I just came back from a dental check-up today, and I’m in a fantastic mood. I didn’t have a single cavity, and for the first time since I was a kid, the condition of my gums has significantly improved.
Though I brush and floss religiously, I’ve struggled with gingivitis and gum recession throughout my 20s, and it was always a mystery to me why. I eat healthfully, don’t eat refined carbohydrates or sugar, and I never drink sodas or acidic beverages. the best answer my dental hygienist could ever come up with was a shrug, and “hormones,” or “stress”.
But today, it’s possible that I’ve finally understood what has been ailing me all these years. It’s been three months since my last cleaning (yes, I have to go that often!), and four months since I completely eliminated gluten from my diet. This check-up, for me, was another positive result of living gluten-free.
Why your mouth matters
The mouth is much more important to overall health than many people realize–it is the primary gateway to the body’s digestive system, immune system, respiratory system, and elimination system. To the astute dentist, a thorough oral exam provides insights into the health of the total machine.
Gingivitis and periodontal disease are reason to worry, not only because they can lead to loss of tooth enamel and eventually entire teeth, but chronically infected gums can be a sign of, or lead to, a more serious bacterial infection in the body.
Bacteria from oral infections can even enter the blood stream and accumulate as plaque in the arteries. in fact, those with gum disease are twice as likely to develop heart disease. There is also an association between periodontal disease and osteoporosis, as is seen in many menopausal women.
Gluten and Inflammation
The discovery of gluten’s inflammatory properties is rather recent. Scientists still haven’t quite understood the reasons behind the negative reactions of the protein on so many individuals, but the number of diagnosed sensitivities to it continues to rise.
Celiac disease is the only gluten sensitivity that is accepted as a true diagnosis in conventional medicine, though many more people who do not fit the criteria for a celiac diagnosis still exhibit negative symptoms when they ingest gluten. They include a range of digestive disturbances, and everything from dermatological conditions and headaches to bone loss, and as I recently discovered, gum disease is also a common symptom.
Celiac disease is an auto-immune disease, meaning that the body literally attacks itself when a perceived pathogen enters the it, causing inflammation to manifest in various areas. in this case the irritant is gluten. the mouth is usually the first point of contact, so it’s rational that gums would become particularly inflamed from chewing it.
Grains and Oral Health
The connection between grains, mouth diseases and poor general health was made nearly a century ago by a dentist-turned-anthropologist by the name of Weston a. Price. His ethnographic studies of human diets and health is very much en vogue today in the nutrition world, and is often cited by proponents of low carbohydrate diets.
Price spent years studying diverse populations and documented his work with over 1,500 original photographs and 4,000 lantern slides. He concluded from his research that the healthiest populations were the ones that ate the fewest grains–and they had beautiful smiles to show for it. the kicker was that none of them supposedly had any tradition of oral hygiene.
They tended to be hunter-gatherers rather than agriculturally-based societies. the majority of their carbohydrates came from fruit, nuts and root vegetables such as yams and squash.
Paleolithic dieters have used Price’s research to support their claim that grains and legumes are toxic to the body. They suggest that since man only began cultivating these foods around 10,000 years ago (relatively recently in the span of human existence) this was not enough time for our bodies to evolve to properly digest them as a food source.
Though there’s not enough evidence to back up the Paleolithic claim that all grains are harmful, there is a great deal of evidence at this time that gluten-containing grains are indeed irritating to the human digestive system. the result is mild inflammation in the body, whether a person has celiac disease or not.
Even if no known symptoms of gluten intolerance are present, I often recommend that those who are experiencing excess inflammation try reducing their gluten intake while increasing their intake of alkaline foods (especially vegetables) and omega 3 fatty acids.
The Case of Scurvy
During WWI British sailors developed spongy, bleeding gums–a condition that had been common among seafaring people for thousands of years, but it’s nutritional connection was only discovered in 1932. This disease was named “scurvy” and found to be caused by a vitamin c deficiency.
Scurvy is an example of a condition whose characteristic symptoms are usually seen first in the mouth, but has serious effects on the entire body. Precisely, it inhibits the production of collagen necessary to maintain healthy skin, muscles and connective tissues, rendering a person weak, depressed, and eventually immobile.
We often hear that the deficiency in the case of the British sailors was due to a lack of perishable fruits and vegetables in their diet, but apparently the hard tack biscuits that the sailors ate compounded the problem. Refined flour has been scientifically proven to accelerate vitamin C depletion in the body.
Other Oral Manifestations of Imbalance
A red and swollen tongue or cracked lips can be a sign of vitamin B deficiency, which play a vital role in cell metabolism. Even mild deficiencies can cause symptoms ranging from acne to depression to severe neurological damage. Weston a. Price believed that B vitamins were also effective in preventing dental cavities.
A white-coated tongue and putrid breath are signs of candidaisis, or yeast which colonize the entire body, block nutrient absorbtion, and ultimately weaken the immune system.
Herpes outbreaks are often caused by an imbalance in the amino acids arginine and lysine. when arginine levels are elevated, a lysine deficiency develops and herpes sores soon follow. Vegetable sources of protein tend to be richer in arginine, while animal sources are rich in lysine. thus, vegetarians complain more often of frequent cold sores.
A significant loss of tooth enamel may be a sign of calcium deficiency, or poor absorption–This is a red flag that a person may be osteopenic. when the body is lacking in calcium it tends to leech from the bones first, sparing the teeth. so deterioration of the tooth enamel could be a sign that bone loss has already occurred elsewhere in the body, or simply that the teeth have been exposed to too many strong acids, such as soda pop, lemonade or hydrochloric acid (common in bulimics).
Hormonal imbalances can also contribute to gum health. Women who use oral contraceptives or are menopausal are much more prone to developing gum disease. What’s more troubling is that there’s a clear association between periodontal disease and osteoporosis, as seen in celiac patients.
Keep an Eye Out
While no scientifically-sound study has been conducted on my own mouth, I take the improvement in my gum health as a sign that even my low to moderate gluten intake was taking a heavy toll on my body, and causing unnecessary systemic inflammation.
Let this be a lesson to all of you people out there with unexplained dental problems: the cause could very well be what you’re eating, and it’s probably not only your mouth that it’s hurting. if you notice that certain foods cause undesirable symptoms, try eliminating them for a period and watch to see if your condition improves.