How I Fixed My Terrible Oral Health - 7 Steps

It's possible. I have the most extensive oral care of anyone on planet Earth. Today. I'm going to share what I do and what you can do at home to get your oral health in tip top shape. And I'll tell you that I didn't start in a good place. My teeth were literally rotting. I was losing attachment on my gums. My teeth were not in a good place. I had a lot of sugar in my diet. The situation was not good. And you probably relate to this that you maybe look at the teeth in the mirror and you're not quite sure. Do you fully look or do you kind of close the mouth and wish for the best? You don't know if you go to the dentist, if they're going to do some big construction or they're going to have to repair a whole bunch of cavities. It's a really anxiety inducing topic. Now, as with all things blueprint, you want to take baseline measurements. I know when I've gone into the dentist previously, you go there, they do a cleaning, the dentist will come in, they'll give you a look over and say, no cavities. Great, you're good to go. But oftentimes that misses some of the more important elements. So for me, we said we want to look at pocket depth, which is you take from the top of the gum to the bottom of the pocket and you want to see how deep that is. If it's 1 to 3 millimeters, you're in good shape. If it's 4 or 5, it needs some work. The second is attachment, where you want to see the firmness around the tooth. Third is you want to see plaque, index the hardened plaque around the tooth. And then you also want to measure how easy or hard it is for your gums to bleed. Now, once you have those baseline measurements, there's a rough idea where your oral health is at. The first thing I do in my protocol is I use a water pick. These can cost anywhere from 40 to $200. But you see it's a high pressure stream of water that comes out like a hose and, and you run it along the gum line around your entire teeth. If you brush and floss and then you use your water pick, you're still going to see stuff come out. And so it really is effective in getting your mouth really clean. I do this for the first step. Now, after water picking, flossing is number two. I use this. Doctor Tongues. It has a more thicker string, I think. In the studies we evaluated, it showed a 25% increase, increase in the amount of plaque it could pick up from the smaller strands. I used to use oral B. Now it's doctor Tongues. I use both a water pick and floss because they're each good and helpful at picking up debris at various parts of the gum and teeth. Third step is I use an electric toothbrush. Now, I prefer the electric because I find it cleans my teeth better. But you may prefer a manual, and that's just fine. Find the one that's right for you. Now, with my electric toothbrush, I prefer soft bristles versus hard because I find that it can clean just as well without the harsh friction. And then there's small things you can do. For example, you can wait 30 minutes after eating because your teeth enamel get a little soft after eating, so waiting 30 minutes before you brush can be helpful. As for my toothpastes, I currently am using two. I use one in the morning, one at night. There's no reason why. I just think it's fun to change toothpaste. Also, I try to get every single bit out of the tube because you know what? Why waste anything? These pass because they don't have fluoride, they help whiten, and they don't have other junk. Death number four is a tongue stripper. Why didn't anybody tell me about this? These are really important. So the tongue gets kind of dirty just like the teeth do. And it needs a cleaning just like the teeth do. And so this tongue stripper, stick out your tongue, scrape it, do it a few times, and you will notice a very big difference in oral health. If this is not a practice you do today, I would encourage you to start it. It will be a game changer. Now, for mouthwash, I've used this guy. It has xylitol, and I only use it in two circumstances. One is when I'm about to be in close contact with others to avoid having bad breath. We all know what it's like to talk to somebody with bad breath. And then secondarily is if you're about to smooch and you want to be freshened up, you know, give your partner the very best. Next is bruxism. This one's near and dear to my heart. For 20 years, I was grinding my teeth at night. So I'd go to bed, I'd wake up, and I would catch myself grinding my teeth. It was a really unpleasant sound and feeling, and I couldn't stop myself. I tried to meditate and relax, but I just couldn't stop it. Now, if you have bruxism or you think you may have bruxism, I'm going to strongly encourage you to try to address it. The dentist I spoke with would recommend a mouth guard of some variety. Sometimes it was hard, sometimes it was soft. I would grind my way through those. It didn't stop my grind, it just created a cushion for my teeth. But it still created the wear and tear when you're grinding. It not only just creates wear and tear on the teeth, but also increases pocket depth, it increases attachment loss. It just ages your entire mouth. And so I didn't fix it until a dentist recently on blueprint recommended this one which is Somno dent device. And what it does, it's a top and a bottom layer and it arrests your mouth. When you first put it in, you feel claustrophobic because it just, you can't move at all. Over time it becomes very soothing. And so for the first time in my life it's been able to arrest my bruxism and it has stopped the decay of my teeth quality. And then of course we all know this, it's wise to visit the dentist every six months or so to get a teeth cleaning, remove the stains and get an assessment on how we're doing with our oral health. You may guess I'm, I have done some out of the normal things for my oral health. If you're interested in these more advanced therapies to try and correct challenges you have, they are on my website protocol.brianjohnson.com and you can take them to your dentist and see if they will do them for you. My markers have dramatically improved. My attachment loss is 41% better and my dentist reports that my gums are as healthy as a teenager. Now for basic life decision making on a day to day basis, there are three simple ones to follow. One is avoid sugar, it's bad for the teeth. Two is be mindful that some people's teeth can be sensitive to acidic liquids. For example sipping on lemon water or caffeine. And so exposing your your teeth all day long to that can be bad. And three is assess for dry mouth condition. Saliva really helps maintain the proper balance in the mouth. So check with your dentist if you have a dry mouth condition to see if it can be addressed. So there you have it. There's a few simple things you can do. Water, pick, floss, brush daily, see your dentist every six months and then avoid sugar and you're off to a great start. Powered by oxygen. So are we.