Why You Toothpaste is Harming You - Dave Asprey w/ Trina Felber

Bulletproof radio, A state of high performance.

Let's talk about what is bad in toothpaste specifically.

Okay. Oh, how much time do you have?

Give me the short version. Okay, so tell me what's wrong with it.

Okay, so I'm not really going to go into fluoride because most people know that fluoride's not good for your teeth. But fluoride number one, triclosan is in a lot of dental products and, and triclosan, it will kill your good bacteria.

It's an antibiotic. Right?

Right. So if you're brushing your teeth with something that has triclosan in it, think about it this way. It's like brushing your mouth, brushing your teeth, or taking an antibiotic twice a day for life. What does an antibiotic for one week do to your gut? It destroys it. What do you think brushing your teeth twice a day with triclosan or an antibiotic like substance is doing to your mouth? Same thing. Destroying your microbiome. Triclosan is another one. Okay. And then sodium lauryl sulfate SLS is another one that's going to destroy your microbiome. Glycerin. If you say, I'm okay, I'm using a natural product. You better double check if glycerin is in your dental products. Glycerin is like a band aid or Saran wrap. It puts a coating on your teeth so you don't feel the sensitivities or the demineralization. And glycerin will prevent minerals from getting back into your teeth. So it's glycogen going to not allow your teeth to be as strong. Ultimately, your teeth are going to lose minerals. You're going to be more prone to cavities.

Wait a minute. How long does that glycerin stay on your teeth?

So the studies have said about 19 to 20 good swishes. So whatever that means for you. I don't know what that means for everybody, but for some people, when they have sensitive teeth, what they tell me is I had sensitive teeth. I would brush my teeth and my sensitivity would go away. And then in the evening, my, my teeth would start to get sensitive again. But then it was time to brush my teeth again. So I don't know.

Wow. So it's lasting all day.

It can, it can. Because if you think about it, you're not really. So swishing means you're moving something liquid or something between. So eating food might remove a little bit of it, but, you know, it's all dependent. I'm not here to say glycerin's gonna last all day for you, but if glycerin's in your dental products, it's preventing any minerals from getting in your teeth for a certain amount of time. So. So whatever that timeframe would be, I.

Do not know that.

Yeah. And it's in a lot of natural products. So that's the one big light bulb that a lot of people go, oh.

But you can eat glycerin without it harming you, as long as it doesn't have propylene glycol and contaminants and it's organic and all that.

Yeah. So when I tell people glycerin's not really gonna harm you internally, that's not the problem with it in your dental products. The problem is it's going to not allow the minerals to remap. And if your dental product is promoting that, it has minerals in it, but it also has glycerin. So. So the glycerin is going to prevent those minerals from remineralizing.

And a quick call out, too, if you see someone who has peg, which has glycerin in the name for the G, that is not good for your gut bacteria in general. But I haven't seen problems of eating glycerin in small amounts in foods as long as you're not rubbing down your teeth, which I just learned.

And by the way, Triclosan, because it's like an antibiotic. There were studies. There have been studies. Cause, you know, we all swallow our toothpaste to some degree. So even the tiny amount that you might swallow has been shown to decrease the gut bacteria or harm the gut bacteria.

Well, triclosan on your hands is shown to reduce your gut bacteria. I mean, like, that stuff is bad news. It needs to be banned right now. And if you're at a company that's manufacturing stuff with triclosan, you're one step below Monsanto, and you need to stop. Okay? This has no business in my environment. And I mean on the planet. Not even kidding.

All right, the last couple things to avoid in toothpaste, especially artificial colors and artificial flavors, even like, Steve, I don't even like, really sugar components or any kind of artificial.

You don't like stevia? Why would you care?

Here's why. It's a brain hack. Do you want the brain hack?

Of course.

Okay, so here's why. And I do make a monk fruit version of some of my tooth powders and toothpaste. They're the sweet but Monk fruit's an antioxidant. It's not really sugar. But I still tell people, if you can do the unsweetened, please do it. Here's why. Your brain cannot decipher where something sweet came from. It doesn't know if it's monk fruit, which is an antioxidant, or if it's stevia, or if it's cane sugar. All your brain knows is it wants more sugar, it likes it, it turns it on. And the next thing you know, you're drinking a latte full of sugar, and the next thing you know, you're stopping to get something else that's full of sugar. And your brain just. So if you're trying to stay healthy, brushing your teeth with sugar is setting you up. If that's the first thing you do in the morning and you're brushing your teeth with something that's sweet, if you knock that out, you might be better off on your target weight loss or whatever program you're on, staying where you are. If you just avoid that one thing.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you outright. Here's why. So a lot of people, like, if you've gotten rid of sugar, you can have stevia, and it doesn't cause sugar cravings. And I'm wearing a levels continuous glucose monitor on my arm. There's no difference in blood sugar for that. But stevia has shown in multiple studies to break up biofilms.

It does. Okay, I get that.

So I'm not putting that in my mouth.

But what about your brain? Like, I'm talking. I'm not talking about in your mouth.

I don't get cravings from stevia. I don't like it very much, but I don't get cravings from it.

No, but you're not the average person who's eating, like, sugar or.

So when I'm talking, you're worried it'll trigger a sugar craving.

I'm telling people that if you are someone who is literally trying to. Like, you're struggling with stress and weight loss and diabetes or anything. If you're struggling with things, maybe what you're brushing your teeth with first thing in the morning, if it's sweet, is setting your brain up to want more, more, more, and setting off those type of reactions.

Okay, I get you there. So if you're having a problem with cravings and you need to be at the start of your journey, I need no sweet flavors at all. There is a purist, kind of older paleo perspective that says that just don't get used to sweet flavors. I've always been like, hey, use some xylitol. It's good for your teeth anyway. And it's okay to experience sweet. Just don't get the blood sugar spikes. And it's okay to live a little, but sometimes you just have to go cold turkey. And so I'm with you there. I could go either way. I don't object to stevia, even though I don't like it.

Yeah, I mean, I don't object to it either. I just want people to really. And for a lot of people. And I do make, like I said, I make one that has monk fruit in it for kids and for adults that really like that sweeter flavor. But, you know, if you're someone who really is struggling with something, maybe that's. And really brushing your teeth with a non sweet. My toothpowder is non sweet. It's our number one selling flavor is the non sweet ones.

It doesn't need to be sweet. My kids use it and it tastes like minty stuff. They're completely okay with it. All right, so that's what's wrong with toothpaste. We've got glycerin that seals your teeth so they can't get minerals. You've got triclosan, which is just bad news. It's an antibiotic that works systemically and is in hand soap and stuff like that. And then you've got fluoride, which is a big deal. You've got sls, which also screws up your oral microbiome. So that's a pretty good reason to switch away from a toothpaste and go to a powder. The other reason I like a powder, which is kind of funny, is that back when we actually used to travel, which I did a lot of, I would not have to put it in a little baggie and like portion it out and all that stupid stuff. And if you're actually interested in protecting the environment, would you rather burn airplane fuel and all that to ship around a paste or a powder? Because the powder goes a lot further on your brush. So it's actually less packaging and more benefits. So I'm a fan of the dirty mouth powder. Well, there's environmental reasons that it works better anyway.

Yeah, Patterns.