The Ecological Castastrophe in Your Mouth
From Dr. Curatola's book "The Mouth-Body Connection"
What you are about to read in this chapter is probably new to you. You might even resist what I have to say. Millions of dollars have been spent on marketing oral care products to convince you that the bacteria in your mouth have to be destroyed. Plaque is viewed as the enemy, when nothing could be further from the truth. As you have learned in the previous chapter, if the oral microcolonies are in good functioning order, plaque nourishes and protects your teeth. When balance is lost, biofilms grow too thick and harmful bacteria take over.
An unbalanced or unhealthy oral microbiome is like a garden overgrown
with weeds. To get rid of the weeds, you could bulldoze the garden down to the soil. If you have any experience gardening, you know that where there is bare soil, weeds are the first plants to take root and spread. The past approach to oral care attempted to strip away the oral microbiome using detergents and emulsifiers normally found in conventional toothpastes. More virulent microorganisms, rather than the helpful bacteria that take more time to develop, recolonize stripped-away surfaces in the mouth quickly.
Adding to the problem, emerging science has discovered that the virulent microbes in the newly formed microfilm are often the same “friendly” organisms that were cooperative in a bal- anced state. When homeostasis is disrupted, some of the beneficial microbes transform themselves into a patho- genic state. That process is called pleomorphism, the ability of bacteria to alter their shape or size in response to adverse environ- mental conditions.
To continue the metaphor, a second approach to a garden of weeds is to use herbicides. Powerful weed killers do not distinguish between weeds and desired plants—they kill everything. That is what we have been doing since the 1970s as toothpaste and mouthwash became antimicrobial. They might “kill germs on contact,” but I believe that may be harmful. The scorched earth policy results in the destruction of beneficial microbes that protect and heal teeth, gums, and mucous membranes. A balanced oral microbiome can block colonization by pathogens, a defense mechanism called colonization resistance. When you wipe out oral microcolonies with antimicrobial toothpastes and mouthwashes, you neutralize this defense.
Think of what can happen when you take a strong antibiotic that indiscriminately kills the bacteria in your gut and urogenital tracts. Disrupting stable ecosystems with antibiotics can lead to GI discomfort and bladder and genital infections. Similarly, the use of antimicrobials can promote inflammation in your mouth, which can go on to affect the rest of your body.
The oral microbiome paid a high evolutionary price to be here. Those microbes have been around longer than you have, and they exist for your benefit. You cause an ecological catastrophe every time you brush your teeth with most of today’s toothpaste. This approach to oral care is overkill. Current oral hygiene is designed to be toxic to the millions of microbes that live in your mouth. I believe it’s time for doctors to get out of the pesticide
business.