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Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.
This episode is sponsored by BiOptimizers. I love all of their products and I have been mega-dosing their masszymes for a variety of reasons. But today I want to talk specifically about Magnesium Breakthrough because you might’ve heard me talk about or write about magnesium before. And once I started taking Magnesium Breakthrough, my sleep completely changed and I wake up feeling so energized. It also helps me wind down at night, although I am one of the weird ones that I prefer to take magnesium in the morning and find it really supports my sleep when I do. And here’s why this one’s different. Other forms of magnesium might only be giving you one or two types of magnesium. But Magnesium Breakthrough contains all seven forms designed to calm your mind and help you fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up refreshed. And over 75% of the population is magnesium deficient. And this is important because magnesium is vital for hundreds of enzymatic reactions in the body. And what most people don’t know is that even if we’re taking a magnesium supplement, we can still be deficient because we’re not getting all of the forms. And Magnesium Breakthrough is the easiest way I found to get all seven forms in one supplement. So not only does it help me sleep better and calm my mind and body and stay relaxed during the day, it also helps me to have better digestion to recover quicker from exercise. And magnesium is well studied to also support bone density. Most magnesium supplements are ineffective because they only contain a couple forms. And Magnesium Breakthrough is unique in that it contains all seven forms. And I noticed a big difference from this one. For an exclusive offer just for Wellness Mama listeners, go to bioptimizers.com/wellnessmama. Your brain and body will thank you. And if you use the code wellnessmama during checkout, you will save 10%.
This episode is brought to you by LMNT. And you’ve probably heard me talk about my love of getting enough salt before and how this made a drastic difference in my energy levels. And LMNT is the easiest way that I have found to do this as well as the tastiest. We know that proper hydration leads to better sleep, sharper focus, better energy, and so much more. But hydration isn’t just about drinking water. In fact, only drinking water alone all the time can actually be counterproductive. Because being optimally hydrated, which is a state called urohydration, is about optimizing your body’s fluid ratios. And this depends on many factors, including the intake and excretion of things like salt and electrolytes. Now, electrolytes are charged minerals that conduct electricity to power your nervous system. They also regulate hydration status by balancing fluids inside and outside of our cells. LMNT was created with a science-backed electrolyte ratio of 1,000 milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium, and 60 milligrams of magnesium with no sugar. So even though these taste incredible, they don’t have added sugar, and I love my kids consuming them as well.
Electrolytes are a key component of healthy hydration. And here’s what happens when your electrolyte levels are dialed in. You find you have steady, maintained energy, better cognitive function. I noticed this really helps me get rid of brain fog. I suffer fewer headaches now, experience fewer muscle cramps, even during severe workouts. I perform better and longer. And for people who follow any kind of fasting or low carb diet protocol, when you stop eating carbs or when you’re fasting, the absence of insulin allows the kidneys to release sodium, sodium, replacing that lost sodium with an electrolyte solution can help you continue to feel good. And since LMNT is zero sugar, it won’t break a fast. You might also find that getting your sodium levels in the right range can help improve or maintain healthy blood pressure, regulate digestion, this is a big one for a lot of people, and keep skin hydrated. We know that hydrated skin is happy skin and these minerals are a big key in that as well. You can check out and try LMNT at drinklmnt.com/wellnessmama. And by using that link, you’ll receive a free LMNT sample pack with any order. So you can try all of their amazing flavors. My favorites right now are watermelon and grapefruit, but I also love their chocolate flavors with hot water as a form of a hot cocoa. So again, drinklmnt.com/wellnessmama to receive a free sample pack.
Katie: Hello, and welcome to the Wellness Mama podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com. And this episode is all about the truth about fluoride, as well as some other dental health myths and what to do about it. And I’m here with Dr. Griffin Cole, who received his dental degree from the University of Texas in San Antonio, and he practiced biologic dentistry for 28 years. He’s ozone certified and received his board certification in naturopathic medicine and his degree in integrated biological dental medicine, as well as doing his mastership in the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. And he drafted the Academy’s fluoridation brochure and the official scientific review on ozone use and root canal therapy. He has decades of experience and research and applicable knowledge on this topic. And I was so excited to have him on because I get questions about fluoride and I know it’s a controversial topic, but there’s some new review of information that has come out recently that he has special insight on. And I wanted to bring him on to be the voice to really tackle this topic because I feel like a lot of misinformation about fluoride is still floating around and he has such an informed viewpoint on this. I love his perspective, how he walks us through the risk, any potential actual benefits, and the very serious when to and what to avoid, as well as the different forms of fluoride and what you need to understand about that, especially if you have children. So let’s learn from Dr. Griffin Cole. Dr. Griffin, welcome. Thank you so much for being here.
Dr. Cole: Thank you for having me, Katie.
Katie: Well, as the audience might know, I love researching and understanding more about oral health. That was a big part of my journey. It’s something I spend an inordinate amount of time just researching for fun. And I think it’s a missing piece for a lot of people that we don’t talk enough about, or we think of it as a whole separate category and separate from the rest of our health when it absolutely isn’t. And we’re going to get to dive super deep on that particular topic in our second episode.
But first I want to tackle a topic that I get actually a lot of questions about, and it is in the realm of a little bit controversial, but I feel very important, especially for women and especially for kids, for people listening who have kids. So I know this is a somewhat broad topic, but I would love to kind of dismantle and figure out the truth about fluoride, because this is something that people know of, at least in the dental space, as something that’s claimed to be protective of our teeth and safe if used in our mouth. And so I would love for you to start us off broad from your perspective as a dentist and walk us through understanding A, what fluoride is, B, why we use it, and then we’ll get into maybe are there other options and should we consider not?
Dr. Cole: So I think it’s important to differentiate between forms of fluoride. Obviously, there’s naturally occurring fluoride or calcium fluoride, and that’s what we might find on the earth. Naturally occurring. Sodium fluoride is what they typically add to toothpaste. So that’s more manufactured in a lab. And then fluorine by itself, of course, is the naturally occurring element, which doesn’t exist like that. It always wants to join up with something.
So if we’re talking about toothpaste, sodium fluoride, I can tell you this. It’s unnecessary for good oral health. There’s no system in the body that requires fluoride. It’s not an essential nutrient. No one’s going to die from a lack of fluoride. You can brush your teeth with pretty much anything, Katie. You can use baking soda and water or any dentrophist that you want. It’s really just about getting the plaque off the teeth.
So is there a topical effect from fluoride? Of course there is. There is a bit of an antibacterial effect and that’s why it’s promoted in mainstream dentistry. But other than that, but so is salt water. Salt water, warm salt water has an antibacterial effect. So there’s plenty of other options that are much safer. The third part of your question I think was, I don’t remember. I’m sorry.
Katie: Well, I love that you said that there’s not like a need. We don’t have like a deficiency in fluoride. This is not something we have a biological need for. And like I said, it is something that is somewhat controversial. I also love the tip about saltwater because I’ve noticed this with kids, even when they’re just in the phase of teething or losing teeth, swishing with saltwater seems to be really helpful for that. And I know that there’s actually a lot of kind of cool evidence related to salt and its role in the mouth and in the whole body, actually. But I know fluoride also kind of comes under scrutiny because of potential negative effects it can have. And from researching this in the notes that you sent there, it seems like there’s actually a recent update to what data we actually know about fluoride and its potential benefits and its potential harms.
Dr. Cole: Yeah, so now we’re talking about ingested fluoride, right? Systemic fluoride, fluoride in the water. And yeah, there’s really so much has happened over the past 10 years. And I’ll be as brief as I can. There’s been, I think, close to 90 studies now, definitely over 80 worldwide studies showing that when pregnant moms drink fluoridated water as compared to moms who don’t, the babies that are born to the pregnant moms that drank fluoridated water have lower IQs across the board and have other cognitive effects and brain impairments like ADD and things like this.
So in fact, it’s so prominent and so prevalent and so important in what’s going on in the research that there was a court case that was brought against the EPA. It actually started as a petition in 2016, where it was the Fluoride Action Network, Moms Against Fluoridation, and Food and Water Watch, and some consumers as well, that petitioned the EPA to stop adding fluoride to the water because there was plenty of science to show that it harms our children. The EPA refused, so it went to court. And here we are now, eight years later, the court, the case was finally summed up back in March. And we’re still waiting to hear the judge’s ruling. But if you were one of the privileged people who got to see the ongoing court case like I did, it was all in favor of us. I mean, the EPA had no defense. They couldn’t because when you showed the actual studies, which by the way, those studies that were picked for the court case were handpicked. There was, as I mentioned, over 80 studies, but the National Toxicology Program, which is part of Health and Human Services, so our government has a program called the National Toxicology Program. They looked at all these studies and they got down to 55 that they felt had low bias and really good scientific method. And of those 55, they got even tighter to 52 and said, we’ve got enough evidence to show that we shouldn’t be adding this to our water supply. It’s not helpful to the teeth and it does so much harm. So that’s where we are right now. I’m sorry to be so wordy, but there’s a lot going on.
Katie: Yeah, and I know from my own journey and research with that, fluoride’s added to the water in many places, and it’s one of the more difficult things to get out of the water. It’s not going to be removed easily by simple over-the-counter filters. And I now have like a whole – we don’t actually have fluoride in our water where I live, but I have a whole house filter and an under-the-sink filter to remove other things that are difficult to remove. The interesting thing, I would love to hear if you’re able to explain how did we come to start putting fluoride in our water supply and or using it so commonly in the dental world? Because from my understanding of it, and correct me if this is not right, but to me, even if it has a potential effect of benefiting the teeth when used topically, to me, putting it in the water supply seems like equivalent to drinking Band-Aids when you have a cut. Like we’re not – it wouldn’t be put in the right place to begin with, but how did it become so commonly put in the water supply?
Dr. Cole: Yeah, you’re spot on with that, Katie. That’s a very good analogy. Well, just to keep it as brief as possible, this was a waste issue. And I’m going back to the mid-40s. Alcoa, which was a big aluminum manufacturing company, and the phosphate fertilizer industry, has a problem with fluoride as being one of their waste products. And it’s so harmful, Katie, that the EPA, for years, has not allowed it to be dumped in landfills or to be vaporized into the air. So they require all these companies to install scrubbing stacks to capture it. It’s that harmful.
So the question is, if we can’t put it in the ground and we can’t put it in the air, why are we putting it in our water supply? I believe it started off with altruistic methods, meaning there was a couple of dentists in this country, probably the most famous is Dr. Frederick McKay in Colorado Springs way back in 1901. He noticed that his town had these children with these spots on their teeth, yet no decay. And so he undertook a 30-year investigation to figure out what is it? What does Colorado Springs have that these other places don’t? These kids are getting decay and mine aren’t. And the answer was high amounts of naturally occurring fluoride. Remember, it will have an effect topically, but systemically, when you start to see these brown spots and everything, cosmetically, the teeth are brittle. It’s not good, not to mention we’ve affected the pineal gland. We’ve lowered thyroid activity. We’ve affected our kidneys. We’ve got this in our bones. I mean, the list of systemic problems goes on and on. So I think it started off with what’s going on, and then manufacturing that was having a problem with a waste product said, huh, why don’t we use that information to now start adding to the water supply?
Katie: That’s so interesting. And I would love to go deeper on the thyroid connection, especially I have a feeling that’s going to be relevant to a lot of women listening. And that was actually why I started paying attention to avoiding fluoride in the first place was understanding that it has a similar bond. It bonds in a similar places like iodine or other things that thyroid does need and can sort of limit the natural way the thyroid functions. But you also mentioned the pineal gland, and I would love for you to elaborate on both of those, because I would guess some people listening haven’t heard the effect it can have on those in particular.
Dr. Cole: Well, with the thyroid, if you remember our periodic table, fluorine is the top. It’s the most powerful halogen. So it’s going to be iodine to the thyroid all day long. And that’s when you see a lot of, I mean, I had tons of patients over the years, mostly female, but also male that would have thyroid issues. And the first thing I would say is, tell me about your fluoride intake. I’m drinking the tap water. I’m doing this. And I would say, stop all of that. If you can stop ingesting fluoride in all forms, which is impossible if you go to restaurants or you do anything, you eat out or buy products because they’re now fruit juices and sodas and everything else has fluoride in it. But if you can, to the extent that you can, you might see your thyroid activity go back up. So that’s one thing I would tell your listeners is look at that first.
The pineal gland, of course, is where we make melatonin and our circadian sleep cycles are regulated and fluoride calcifies that gland overtime. So it literally shuts down its activity. So those are the two glands and organs that we hear the most about. But again, it affects your kidney function. It affects the brain, as we know now. It’s a neurotoxin. This is the thing that has finally made people open their eyes, people meaning mainstream dentistry and those people who promote this, like the CDC, is the fact that children’s brains are being damaged from it. So I think that’s the take-home point that I want to make.
Katie: Yeah, I mean, that makes, when you talk about the potential effect in utero when pregnant mothers are drinking fluoridated water, the effect on children’s brains from IQ to other things. And then also I know that, understanding of the pineal gland and calcification and the wide-ranging effects of that is just starting to really be understood. Not to mention the thyroid thing, which is, I know, present for many listeners. It seems like hopefully that makes the case for avoiding fluoride. I know some people still opt for it, at least in dental instances, because they want to protect the teeth, which I understand. But it seems like there are now available much potentially more effective options that don’t carry the same risks. So I would love to hear what you use in dental practice, what you recommend, or any other options people can consider beyond fluoride while still wanting to protect the teeth and keep and maintain healthy teeth as we get older.
Dr. Cole: Yeah, so there’s lots of other toothpastes that are much better. There’s ones that are prebiotic toothpaste. There’s ones that have charcoal. I’m most excited about the hydroxyapatite ones, like by Wellnesse, especially the crystalline form, not the nanoparticles. So hydroxyapatite, it’s a naturally occurring crystalline structure. It’s exactly what’s in our enamel. When you brush with it, it does incorporate into the enamel, strengthens it. So, and you get that antibacterial effect as well. So for me, if I can use a toothpaste that has no fluoride, no sodium lauryl sulfate, or any other toxins that we don’t need. That’s what I’m going to go for all day long. And I think everybody should, especially because they are affordable too. As I mentioned earlier, you can brush with anything, really, to strip the plaque off the teeth. But the hydroxyapatite toothpaste are the most exciting ones, right?
Katie: Yeah, I guess most people have never heard a dentist say before, you can brush with anything. I think we, I know I got programmed early of like toothpaste looks a certain way, it comes out of a tube, it tastes a certain way, has to foam a certain way. And if we don’t use it twice a day, then our teeth will fall out. Like I definitely had that. And then when I read the work of Weston A. Price and others, I was like, oh, and there’s also a huge dietary component. For instance, there’s a nutrient component that a lot of us don’t understand.
What about in-office fluoride treatments? Because I have some friends who don’t use fluoride toothpaste. They filter it out of their water, but they seemingly are convinced by their dentist twice a year that their kids need to have this treatment on their teeth and that the risk is minimal because it’s a short-term exposure.
Dr. Cole: Yeah, I’m heavily against that, strongly against any kind of fluoride varnish or any fluoride treatments at all. It’s very harmful, Katie. I mean, if a child is to swallow some of that, it can ultimately kill them, but it’ll definitely have a very negative effect quite quickly. So no fluoride varnishes, no fluoride treatments. If you have sensitive roots, there are options like ozone therapy, 60 seconds of ozone gas will get rid of that sensitivity. Hydroxyapatite toothpaste, another good one. There is a product that all dentists have called minimal intervention paste. Again, without fluoride, it can take away sensitivity and stop decay as well. So we have iodine, povidone iodide. We have too many options that are much safer and quite honestly, much less costly. So no fluoride in all forms. If you want to use your toothpaste, I get that. You don’t need it. Johnny, right now, you don’t need it. But I understand if you want to.
Katie: Oh, I love that. Yeah. We now have readily available other options that are potentially the same or more effective without the downside. So I love that you as a dentist are bringing awareness to this because I know often the advice comes from a dentist and people are hesitant to go against that advice because it’s coming from an authority position. A lot of us obviously didn’t go to dental school and don’t have the deep knowledge. So I love that you are doing this deep research and bringing this knowledge to the masses.
I also know, like I touched on briefly, that there’s so much more to oral health than just obviously the topical. I think it’s easy in the mouth to think of like teeth are separate from the rest of the body or what we put on them topically is what makes a difference. And for me, it was mind-blowing to really research and dive into like there’s this whole incredible interaction between what’s going on in our body, between our oral health, and that’s what we’re going to really dive into in our next episode. But can you give us any high-level tips that we can use to support the teeth sort of from the inside out?
Dr. Cole: Yeah. So you mentioned it earlier when you mentioned Weston Price. So diet for me is everything. If you can have a diet that’s predominantly alkaline and you can go online and find what foods are, I mean, mostly green leafy vegetables, but there’s also, you know, naturally raised meats, animal meats that are raised organically without any hormones. Believe it or not, those are also alkaline. There’s plenty of foods. So that’s the first thing I always say to everybody. The first question I would ask a patient would be tell me about your diet. What are you eating and drinking on a daily basis? And that is number one.
Beyond that, you know, as far as caring for your teeth, like I mentioned, you can use anything to wipe the plaque off, but keep in mind, you know, we often talk about killing bacteria, good and bad and all that. And we’ll get into this, I know, in more detail later but our microbiome, our oral microbiome is just like the rest of our body’s microbiome. We’re all connected here. But the one thing that I would say if I had to cap this whole thing up with a nice little top is that they have looked at all of the organs that are cancerous, meaning they’ve done autopsies after assays to see what kind of bacteria had infiltrated these organs. And I’m talking, you name it, the lungs, the liver, the pancreas, kidneys, and oral bacteria was the predominant bacteria in all of the organs, especially the heart. So we’re, it’s one unit and everything starts right here. This is where your digestion starts, everything. And I will say this as well, your saliva, your oral pH should be alkaline pretty much the entire day. The only time it might be a little bit neutral acid would be first thing in the morning. After that, Katie, it should be alkaline the rest of the day.
Katie: You also mentioned ozone. I would love for you to explain the use of ozone in a dental capacity, because I’ve had another guest who explained it in other areas of the body and how it can be beneficial. And very few dentists, I feel like, are using ozone currently. I’m hoping that this becomes more widespread. But how can ozone be used to aid the mouth and without negatively affecting the oral microbiome and in the uses that you use it?
Dr. Cole: Yeah, well, I can tell you that that number is growing. I’m an instructor, and so I’m all over the country training dentists, and it is growing. There’s a lot more dentists using it, but you’re right, not enough yet. So ozone is O3, as I’m sure your listeners know. It’s been used in medicine for well over 100 years all over the world. This is not a new treatment. But in this country where, you know, if it’s not something you can put in packaging or a pill form, it’s not something that’s lauded by mainstream dentistry or mainstream medicine.
It’s incredible. It’s antimicrobial. So it’ll take out everything, bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, you name it. But like you mentioned, do we want to kill everything? We don’t. So the cool thing about dentistry is it’s targeted attack. So if I say I’m working on some gum disease issues and we got some deep pockets, we can do some ozone infiltration with water and gas to kill what’s in those pockets without affecting necessarily the rest of the whole body at that point. We can do things like nasal insufflation where we do want to get it through the body. Again, targeted attacks, though, we’re working on infection or inflammation at the time.
You can use it for deep cavities. You can avoid root canals on teeth that have very deep cavities where they’re already right on top of that pulp, that nerve. And if you use ozone gas properly and then seal up the tooth properly, you can avoid root canals. So there’s nothing that we can’t use it for in dentistry. Decay, gum disease, recreating bone, sometimes in deep pockets in the mouth. Supporting the whole immune system. It’s just amazing. The treatments are endless.
Katie: Which brings up another question that I’m curious your take on, which is the widespread use of mouthwash. I’ve certainly, this is not something I do, but I know that it’s pretty commonly widespread. I know people who use mouthwash every day, multiple times per day. What is your take on that? And are there alternatives if it’s not ideal to use mouthwash?
Dr. Cole: Yeah, I’m not a fan of mouth rinse either. I mean, I’ve used some in the past, and I even carried some over the years. But again, unnecessary, Katie. I mean a lot of the mouthwashes that are sold over the counter are not good. They’ve got alcohol, they’ve got fluoride added and things like that. So obviously, if you’re going to get one, you need to find a natural company that’s promoting a natural product. You know, maybe one mouth rinse that would be okay is one that contains stabilized chlorine dioxide. There’s a couple of, I’m not going to name them, but there’s a couple of companies that sell that. That I get. That’s a very strong antibacterial effect, yet safe for the body. So you’re not trying again to kill everything at once. But it’s unnecessary. Again, if your diet’s clean and you’re hydrating and you’re brushing your teeth and flossing twice a day. It’s just not something you need.
Katie: Yeah, it was interesting to me to hear some dentists explain that widespread overuse of mouthwash can actually even affect things like nitric oxide production because of the things we’ll go into in our next episode with oral health and the whole body. But it seems like based on what you explained earlier, using a really harsh alcohol-based mouthwash could kill sort of all of the good and bad bacteria in the mouth, similar to how antibiotics could affect the gut. So it makes sense to choose other options. What about something more gentle like a saltwater rinse if people just want to feel cleaner?
Dr. Cole: Yeah, perfect. I mean, that’s what I’d recommend if you, especially if you’re going through a bout, let’s say you went to your dentist or your hygienist and they said, oh, you know, you’re really heavy on the biofilm today or whatever. It can, you know, let’s do a little regimen here this week to get you in good shape. You know, warm saltwater gargle once or twice a day, incredible effect on the mouth, so. And that’s good enough. You don’t need to do all these. Let’s kill, kill, kill. That’s not what we want to do. You know, we both have used the term good and bad bacteria, which I hate to use. We just want our bacteria to be commensal. We want them to be happy. Because there’s anaerobes and there’s aerobes, and they all exist. We just need to kind of keep things happy and in a nice equilibrium balance.
Katie: Yes, that’s an important caveat. And being just aware that there is a microbiome in the mouth and coming from that thought perspective, instead of just to remove all bacteria, bacteria in the mouth is bad. Like having a deeper understanding to know that there’s this incredible microbiome working in our favor and how can we support it versus how can we kill all the bacteria that exist in the mouth, which is hopefully not even possible, but definitely not ideal.
Dr. Cole: I think we’re what, 90% microbes and 10% human cells. So we are predominantly microbes for sure.
Katie: Awesome. Well, I love that we got to go into the topic of fluoride. Like I said at the beginning, I know it’s a controversial one and I know there are strong opinions on both sides, but I felt like it was really important to address, especially for moms. And for me, even the story of Wellnesse and why I started making my own toothpaste years ago was a friend had, she thought her child had ingested a whole tube of toothpaste and he’d actually just poured it down the toilet, thank goodness. But when she called poison control, because there’s a poison control warning on toothpaste, the stuff that they told her was absolutely terrifying. And she removed all fluoride from her house after that. But I feel like this is something that is a huge toxin that’s present in many houses and accessible to really young children. So I love that you got to explain some of the really important dangers to be aware of, as well as alternatives that can work just as well or better. And I’m very grateful that there are dentists like you who are helping spread this knowledge and empower moms especially, which is the goal of this podcast. So thank you so much for the work that you do and for being here to tackle a controversial topic today.
Dr. Cole: Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
Katie: And thank you, as always, for listening. And I hope you will join me again on the next episode of the Wellness Mama podcast.
If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.
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