth tape. Um, and that's become kind
56:59of trendy and cool. Um, it's not the
57:02easiest thing to do. If it seems a bit
57:05weird to tape your mouth at night time,
57:08um, but for anyone who's worried that
57:10they breathe with their mouth open,
57:12mouth taping, in my opinion, is a really
57:14nice way of just like testing it out and
57:16seeing whether or not you do breathe
57:17with your mouth open because you'll do
57:19some mouth taping and you can see
57:20whether or not you sleep better. So, if
57:22you have a wearable, you can see, "Oh,
57:23wow. My oxygen levels are so much
57:25better. I had such a deep sleep." And if
57:27that's the case, you might be more
57:29inclined to straighten your teeth or
57:31sort out the reason that you're
57:33breathing with your mouth open.
57:35I I uh took notes of a study which kind
57:38of is interconnected to the point we
57:39were making about mouth brea breathing
57:41which said in a six-year study of 11,000
57:43children. It was found that children who
57:45suffered from sleep disordered breathing
57:47were 50 to 90% more likely to develop
57:50ADHD like symptoms than were normal
57:53breathers who breathe through their nose
57:55correctly which is absolutely
57:57staggering. 50 to 90% more likely to
58:00suffer from ADHD like symptoms just
58:03because they breathe through their mouth
58:05at night and disordered breathing.
58:07And it's it's mainly to do with also
58:08oxygen being delivered to your brain,
58:11right?
58:11So there's not as much good oxygen um
58:14like real rich oxygen, filtered oxygen
58:17traveling to the brain and so that's
58:19basically not allowing your brain to
58:21function as well.
58:22You mentioned kissing earlier on.
58:24Yes.
58:24Um I'm still supposed to kiss my
58:26partner, right?
58:27Yes. I hope you do many times.
58:29You you said if I kiss her more than 11
58:31times a day or something then our oral
58:33microbiomes synchronize in some way.
58:36Yeah. So there is um passage of bacteria
58:39from you to her and her to you. Um they
58:42have also shown that uh for example they
58:44did a study where one uh partner chewed
58:47lots and lots of probiotics or like good
58:49bacteria and then had a super long
58:52smooch with their partner and actually
58:55was able to transfer nearly 60 or 70% of
58:58that good bacteria into their partner.
59:01So it's not necessarily longlasting. I
59:03wouldn't say that um you know if you
59:05kiss someone once on a night out that
59:07you are going to terribly impact your
59:09microbiome. it's fine. You can go and
59:11kiss, but it's more for long-term
59:13partners. If you're kissing regularly
59:14and for a long time, then yes, your
59:16microbiomes will start to um be quite
59:19similar. Um, another factor as well is
59:21that obviously your lifestyles are
59:22probably pretty similar. You're probably
59:24using the same toothpaste, eating the
59:26same food. So, it's difficult to fully
59:28put it on just kissing, but yeah.
59:30What about oral sex and the implications
59:33that will have? So, if we're if me and
59:35my partner are doing oral sex on each
59:37other, is that going to impact our oral
59:38microbiome? Yes. So, actually there's
59:41been a few case reports which have shown
59:43um uh there's one in particular and I
59:46had a patient as well who had this a
59:48woman who um had a new partner and she
59:52liked to perform oral sex on him and
59:55then she came to me because she was
59:57complaining of very inflamed gums and
59:59she was getting gingivitis
1:00:01and you know it's not something I really
1:00:03ask like I'm not going to be like how's
1:00:04your how's your sex life going these
1:00:06days like so I didn't ask it but she
1:00:07kept on coming back to me No, my gums
1:00:09are still inflamed. No, my gums are
1:00:11still inflamed. And then she asked, she
1:00:12was like, "Is it maybe because I have a
1:00:13new partner?" I was like, "Okay, maybe
1:00:15you guys are kissing a lot." And she was
1:00:16like, "No, no, no, no." And and then she
1:00:18explained to me. Um, and then I was
1:00:19like, "Okay, fine. Why don't you go and
1:00:21test and ask him whether or not he has
1:00:23any issues." Um, and it turns out that
1:00:25he was having recurrent urinary
1:00:27infections. And so, actually, they were
1:00:30transferring bacteria and she was having
1:00:32inflammation in her gums because she was
1:00:35Yeah. performing her oral sex. So, yeah,
1:00:38there is transfer. Again, I wouldn't be
1:00:40scared and say never do it. Um, I once
1:00:43made an ex-boyfriend do an oral
1:00:45microbiome test uh just to check and
1:00:47just to make sure everything was okay.
1:00:49You made him do it.
1:00:50Yeah. I don't It's not a It's not a um a
1:00:54prerequisite anymore, but it was at the
1:00:56time. I was like, "H, let me see. Let me
1:00:59You must think that when you meet
1:01:00people. You must think, God, I wonder
1:01:01what their own microbiome is saying like
1:01:03in a romantic context cuz you know the
1:01:05significance of it."
1:01:06Yeah. I think it's a, you know, I spend
1:01:07a lot of time and energy making sure my
1:01:09oral microbiome is very nice and
1:01:11balanced. So, I wouldn't want anyone
1:01:12messing that up for me. So, it's
1:01:14important.
1:01:15Are you in a relationship now?
1:01:16Yes, I am.
1:01:16Have you tested their oral microbiome?
1:01:18I've been trying to, but he won't let
1:01:20me.
1:01:21You've asked him.
1:01:22Yeah, of course I have.
1:01:23And what did he say? Mind your own
1:01:24business.
1:01:24But I did give him an oral microbiome
1:01:27test. So, hopefully he will just use it.
1:01:28I said, "You can even use a fake name. I
1:01:30don't care. I don't I'm not going to
1:01:31test. I'm not going to check it. I just
1:01:33want you to do the test for me.
1:01:35For for you?
1:01:36For me? Yeah.
1:01:37And what's his what's his rebuttal? He's
1:01:39like, I don't
1:01:40He was like, what happens if you break
1:01:41up with me if I have a really imbalanced
1:01:43oral microbiome? And I was like, I hope
1:01:44that our relationship is stronger than
1:01:46just your oral microbiome. But there's
1:01:48ways to fix it. And that's the beauty of
1:01:49the oral microbiome is that it's
1:01:51actually pretty easy to to fix and to
1:01:53change.
1:01:54If his results came back and he had a
1:01:56terrible oral microbiome, one of the
1:01:57worst you've ever seen.
1:01:58Yeah.
1:01:59Are you less likely to kiss him that
1:02:01day? that day. Yes.
1:02:03There you go. Don't do the test, my
1:02:05friend.
1:02:05No, no, no. Don't do the test that day.
1:02:07Yes.
1:02:08There's no upside to him doing this
1:02:09test. I completely understand.
1:02:10And then I would go and creep into his
1:02:12bathroom and change all of his oral
1:02:14products. This is what he's scared
1:02:15about.
1:02:15Personalize everything for him. And then
1:02:17you've done that already.
1:02:18I already have. He tests everything out
1:02:21for me as well because I get a lot of
1:02:22products sent to me. So, I'm always
1:02:23getting him to to try things out for me
1:02:25as well.
1:02:26Okay. So, no if they've got um
1:02:29issues down there.
1:02:30Yeah. Okay.
1:02:32And we don't really know if they've got
1:02:33issues down there unless they admit it
1:02:34or do some kind of test.
1:02:36Yeah. Yeah.
1:02:37Okay. What about fertility? Is there a
1:02:39link between our oral health and our
1:02:40fertility?
1:02:42Yes. Um so if we look at men to start
1:02:46with um there was a study done and they
1:02:50found so they looked at a group of
1:02:52subfertile men. So, men who um weren't
1:02:55able to conceive with their partners and
1:02:57they checked all of their mouths and
1:02:58they found that over 90% of these men
1:03:01had some sort of oral infection or
1:03:04dental disease of some sort going on.
1:03:06They split the group into two. Half the
1:03:08group had the uh treatment that was
1:03:10needed. So, I don't know if they had gum
1:03:12disease or decay. They they got it fixed
1:03:15and the other half were left to their
1:03:16own devices. Um after eight months there
1:03:20was a 70% improvement um in their
1:03:23success for pregnancy. The men who'd had
1:03:26their oral infection sorted um and they
1:03:28had a much better improvement in their
1:03:30sperm quality and motility as well.
1:03:33And what did they do to those men in
1:03:34that group where they saw the
1:03:36significant improvement? So, for
1:03:38example, if the man had um gum disease,
1:03:41they would treat it with hygiene or if
1:03:44they had an infected tooth, maybe they
1:03:46would take it out or do a root canal or
1:03:48etc. They would just have to treat that
1:03:49infection. So, I speak a lot about gum
1:03:52disease all the time, but actually
1:03:53there's so many other oral diseases like
1:03:55decay um or tooth a types of things that
1:03:59can also contribute inflammation and
1:04:01problems. In that study, 6 months after
1:04:03that, their sperm had improved by 20%.
1:04:06And after 8 months, 50% of their wives
1:04:08were pregnant.
1:04:09Yes.
1:04:10That is staggering.
1:04:11Yeah.
1:04:12What about women though? Is is there a
1:04:14similar sort of result as it relates to
1:04:16women's fertility?
1:04:17Yes. So, um research has also found that
1:04:20if a woman has gum disease, um she is
1:04:23less likely to ovulate. Um and also
1:04:26she's going to have uh issues with
1:04:28conception. So they found that women
1:04:30with gum disease it takes them two
1:04:31months longer to conceive versus a woman
1:04:34who doesn't have gum disease. Um but
1:04:36once the woman has conceived um the
1:04:39issue is still not over. She still has
1:04:40to maintain her gums. So firstly a lot
1:04:43of women will have um pregnancy
1:04:45gingivitis. So this is basically super
1:04:47inflamed puffy gums because of all the
1:04:49hormones. Um and so they should be going
1:04:52very regularly to see their hygienist.
1:04:54Um but also what the research has found
1:04:56is that women who are pregnant and have
1:04:58gum disease are at a much higher risk of
1:05:00preterm birth so premature uh babies low
1:05:04birth weight um and also preclampsia as
1:05:06well. So they did a study in Malawi um
1:05:09it was on 10,000 women. So Malawi has
1:05:11the highest rate of preterm birth in the
1:05:14world at just about I think
1:05:17just under 20%. Um, and preterm birth is
1:05:21a a big issue for for governments, for
1:05:24hospitals. It's really expensive. You
1:05:26need to keep the woman and the child in
1:05:28the hospital for a lot longer, but also
1:05:30that child will have a whole myriad of
1:05:32problems afterwards as well. So,
1:05:34weirdly, Wrigley's um the sugar the
1:05:37chewing gum company sponsored this uh
1:05:40study. They went to Malawi. They had
1:05:42these 10,000 women. They split them up
1:05:43into two. 5,000 of those women uh were
1:05:46given sugar-free chewing gum,
1:05:47toothbrush, and some toothpaste. And the
1:05:49other half were left alone. And they
1:05:52found that there was a 20% improvement
1:05:55um or 20% sorry, reduction in preterm
1:05:58birth in the woman who'd had the
1:05:59sugar-free chewing gum compared to the
1:06:01woman who hadn't had it. So something so
1:06:04cheap and so easy like chewing gum was
1:06:07able to actually reduce the risk of
1:06:08preterm birth for these women.
1:06:10How and why? So, if you look into the
1:06:13research a little bit more, um you're
1:06:15going to get your chewing gum now.
1:06:17Yes.
1:06:18Um so, sugar-free chewing gum um has
1:06:22been shown to um stimulate your saliva.
1:06:25So, it helps with what we were talking
1:06:26about earlier, saliva is super
1:06:28important, um and it provides all the
1:06:29good food for uh your bacteria. Um but
1:06:32then also, if it's sugar-free, um let's
1:06:34say it's using xylitol, that's naturally
1:06:36antibacterial, so it's killing a lot of
1:06:38the bacteria in the mouth. And what they
1:06:40found is that there are certain oral
1:06:42bacteria that can travel down to the
1:06:44placenta um and can also uh cause
1:06:47problems there and essentially um
1:06:50increase the chance of preterm birth.
1:06:52You sufficiently convinced me that
1:06:53saliva is an important thing and I
1:06:55actually did one of your tests. Let me
1:06:57go grab the results.
1:06:58Okay.
1:07:00Every single time you eat, you have an
1:07:02opportunity to improve your health.
1:07:03That's why I love Zoe because it helps
1:07:05me to make the smartest food choices for
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1:07:22better health every single time I make a
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1:08:00And here are
1:08:03the results. Okay.
1:08:04I've not actually seen them yet, so this
1:08:06is exciting. Um, I'll give them to you
1:08:07so you can explain them to me.
1:08:09Okay.
1:08:09Is that okay? So, this is the test that
1:08:11I did, right?
1:08:12Yes, you did. Yeah.
1:08:16And the test I did contains
1:08:21this little kit that basically in the
1:08:23middle of the office one day, someone
1:08:24came up to me and said, "Steve, can you
1:08:26spit in this?" And I said, "Sure."
1:08:29Yeah.
1:08:29And then they took my spit away. Um, it
1:08:32turns out it was upon request from you.
1:08:35Yes, exactly. I wanted your saliva.
1:08:37Yeah. Which is
1:08:37just to check to make sure if I could do
1:08:39this interview,
1:08:39right? Okay.
1:08:41So, this is the test that I did. I spat
1:08:43in this little thing, sent it off back
1:08:45to you. You ran the test. How long does
1:08:47it take to do this test?
1:08:48Uh, it would probably take you about 2
1:08:50minutes to do spe yourself and then you
1:08:52get the results three to four weeks
1:08:54later.
1:08:55What did you find out from doing my
1:08:57test?
1:08:58Well, okay,
1:08:59let's go through your results. So um we
1:09:02found that you have quite a diverse
1:09:04microbiome. So that means that you have
1:09:06a nice ratio of good bacteria versus bad
1:09:10bacteria and this has been compared to
1:09:12healthy and diseased subjects. So you
1:09:14are really right on the top of the bell
1:09:16curve. So very good with that. So happy.
1:09:19Um then we predict your
1:09:21diverse is better.
1:09:22Uh arguably yes. Yeah.
1:09:23Okay. Um then what we have is we've
1:09:26created this algorithm that predicts
1:09:28your risk of certain um issues or
1:09:30diseases in the mouth. So those are
1:09:32things like bad breath, gum disease, um
1:09:35decay and general inflammation.
1:09:37So your risk of bad breath was low. You
1:09:40didn't have a high risk for that. Gum
1:09:43disease was medium. So slight maybe
1:09:45there's a bit of inflammation going on
1:09:47there. Your risk for uh decay was also
1:09:50medium. And your risk for general
1:09:52inflammation. So this is inflammation
1:09:54throughout the rest of your body. Um was
1:09:56quite low. Um and then if we zoom in, we
1:10:00then look at your good bacteria. So
1:10:02we're also quite unique because we
1:10:05thought that it was unfair that a lot of
1:10:06tests don't look at the good stuff. So
1:10:09we look at all of the bacteria which has
1:10:10been shown to be the most beneficial in
1:10:12the microbiome. So for you, you had
1:10:14pretty much high to very high levels of
1:10:17uh good bacteria, which is great. Uh no
1:10:20problems with that. And then we look at
1:10:22bad bacteria. So we actually uh look at
1:10:26about 500 different bacteria, but then
1:10:28we zoom into the top 20 bad ones which
1:10:31are really associated with things like
1:10:33gum disease, decay, bad breath. So for
1:10:35you, out of all the bacteria that we
1:10:37looked at, you only had quite high
1:10:39levels of one bacteria which was bad for
1:10:41you. Um and so this bacteria is very
1:10:44strongly associated with basically a lot
1:10:47of buildup of um plaque in your mouth.
1:10:50So, having not looked in your mouth, I
1:10:53have no idea about your dental health or
1:10:55anything like that. I would assume that
1:10:57basically um you're a bit overdue on a
1:10:59hygiene. Maybe maybe there's a lot of
1:11:00plaque buildup going on um from that
1:11:03result. But the rest of the bad
1:11:05bacteria, so all of these ones we're
1:11:06talking about,
1:11:07the erectile dysfunction,
1:11:08your erectile dysfunction ones fine. Um
1:11:10your pen javalis is fine, you know,
1:11:13fucleatum, those ones were actually uh
1:11:15very good. Um then also on top of that
1:11:19going back to the Alzheimer's. So we
1:11:21look at those virolence factors
1:11:22associated with punjavalis and you had
1:11:24none of those virilence factors which is
1:11:26also really good.
1:11:28Okay.
1:11:29Then we look at your genetic mutations.
1:11:31So uh we've identified about 10
1:11:34different genetic mutations which
1:11:35increase your risk of decay and gum
1:11:37disease. So uh for the decay out of the
1:11:41five genetic mutations we looked at four
1:11:43out of five of them you hatch. So that
1:11:45means that you and maybe you you have
1:11:48stopped it, but you are at a higher
1:11:50chance of having a sweet tooth, of
1:11:52having more acidic saliva. On top of
1:11:55that, it might be that you if you're
1:11:57stressed out or you're really unhappy,
1:11:59some people will run to the casino,
1:12:02others will run to the bottle. And for
1:12:04you, you might actually be someone who
1:12:05goes and has a chocolate bar and
1:12:07actually enjoys sugar.
1:12:08No comment.
1:12:08Um, on top of that,
1:12:10make your business.
1:12:12Let's say you've had your sugar because
1:12:13you are stressed out or whatever. You
1:12:16also have been shown to have a genetic
1:12:18mutation which means that your taste
1:12:20perception is lower. So you need two
1:12:22bars of chocolate, not just one.
1:12:24No comment
1:12:25to make you feel
1:12:26That's the end of this podcast.
1:12:27That's the end of this episode. I'll
1:12:28give you my card.
1:12:32Close your document. How dare you?
1:12:35No, I mean it all it all squares with
1:12:37reality. So please do keep going.
1:12:39Um so that's your decay. uh situation in
1:12:42terms of gum disease. Again, we look at
1:12:45um certain mutations. So, there are some
1:12:47mutations that can triple your risk of
1:12:49gum disease. Um they can increase the
1:12:52amount of inflammation that you release
1:12:53from your mouth. So imagine um you there
1:12:57are some people who even the smallest
1:12:58amounts of bacteria they might have
1:13:00great hygiene they have a few small bad
1:13:02bacteria in their mouths they have
1:13:04mutations which means that they respond
1:13:05in a very hyperinflammatory and very
1:13:08aggressive way and they will be at a
1:13:10very high chance of gum disease. So in
1:13:12your case um you had one mutation and I
1:13:17would say out of all of the mutations
1:13:19for gum disease it was the best one. So
1:13:21it basically means that you have um
1:13:24genetically you're more predisposed to
1:13:26bacteria collecting around your gums.
1:13:28Okay?
1:13:28So you might be someone who actually
1:13:30needs to go really regularly for a
1:13:32hygiene and it's kind of a bit annoying
1:13:33because you keep on getting build up or
1:13:35they keep telling you to come back
1:13:37because actually genetically you have
1:13:39that in your saliva.
1:13:40Mhm.
1:13:41Um then afterwards we give you
1:13:43personalized recommendations. So, we
1:13:46tell you based on um everything that
1:13:48we've seen, the bacteria, your
1:13:49mutations, what your input from the
1:13:51questionnaire, we tell you what
1:13:52toothbrush would be good for you, what
1:13:54supplements you should be taking, what
1:13:56uh toothpaste, floss, um everything
1:14:00basically, even chew sugar-free gum, all
1:14:02of those types of things to um improve
1:14:04your oral health and rebalance your
1:14:06microbiome.
1:14:07And you could tell all of that just from
1:14:08me spitting in a tube once.
1:14:10Yes. And then at the very end, we have a
1:14:13list of all of the detected organisms.
1:14:15So, like I said, we look at the top 20,
1:14:17which we know are really bad for you,
1:14:18but actually sometimes in some patients
1:14:20will have like weird bacteria, really
1:14:23high levels of weird bacteria. So, I had
1:14:25one patient, she had really bad breath
1:14:27and her gums were kind of okay, her
1:14:29teeth were okay, there were no problems,
1:14:31but she was like, I don't know what's
1:14:32going on. So, she did the saliva test
1:14:34and she had 40% of her oral microbiome
1:14:37was made out of one bacteria. So, uh I
1:14:40was searching this bacteria. I was like,
1:14:42I've never heard of this bacteria
1:14:43before. It is extremely prevalent in
1:14:45dogs. So then I get back to her. I'm
1:14:48like, "Do you have any dogs?" And she
1:14:49was like, "Yeah, yeah, I have four four
1:14:50or five dogs at home." And I was like,
1:14:51"Do you kiss your dogs?" She was like,
1:14:53"Yeah, of course I do. Like they're my
1:14:54they're my babies." So she was kissing
1:14:56her dogs and she was getting transfer of
1:14:58bacteria from her dogs into her mouth
1:15:00and that was what was making up her
1:15:01whole microbiome.
1:15:02And that was giving her bad breath.
1:15:04Yeah. Yeah.
1:15:04So what I did was I gave her um a
1:15:08treatment recommendation
1:15:10and no I gave all of her dogs I said you
1:15:12need to take the specific um it's not
1:15:14medication it's like a supplement so it
1:15:16basically stops uh like buildup of
1:15:19plaque in dogs teeth. So I was like your
1:15:21dogs have gum disease basically so they
1:15:23need to be treated if you wants to get
1:15:25better. And after everyone got treated
1:15:27her bad breath went and so did her dogs
1:15:30as well. Uh, so are dog owners more
1:15:33likely to have bad breath?
1:15:35If you are smooching your dog then,
1:15:37yeah, kind of. And your dog has gum
1:15:39disease.
1:15:39If you're kissing your dog.
1:15:40Yeah.
1:15:40Okay. Interesting. So, what are the very
1:15:45having seen my results, but generally
1:15:47from seeing the thousands and thousands
1:15:48of results that you've seen?
1:15:49Yeah. What are some of the the easiest
1:15:52things that I could do to help correct
1:15:55that situation and have perfect oral
1:15:57health and a perfect oral microbiome?
1:16:00So, um, what we've done is if you were
1:16:03to do the test, you would have all of
1:16:04the personalized recommendations for
1:16:06you. So, we tell you to have green tea,
1:16:08to have honey, all of those types of
1:16:09things which have been shown um through
1:16:12research to benefit your microbiome in
1:16:15your case specifically. But if we were
1:16:18just talking about someone who hasn't
1:16:19done the microbiome test and wants to
1:16:21just make sure that they have as
1:16:23balanced of a microbiome as possible, um
1:16:26diet is obviously very important. So,
1:16:28what we're talking about that sugar
1:16:29attack, making sure that you only have
1:16:31one sugar attack a day. Um you're not
1:16:33having sugar consistently because it
1:16:35does alter your saliva um pH. Uh the
1:16:38type of toothpaste that you're using. I
1:16:40like to keep it simple. You don't need
1:16:41to we don't need to make things super
1:16:43complicated. You don't have to spend
1:16:44that much money. Having the right
1:16:46toothpaste, right toothbrush, and the
1:16:48right floss is honestly as much as is
1:16:51the most necessary thing that you need.
1:16:54Okay. So, in terms of brushing though,
1:16:56you give some sort of practical advice
1:16:58around when we should brush.
1:17:00Mhm.
1:17:00What is that? And is there any time
1:17:01where I shouldn't brush my teeth?
1:17:03Uh, you should never brush straight
1:17:05after anything acidic or sugary. So,
1:17:07what you end up doing is is grinding the
1:17:11sugar or the acid into your teeth.
1:17:14So, actually, you should wait 30 minutes
1:17:16until you brush your teeth.
1:17:17That's interesting because when I eat
1:17:18something sugary, I feel like I need to
1:17:20brush my teeth to get rid of it.
1:17:21Yeah. No. No. So, you want to wait 30
1:17:24minutes. So, instead, you can chew some
1:17:26sugar-free gum or um there are lots of
1:17:29pastals that we use. So, like I use like
1:17:30chewable mints um and you can chew one
1:17:33of those and it will actually neutralize
1:17:35your saliva really quickly so that you
1:17:37don't have that acid causing the
1:17:40demineralization. And do I spit or do I
1:17:43rinse after I've brushed my teeth?
1:17:45Spit. So, you should never rinse your
1:17:46mouth out with water after you brush
1:17:48your teeth. So, brush, brush, brush,
1:17:50spit into the basin, and that's it.
1:17:52Reason being, again, going back to my
1:17:54sunscreen analogy. Um, imagine you spend
1:17:562 minutes putting all this lovely
1:17:58sunscreen all over your skin to then
1:18:00just go and have a shower right before
1:18:02you go into the sun. So, with the
1:18:04toothpaste, you you spend 2 minutes
1:18:06putting all of that on your teeth. And
1:18:08then if you rinse it, then you're
1:18:09actually removing all of that goodness
1:18:11from your teeth and gums, and it's kind
1:18:13of like you haven't done anything.
1:18:15Toothbrushes.
1:18:16Yes.
1:18:17Which toothbrush should I use? This one
1:18:19or an electric one?
1:18:21Um, I generally prefer an electric
1:18:23toothbrush.
1:18:24Um, usually they kind of do the work for
1:18:27you. So, it just means that patients
1:18:30have better oral health because most
1:18:32people don't know how to brush their
1:18:33teeth properly. Actually, we're never
1:18:35really taught or trained or we get
1:18:36taught by our parents. Our parents don't
1:18:38really know. They've been taught by
1:18:39their parents. So, a lot of people don't
1:18:41actually know how to brush their teeth.
1:18:42Number one. Number two, we often don't
1:18:45brush for as long as we think that we
1:18:46are. So, we're meant to brush for 2
1:18:48minutes. The average is 20 to 30
1:18:51seconds. And we think that we're
1:18:52brushing for 2 minutes, but we're not.
1:18:54So, with an electric toothbrush, it
1:18:55times you and then also a pressure
1:18:57sensor. So, the electric toothbrush
1:18:58often will have a pressure sensor which
1:19:00will show you whether or not you're
1:19:01brushing too hard or you're brushing at
1:19:03the right pressure and that will reduce
1:19:05your chance of recession.
1:19:07Can you show me on one of those tooth
1:19:08models in front of you the area of the
1:19:11mouth and teeth that people most often
1:19:14overlook?
1:19:15Yes.
1:19:16Can I have your teeth?
1:19:19So, I would say the area that people
1:19:21usually um struggle with the most is the
1:19:24insides of their very back bottom teeth.
1:19:26So inside where next to my tongue
1:19:28basically. Yeah. Just near your tongue
1:19:30basically. What a lot of people will do
1:19:32is they'll kind of they'll go on the
1:19:34inside and they brush their teeth like
1:19:35this. Okay. Whereas actually you want to
1:19:37get your elbow up and you want to brush
1:19:40a lot more at like a a 90° angle when
1:19:42you're getting there.
1:19:43It looks like you're brushing the gums a
1:19:44little bit.
1:19:44A little bit. Yeah. So you actually do
1:19:46want to brush the gums a little bit. And
1:19:47then when we're on the outsides of the
1:19:49teeth, uh we want to kind of brush at a
1:19:5130° angle. So rotational movements and
1:19:54at a 30° angle. So, not straight like a
1:19:5690°, but kind of towards the gum margin.
1:19:59And by doing circular mo movements,
1:20:01we're essentially kind of massaging the
1:20:03gums and getting rid of the bacteria
1:20:04from under the gum and then flicking it
1:20:06out.
1:20:07Okay.
1:20:08Yeah. So, just like that. And then I
1:20:10always tell everyone it's really
1:20:11important to kind of have um a method
1:20:14behind your toothbrushing. So, don't go
1:20:15like brush and then go there and then up
1:20:17there and you know cuz you'll never
1:20:19brush properly. Um, so always start,
1:20:21let's say, on the left hand side, go do
1:20:23all the outsides and then do all the
1:20:24biting surfaces and then do all the
1:20:26insides and then do the same on the top
1:20:28teeth as well.
1:20:29And that model there, you've got another
1:20:31model in front of you which is like a
1:20:32see-through model. What does that show
1:20:34us?
1:20:35Um, so this is to show you um what an
1:20:38implant looks like. A lot of people
1:20:39don't know what implants look like um
1:20:41and how it looks like if it was within
1:20:42your jaw.
1:20:43Also what all the roots look like. And
1:20:45then also if you look on the other side,
1:20:47you can see um this tooth which has the
1:20:49black within it.
1:20:50Yeah.
1:20:51Um and it's got like a red bubble at the
1:20:52root of it. So this is a tooth that's
1:20:55had a root canal done to it and has an
1:20:57infection at the root of that tooth. So
1:20:58that's an abscess. Um and a lot of
1:21:00people don't actually know what that
1:21:02looks like. Um they only feel toothache,
1:21:04but this is what toothache is actually
1:21:06in their jaw.
1:21:07When our teeth get teeths, is that the
1:21:09right word? Is that a plural? When our
1:21:11tooths, what's the plural of teeth? It's
1:21:13teeth. Is it teeth? Yeah.
1:21:14Yeah. When our teeth get stained,
1:21:16yes,
1:21:16what we often do is we'll take some sort
1:21:18of whitening toothpaste or we'll go to a
1:21:20a dentist or a hygienist or something
1:21:22and ask them to whiten our teeth.
1:21:23Now, I've always been a bit scared of
1:21:25that because there must be a cost to
1:21:28this whitening industry. Should we be
1:21:30whitening our teeth? Is there any
1:21:32healthy way to whiten our teeth?
1:21:34Yes. Um, so you've got two different
1:21:38types of staining. One which is
1:21:39extrinsic. So that's basically your
1:21:41coffee, your tea, your smoking. super
1:21:43easy to get rid of. Um you just have to
1:21:45go to your hygienist and get a hygiene
1:21:47done and they'll get rid of the stains
1:21:48um pretty quickly. Um or you can try a
1:21:51whitening toothpaste. Be very careful
1:21:53with a lot of those whitening toothpaste
1:21:54because they can be quite abrasive and
1:21:57damage the enamel actually. So it's kind
1:21:59of like exfoliating your teeth, but your
1:22:01teeth don't grow back. So if you keep on
1:22:03exfoliating and and getting rid of that
1:22:05surface layer of enamel over a long
1:22:07amount of time, that can be quite uh an
1:22:09issue and quite problematic.
1:22:10You get sensitive teeth. Yeah, sensitive
1:22:12teeth and then the underlying um tooth
1:22:14will start to shine through and that's
1:22:16quite yellow. So, you actually start
1:22:17ending up doing the the opposite of what
1:22:19you wanted to do. Um then whitening. So,
1:22:22you could you should do that
1:22:23professionally. Um don't go and buy some
1:22:26over the counter online thing. Um
1:22:28because a lot of the time either they
1:22:30don't have the the right percentages and
1:22:32they can actually damage the teeth and
1:22:34the gums uh really badly. So, you want
1:22:37to get that done professionally. um if
1:22:39you get it done by a good brand and even
1:22:41within the professional world there are
1:22:43some whitening um products out there
1:22:45which are really bad for the teeth and
1:22:47others which are actually really good
1:22:48for the teeth. So we use one in
1:22:50particular um it's called a niton and uh
1:22:53the whitening for one day is the
1:22:56equivalent of having a Coca-Cola. Um so
1:22:59thinking about it I mean I'm sure
1:23:01everyone has had one Coca-Cola in their
1:23:02life. Having a Coca-Cola every day for
1:23:05let's say five or six days is okay in
1:23:07the grand scheme of things. is not going
1:23:09to massively damage your your teeth at
1:23:10all.
1:23:11Okay. So, there is safe ways to do it.
1:23:13Okay, good. And is there any way to
1:23:14remove plaque yourself without having to
1:23:16go to a dental hygienist?
1:23:18Um, so you can try a water flosser. Um,
1:23:20I've just bought one of those things,
1:23:21but it doesn't feel powerful enough cuz
1:23:23when I go to the hygienist, I don't know
1:23:25what they're using, but it like it like
1:23:27it's so strong.
1:23:29Yeah.
1:23:29That it like blasts my mouth off. My
1:23:31mouth feels so different after.
1:23:33Yeah.
1:23:33And I wanted to know if I could buy one
1:23:34of those for my home,
1:23:36but I think it's a little bit dangerous.
1:23:37Um well the reason I think that the
1:23:39water flossers are not that high
1:23:41intensity is because people can um
1:23:43damage their teeth if they don't use it
1:23:45correctly. So kind of no there are some
1:23:48supplements that you can take to reduce
1:23:50the amount of plaque that builds up um
1:23:53and that actually does work quite
1:23:55effectively.
1:23:56I mean what are you there are two more
1:23:57there there's a couple more things there
1:23:58that you have in your pile that we not
1:24:00talked about.
1:24:00These are probiotics.
1:24:01Okay.
1:24:02So going back to our microbiome uh
1:24:04probiotics are basically good bacteria.
1:24:07So, um, not everyone needs them, but a
1:24:09probiotic, uh, essentially will, uh, put
1:24:12good bacteria into the microbiome, and
1:24:14if it's got the right environment to
1:24:16live in, then it will continue to grow
1:24:18there. Basically,
1:24:18if you're eating the right things,
1:24:20Exactly. If you're eating the right
1:24:21things, you've got prebiotics, you're,
1:24:22you know, all of those types of things,
1:24:24then, then this will be really
1:24:25effective. So, these are two different
1:24:26options. This is a mouthwash. Um and
1:24:29again on the microbiome test that we've
1:24:31created or Alice one um we look at all
1:24:34the levels of good bacteria and then
1:24:35we'll recommend a probiotic based on
1:24:38what good bacteria you are missing. So a
1:24:40lot of us are actually genetically we've
1:24:42been born without certain good bacteria
1:24:45in our microbiomes and so this is really
1:24:47lovely to supplement them. So this is um
1:24:49it's a mouthwash but it's in a powder
1:24:51form. So, you take a teaspoon, you mix
1:24:53it with some water, and that activates
1:24:56the probiotic, and then you rinse it
1:24:58around, um, and you swallow it. So, it's
1:25:00a kind of a twoin one for your gut. This
1:25:02is a pill, so it's a tablet. You chew
1:25:04it, um, and then you can swallow it. So,
1:25:06this is again, this is super easy, too.
1:25:08Um, and and I love these as well. Very
1:25:10easy to use.
1:25:12Victoria, what's the most important
1:25:14thing that we haven't talked about today
1:25:15that we should have talked about today?
1:25:17Uh the only thing that I think you
1:25:20haven't mentioned that your viewers
1:25:21might benefit from is the use of straws.
1:25:23Straws are very very important to to use
1:25:26um for sugar and also for acid. So
1:25:29drinking through a straw actually helps
1:25:30you bypass um all of your teeth. So if
1:25:33you're having something acidic or really
1:25:35sugary or even something staining, then
1:25:38it bypasses the teeth and goes straight
1:25:39to back of your throat so you can
1:25:41swallow it. Um so this helps reduces
1:25:43your chance of decay of tooth wear and
1:25:45also staining as well. But specifically
1:25:47if it's bad for you because you I'm sure
1:25:49there's some things which are good for
1:25:50the oral microbiome that you do want to
1:25:52be in the mouth.
1:25:53Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So if you're taking
1:25:54your probiotics or whatever then of
1:25:55course those are great. Um like for
1:25:57example um you know I'm human. I like a
1:26:00nice Coca-Cola once in a while and I'll
1:26:02drink it through a straw. Um or if I
1:26:04have alcohol I'll also drink that
1:26:06through a straw as long as it's not
1:26:07wine. But
1:26:08about smoking and vaping.
1:26:11Um so yeah smoking and vaping. Neither
1:26:13of them are good for the oral
1:26:15microbiome. Um it goes back to um dry
1:26:19mouth. So smoking will dry your mouth
1:26:21out and then you don't have the saliva
1:26:22and the saliva can't do what it wants
1:26:24to. It stops um vascularization. So it
1:26:27stops blood flow to your mouth. And so a
1:26:30lot of uh smokers actually will not have
1:26:33bleeding gums. That doesn't mean that
1:26:34they don't have gum disease, but because
1:26:37they um are smoking so much, the blood
1:26:39vessels are already really tight and
1:26:41constricted from the nicotine. Um so
1:26:43they don't ever get bleeding gums even
1:26:45though they have gum disease. Um and
1:26:48then the third thing is that actually we
1:26:49know that smoking is very strongly
1:26:51associated one of the biggest risk
1:26:52factors for gum disease.
1:26:54If someone's now curious about their own
1:26:57microbiome and the work that you're
1:26:59doing what is the sort of easiest entry
1:27:02point to learn more to get themselves
1:27:05checked or to I don't know to resolve
1:27:07some of the issues that are causal or a
1:27:10consequence of having an unhealthy
1:27:11microbiome. Where where do they start?
1:27:12How do they find you?
1:27:14We have a clinic in central London
1:27:16called the Health Society. Um we opened
1:27:18about a year and a half ago now. And our
1:27:20aim was to put their mouth back into the
1:27:23body to explain to patients exactly
1:27:25what's going on in their mouth. And we
1:27:27can do that through microbiome testing,
1:27:29other saliva tests. Um we look at your
1:27:32blood glucose levels, your vitamin D
1:27:33levels. We've got packages. We have an
1:27:35infrared sauna. We have a nutritionist.
1:27:37And the idea is that we're working all
1:27:38together because one of the issues I was
1:27:41seeing was that patients, they want to
1:27:43understand what's going on in their
1:27:45mouth and they want to optimize it, but
1:27:47they don't understand a lot of what
1:27:49dentistry is all about. We used to live
1:27:52in a world where the dentist would say,
1:27:53"Okay, you need two fillings and you've
1:27:55got gum disease and you're not brushing
1:27:56your teeth." And that was the end of it.
1:27:58And you would just listen to them and
1:27:59you get your work done. But now we are
1:28:01trying to essentially decode dentistry
1:28:05and explain it in a way that patients
1:28:07can understand. So I would say I'm
1:28:08biased but come over, come to the
1:28:10clinic, we can explain everything. Um or
1:28:12you can do an oral microbiome test and
1:28:14you can actually understand yourself
1:28:16what bacteria, what genetic mutations
1:28:18you have, what inflammation you have,
1:28:19what products you should start using and
1:28:21then based on that decide on what
1:28:23dentist you want to go to for any
1:28:25treatment if needed.
1:28:26What if I'm in Australia or Canada or
1:28:28New Zealand or America? what can I do?
1:28:30Um, so we're actually rolling out the
1:28:31oral microbiome test to all of those
1:28:33countries. Um, so you can actually buy
1:28:35at the moment uh through that. Uh, you'd
1:28:38have to email us, but otherwise that,
1:28:40you know, I'm not the only one. There
1:28:41are other people who are doing this type
1:28:43of dentistry um, and are thinking in
1:28:46this type of way. So, you would have to
1:28:48do a little bit of research, but um, I
1:28:50guess maybe follow me on Instagram and I
1:28:52can give some top tips. I'll I'll link
1:28:54all your your website, your social
1:28:56channels below, and if anyone wants to
1:28:57send you an email, you might get a
1:28:58couple of emails warning you now. Um, so
1:29:02you got to be careful what you wish for,
1:29:03but but I'll I'll put all those details
1:29:05below. Um, we have a closing tradition
1:29:07on this podcast where the last guest
1:29:08leaves a question for the next guest,
1:29:10not knowing who they're leaving it for.
1:29:12Okay.
1:29:12And the question that's been left for
1:29:14you is, what is the most important
1:29:17relationship in your life and why?
1:29:21Um
1:29:22this is going to cause you problems.
1:29:24Yeah, I know. So
1:29:26um I would say um my mother I think that
1:29:30is the most important relationship for
1:29:33uh me. I think she um has been uh one of
1:29:37my biggest mentors. She's been my
1:29:39biggest cheerleader, my supporter. Um
1:29:41she's hard on us, but that has led to me
1:29:45being the person that I am. Um, and I
1:29:47think that if I don't have a good
1:29:49relationship with her, um, then I can't
1:29:52have a good relationship with other
1:29:54people. She's taught me respect. She's
1:29:55taught me how to, you know, handle
1:29:57myself around people. Um, so yeah, I
1:30:01guess, uh, big up to my mom.
1:30:02Is she Is she Iranian?
1:30:04She is. Yeah,
1:30:04she's Iranian. Yeah. And your father?
1:30:07He is French American.
1:30:08French American. And if we sit here in
1:30:1110 years time, what are you hoping the
1:30:13world looks like as it relates to the
1:30:14oral microbiome, people's understanding
1:30:16of it, the the regulations? What are you
1:30:18hoping for? If you could wave a wand.
1:30:20I am hoping that um the mouth is put
1:30:24back into the body in the sense that
1:30:26dentistry and medicine are fully
1:30:27integrated within each other. So you can
1:30:29go to your dentist and you can get a
1:30:31saliva test and that could flag up
1:30:33issues with your heart or diabetes and
1:30:36you will go and see your diabetist. Um
1:30:39and we link everything together. Uh also
1:30:42my other dream is that people start
1:30:44testing their saliva and they understand
1:30:46that you know blood is not the only way
1:30:48that we can understand things that are
1:30:49going on within our body.
1:30:52Dr. Victoria Samson, thank you so much.
1:30:54Uh, I find this so unbelievably
1:30:55fascinating in part because I've never
1:30:58heard about any of this stuff before.
1:30:59And I I do this job, you know, I've done
1:31:01it quite a few times now. So, I've
1:31:02spoken to a lot of health experts that
1:31:04talk about the brain or I don't know,
1:31:06infertility or um the gut microbiome,
1:31:09but never one that looks at the body and
1:31:11our overall picture of health through
1:31:13the front door or the lens of our oral
1:31:16microbiome. And so, it's really really
1:31:17inspired me. And I think sometimes on
1:31:19this podcast, I just love having these
1:31:20conversations because sometimes it you
1:31:22just need a little bit more information
1:31:23about the importance of something to
1:31:26make even a small change in your life.
1:31:28And as it relates to our microbiomes,
1:31:30our oral health, um our brain health,
1:31:32and all of these things, even a small
1:31:34change can have a big downstream impact
1:31:37when we're talking about areas of our
1:31:38health where things compound over time
1:31:41and can either compound for us or
1:31:43against us. And so, thank you so much
1:31:44for doing the work that you do and
1:31:46shining a light on this. work has been
1:31:47really seinal in sort of driving the
1:31:49conversation but also turning the lights
1:31:50on to to the state and importance of our
1:31:53oral health and I'm sure that if we sit
1:31:56here in 10 years time you would have
1:31:58impacted many many many millions of
1:32:00people um and their overall picture of
1:32:02health through the lens of the oral
1:32:04microbiome because of the work you're
1:32:05doing and the message you're putting out
1:32:06there and that is quite something. So
1:32:08congratulations well done and thank you.
1:32:10Thank you so much. Thanks.
1:32:14probably shouldn't be sharing this yet,
1:32:16but you are our Diary of SEO community.
1:32:18So, I wanted to give you a small first
1:32:20look at a product that we're about to
1:32:22launch exclusively. This is the 1%
1:32:24diary. If you know me, you'll know that
1:32:27one of the most uttered phrases in the
1:32:28walls of my office is the 1% mindset. It
1:32:32is a philosophy, a mindset, and a habit
1:32:34that has absolutely changed my life. And
1:32:36if you ask me, it is the reason that
1:32:38this podcast has grown in the way that
1:32:40it has. By understanding the power of
1:32:43compounding 1%s, you can absolutely
1:32:45change your outcomes in your life. It
1:32:47isn't about drastic transformations or
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1:32:52consistent actions that have a lasting
1:32:55change in your outcomes. So 2 years ago,
1:32:57we started the process of creating this
1:32:59beautiful diary. And it's truly
1:33:00beautiful. Inside there's lots of
1:33:01pictures, lots of inspiration and
1:33:03motivation as well, some interactive
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1:33:07is to help you identify, stay focused
1:33:10on, develop consistency with the 1%s
1:33:13that will ultimately change your life.
1:33:15We have a limited number of these 1%
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1:33:32[Music]
1:33:35Heat. Heat. N.
1:33:36[Music]
1:33:52[Music]

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