Video summary
Bad breath often signals a deeper systemic issue rather than simply poor dental hygiene, as highlighted by the video's core argument that the mouth and gut are intrinsically linked parts of one interconnected microbiome system. The speaker introduces two foundational practices rooted in ancient Ayurvedic traditions: oil pulling with coconut, sesame, or olive oil for several minutes before brushing to loosen protective bacterial biofilms, and using a dedicated tongue scraper to remove odor-causing bacteria that thrive on the tongue rather than just the teeth. These methods are presented as essential first steps because standard toothbrushes often fail to effectively clean these areas, allowing harmful bacteria to persist behind impenetrable fortresses of biofilm that regular brushing cannot reach.
The video explains that chronic bad breath frequently stems from an imbalance between good and bad bacteria, a situation exacerbated by products like alcohol-based mouthwashes and antacids that kill beneficial microbes while allowing pathogenic ones to rebound stronger. This disruption is often driven by low stomach acid, commonly caused by the overuse of proton pump inhibitors or antacids, which removes the natural barrier preventing oral bacteria from migrating into the small intestine where they can thrive and cause issues like SIBO. Furthermore, conditions such as leaky gums act similarly to a leaky gut, creating broken barriers that allow inflammation to spread throughout the body, affecting not only breath but also systemic health markers like C-reactive protein levels found in the bloodstream.
When basic hygiene routines fail to resolve persistent bad breath, the speaker advises looking for hidden infections that standard X-rays often miss, such as dead root canals, silent abscesses under old crowns, or cavitations at extraction sites. These areas lack nerves and blood supply, meaning they can harbor pus and bacteria without causing pain until significant damage has occurred. To detect these issues, the video recommends obtaining a full-mouth cone beam CT scan, which provides a 3D view capable of revealing hidden infections that regular dental imaging overlooks. The narrative includes compelling examples of patients whose systemic inflammation markers normalized only after removing infected teeth or addressing chronic sources of infection deep within the jawbone.
Finally, the solution involves rebalancing the oral microbiome rather than sterilizing it, which can be achieved by switching to probiotic or hydroxyapatite-based toothpastes while avoiding fluoride and artificial sweeteners that disrupt bacterial harmony. Daily mechanical cleaning through flossing or water flossing is emphasized as crucial for removing trapped food particles that ferment and cause odor, with studies suggesting even every-other-day flossing can significantly reduce inflammation markers. The overarching conclusion is that resolving bad breath requires a holistic approach involving diet, targeted probiotics, and advanced diagnostic imaging to identify and treat the root causes of infection and imbalance within the body's interconnected biological systems.
Read the full video transcript
Five tips to get rid of bad breath.
If you're dealing with bad breath that
won't quit, or you know someone who is,
that's actually a sign that something
else is going on. But, what can you
actually do about it? Well, here's my
first tip. So, tip number one.
Oil pull before you brush. So, you can
use coconut oil, you can use sesame oil,
or olive oil. And what you do is you put
it in your mouth and pull it through
your teeth.
Anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes. So, what
does this actually do? It actually
loosens the biofilms
bacteria hide behind, so that brushing
can actually clear them out. Now, it's
an ancient Ayurvedic practice, but it's
not a new bio hack. It's been done for
thousands of years.
But, we now know that bad bacteria can
exist in the mouth just like bad
bacteria can exist in the gut.
But, these bad bacteria protect
themselves with biofilms. And these are
nearly impenetrable
fortresses that these guys can live by.
And oil pulling really, really helps it.
In fact, we had Guru Nanak on episode
221
talking about how oil pulling
dramatically saved him from having a
root canal. And he's got perfect teeth
now for a very long time. And again,
that's episode 221, so check it out. All
right, here's tip number two. Also, from
him, scrape your tongue.
Another old Ayurvedic trick. So, many of
the odor causing bacteria live in your
on your tongue, not just on the teeth.
Now, what that does, it's basically like
raking your tongue. And there are
numerous devices for
tongue scraping, but the idea is just to
aerate all of those
taste buds. And your taste buds can also
get coated with these biofilms. So,
getting those biofilms loosened up is a
great way of fighting bad breath. Now,
as you probably know,
using a toothbrush
isn't interested in scraping your
tongue. And a toothbrush basically skips
this entirely. So, you don't have to do
it very often, but get yourself a tongue
scraper and add that to your regimen.
Now, these two tips alone will help. But
if your bad breath keeps coming back no
matter what, it's worth understanding
why.
And it starts with something most people
never think about.
Your mouth and your gut aren't separate
systems. Believe it or not, a healthy
gut usually correlates with a healthy
mouth and vice versa. They're actually
intrinsically linked. First of all,
remember, digestion doesn't start in
your stomach. It starts the second you
start salivating. And your mouth is
actually the second largest microbiome
in your body.
There's up to 700 species live there. I
see a lot of patients who believe they
have SIBO.
And they're told that bad bacteria from
their lower intestines has grown up into
their small bowel where they shouldn't
be.
The interesting thing is, when you
actually look at people who actually
have SIBO,
2/3 of people have oral microbiome
living in their small bowel where
they're not supposed to be.
And only a third have lower colon gut
bacteria in the small bowel. Now, why
does that happen? Well, first of all, we
have a real barrier against oral
bacteria getting into our lower gut. And
that's stomach acid.
These bacteria usually cannot survive
stomach acid.
Now, sadly,
many people have very low stomach acid.
Why? Because so many people are on PPIs
or antacids or just think that taking
Tums or Rolaids or Pepto-Bismol is a
normal part of eating because they get
such heartburn without realizing that
they changed the barrier against this
oral microbiome.
The second part that we've learned is
that normally the acid in the stomach
produces what's called the acid
gradient. Colon bacteria hate acid. If
you don't have acid in your stomach,
then the lack of acid in your small
intestine allows
colon bacteria to grow up into your
small bowel.
And that often is where that bad breath
comes from. It's the oral bacteria or
colon bacteria that are thriving. Now,
another thing that you've got to look
for. Do you have bleeding or receding
gums? Believe it or not, that's
basically leaky gum. The same broken
barrier mechanism as leaky gut. Now,
again, this is all part of what I call
the holobiome. The gut, the mouth, the
skin microbiomes,
all one interconnected system. So, if
the mouth is out of balance, it's not
just a breath problem.
It's a whole system problem.
And here's where bad breath actually
comes from at the bacterial level.
So, again, bacteria don't just float
around.
They build biofilms, protective huts.
In fact, believe it or not, bacteria can
see
who's around them, and they can actually
count how many of their favorite species
are around them. And it's called quorum
sensing.
Bacteria wait until they get the right
amount, and then they actually start
multiplying and taking over.
Now, the good news is that there are
only about 2% of oral bacteria that are
actually bad. [clears throat]
The rest of them keep them in check. So,
here's the part that most people get
backwards. Number one,
you would think that alcohol-based
mouthwash
or additives like triclosan
literally carpet bomb everything, good
bacteria included.
So, the problem is, like we've learned
in the gut,
you kill off the good guys, but the bad
guys rebound even stronger.
And the good guys aren't there to fight
them off. And so, some chronic bad
breath is being caused by the exact
products people think they're using to
fight it. And sometimes it's not a
hygiene issue at all.
A dead root canal or a cavitation,
a jawbone inflammation,
can actually sit there silently with no
pain because the nerve is dead. So,
stick around because the last three tips
cover what to swap out and what to do
even if it's still not going away. So,
if bad breath is chronic despite
brushing, flossing, water pick, a proper
mouthwash,
what should someone actually check out?
So, if you've done all of that, there's
two things you really want to check.
First of all, you want to check some
markers of inflammation that are readily
obtainable by your health care provider.
A simple one is HS-CRP,
C-reactive protein. Number two, you can
get a
fibrinogen level. Number three, you can
get myeloperoxidase.
Number four, you can get other
inflammatory markers like TNF alpha,
IL-16, but most of your providers are
not going to order that for you.
Many times, if these markers are
elevated, there is something more
serious going on. One could be leaky
gut. One could be that you've got the
wrong bacteria in parts of your gut like
I talked about before. But, one thing
that's frequently amiss by regular
dentists
is that many times a regular dental
x-ray can actually miss a hidden
infection.
Can miss a cavitation
or an abscess at the bottom of a root
canal or at the bottom of
[clears throat] your roots.
Well, why don't you feel that? Why
doesn't it hurt?
Well, unfortunately, if the infection
damages the nerve, you will not feel it.
And that's something that happens
surprisingly more than you might think.
So,
ask your dentist to get a full mouth CAT
scan. These are now available in many
dental offices. Many times you have to
go to an [clears throat] endodontist
office, but they're easy as sitting in a
chair. It goes past your mouth and you
get a full CT scan of your mouth. And
you'll be amazed by what can sometimes
be there that you didn't know about.
All right. Tip three to get rid of bad
breath.
First of all, ditch the alcohol-based
mouthwash.
It dries out your mouth and dry mouth is
worse for breath.
Many of my patients have an autoimmune
disease called Sjogren's syndrome, which
is dry eye and dry mouth.
And many of my patients are using
a transplant drug in their eyes to get
rid of their dry eye, but don't realize
that the same thing is happening in
their mouth and that their bad breath is
coming from the fact that they don't
have enough saliva production.
Also, watch out for triclosan, SLS, and
artificial sweeteners in toothpaste.
So, what do you do?
Well, you look for a
hydroxyapatite-based
or probiotic toothpaste instead.
Don't look for a fluoride-based
toothpaste. Fluoride kills bacteria.
The goal isn't to sterilize your mouth.
It's to rebalance, just like we talked
about with the gut. All right. Tip four.
Floss daily, not just before a dental
visit.
Now, a number of years ago, I published
a study looking at people who were asked
to floss every other day for 6 months.
And believe it or not, they normalized
their HS-CRP, an inflammation marker.
Now, why did I choose every other day? I
really don't like flossing.
But, I could do it every other day. My
wife
is a nut. She flosses twice a day. She's
really smart. And what was really
interesting about the study is that
daily or twice daily flossers dropped
their CRP even further.
Or if you find that's difficult, just
use those little picks if flossing is
difficult. In fact, there are some
interesting studies that toothpicks, the
old-fashioned, actually works better
than flossing.
Or add a daily Waterpik routine. I know,
it's a bit of a pain, but you don't want
pain coming out of your mouth. Also,
the reason you do this is because
trapped food between the teeth is a
classic hidden odor source that brushing
alone won't fix. Many times, I'll ask my
patients who do floss,
"Next time you floss, particularly your
back teeth, pull the floss out and smell
it."
And I'll bet you it really smells nasty.
That's those bacteria
fermenting what you left behind and your
toothbrush didn't get.
So, just because you're brushing twice a
day, you're not getting to the real
issue.
Now, remember, this isn't just a mouth
issue.
Whatever's happening in there is
actually showing up in your bloodstream
and your gut, too. And I can measure it.
Would you believe it, the people with
receding gums, with periodontal disease,
have bacteria
in the plaque in their coronary
arteries?
Sadly, it's true. All right, tip five.
How about if you have persistent bad
breath despite a clean diet and a good
routine?
There could be a hidden infection.
If you've had a root canal
and a crown, that's a dead tooth.
There's no blood supply, there's no
immune system, and there's no nerves to
alert you.
Now, that infection can sit there
silently for years. Cavitations, that's
jaw bone inflammation often found at old
wisdom tooth extraction sites. It's the
same deal. Now, neither of these usually
show up on a standard X-ray.
So, you need to get a cone beam CT scan
to see it in 3D.
I like to tell the story of two of my
patients, both dental hygienists.
They had elevated CRP with no
explainable cause. We looked everywhere,
chronic urinary tract infections, leaky
gut,
couldn't find a reason.
I asked them to get a CT scan of their
mouth, they
looking for this problem.
And they both laughed at me.
They said, "Don't you think as a dental
hygienist I'd know what's going on in my
mouth?"
I said, "Hey,
let's find out." Turns out both of them
had abscesses under old root canal
crowns. And both the dentists were
shocked when they pulled off the crowns
and pus came running out of their teeth.
Good news is,
once that was fixed, both of them, their
C-reactive protein normalized. So,
when should someone actually ask their
dentist for a cone beam scan? If we've
done everything that we just talked
about and you're still having problems
with bad breath,
it's time to look deeper.
Now, is this something a regular dentist
can catch?
Well, a lot of dentists now have CT
scans in their office, but many times
you're going to have to go to someone
who's a endodontist to find that office,
but they're actually very reasonable. Do
you need to see a biologicalistic
dentist specifically?
Well, not necessarily. Although, my
experience is that most dentists
are still not
really interested in
cavitations and old wisdom teeth sites,
which won't really show up on a regular
x-ray.
So, think about going one level deeper.
Now, here's one final bonus tip.
Consider taking a probiotic
specifically designed for improving the
oral microbiome, and there are actually
several out there.
And these are usually in tablet form
that you chew. And there are also
several
prebiotic probiotic toothpastes that you
should consider brushing with. And as
always,
everything often comes down to your
diet. So, make sure to follow my yes and
no food list in all my books,
and the list is absolutely available for
free on gundrymd and drgundry.com.
So, you got no excuse for your bad
breath.
That's all for today.