Episode 33: Your Oral Health may be the Root of the Problem, with Dr. Caitlin Czezowski

Hi, I'm Dr. Tabitha, the functional gynecologist. I'm a board certified OB, GYN and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey. And I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, then you've come to the right place. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome. Hi, friends. So today we are going to be talking about oral health. So it's a really cool episode. I think that a lot of you will be really surprised because you'd be hearing some amazing information for the first time about how the health of our mouth actually affects the rest of our body and our health. Sometimes we are trying to find the root cause issue and we are doing everything right. We've dialed in our diet, our lifestyle, our stress management. Like we're doing everything right. We're sleeping and we're not healing. We got our gut on par, like that's all healed and we're still having issues. That is where the oral microbiome comes in. And what kind of feelings do you have? Have you had root canals? Do you have cavitations or pockets of hidden infections in your mouth? So I have a really awesome guest today who's an expert on oral health and we're going to talk about all this stuff, so please stay tuned because it's such amazing information. So Dr. Caitlin Chiscuski is a doctor of chiropractic medicine, and she's also certified in functional medicine with extensive training in women's health, pregnancy and children, and more importantly, oral health. Dr. Caitlin searched for this deeper root cause because she had her own health issue back in her 20s. No doctor could figure out what was wrong with her. She's going to tell us her story a little bit today. But it wasn't until she realized her root cause was from her dental work that she had had as a teenager and young adult. So. So through extensive research, she found that the majority of symptoms and illnesses can often be linked back to the mouth. And because of this, she and her husband created the dental detox. So she's hugely passionate about finding the root cause of your health issues, developing a safe and effective plan to reverse the symptoms and restore your quality of life. She does this by working one on one with individual clients, along with educating the masses through her Women and Wellness podcast. Podcast, which you should check out it's really good. She does multiple speaking engagements throughout the year and she's active on social media, so I'll have all those links in my show notes. But today we're gonna get into the nitty gritty about how your oral health might be affecting you. What about those silver fillings? What about root canals? Does this affect your thyroid? Could that be the hidden issue of why you can't get your thyroid balanced? What about sleep energy, sex hormones? Are these being affected by your oral health? So much good information for you guys today. So before I get into it, I just want to shout out one of my listeners. So I love that you guys are like taking the time to share your day with me. It's such a privilege that you are listening to me and I'm hoping you're getting value out of it. So I want to read the review from Marina the Golfer because she gave me five stars. She said, Dr. Tabitha helps you navigate a healthy relationship with food and real life struggles that afflict most of us. She's authentic and genuine about her own journey and the mountains she has climbed in order to provide useful information. I look forward to hearing her future podcast. So thanks, Marina the Golfer. That's awesome. And I am going to send you a gift. So just connect with me on Instagram or Facebook message and let me know how I can get it to you. So that's pretty awesome. I would love for you to rate and review me so that I can make sure that I'm bringing you the information that you want to hear and that you need. Might not even know what you need. So it's always good to have an open mind and just listen because I promise you're going to find something valuable, valuable out of this episode. So many times I'll listen to a podcast thinking, well, that topic doesn't sound like it necessarily relates to me and by the time I'm finished with that episode I'm like, oh my gosh, I just got so much out of that. That was amazing. I wish I would have listened to it so sooner. So don't discount it just based on the title or whatever, like really give it a chance. Because especially if you're struggling with your health and you just cannot figure it out. Like you feel like there's a block. So we need to look deeper. We need to get out of that mindset of conventional medicine. Like if you don't have this clear cut diagnoses that the doctor gives you and a medicine to prescribe to treat it, then you must be fine. Because that's not the truth. There's so much more out there in the world, and functional medicine understands this and has those answers for you. So let's get on with the episode with Dr. Caitlin. Well, welcome, Dr. Caitlin, to the Functional Gynecologist Podcast. I'm so excited you're joining me.

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Yes. So today I want to talk about oral health. I want to talk about everything mouth related and why should we care? Because what I've learned over the past couple years is that it has an awful lot to do with my overall health and the rest of my body. So you are the expert in this situation, and I want to hear everything you have to say today.

Well, that might be a really long conversation, but, no, you hit the nail on the head. And unfortunately, I got thrown into the oral systemic realm, not necessarily by choice. It wasn't like I was like, I'm super interested in the mouth. It was because of my health and the direction that I was trying to figure out what was going on with me that led me there. That it's a rabbit hole I just can't get myself out of now, unfortunately.

Yeah. And from my understanding, you're realizing that this is the case for so many people. Right. So tell me your story.

Yeah. So my story is I've had tons and tons and tons of dental work. I actually had my tonsils removed at the age of seven because of quote, unquote, chronic strep. But I don't think that they actually checked for chronic strep that often. I think it was just they were inflamed, so they went, oh, they're inflamed. Let's just remove them. Right. So I had my tonsils removed. And I'll talk about why now that's so important and what I'm dealing with now because of that. And then I have a really small mouth, my whole big. They joke that it's the Suzowski curse, that we just have small mouths and, like, super crowded teeth and you've got to have braces and. Not true. Yes, we have really small mouths, but we have small mouths because our palates, the roof of our mouth, never developed properly. And that's actually what's happening a lot with a lot of people. And so I had multiple teeth pulled. Not just baby teeth, but adult teeth pull old. I have eight teeth less in my mouth than I'm supposed to have. I still struggle with my teeth staying straight and not going crooked. And then to top that off, I've been, like, struggling with sinus infections my whole life. And when I started menstruating, my menstrual cycles were extremely painful from the get go. I had my wisdom teeth out at 16 and they were compacted and so they had to go in and like knock me out and dig them out. And I was out for like a week. And so all of these things just kept like going on and on. And I never really had any fillings, which thank goodness, until I was like mid-20s. And I'm learning now that I probably wasn't a filling that I had. I probably had demineralization due to mouth breathing. So massive mouth breather at night, fall asleep with my mouth open. My husband always knew when I was sleeping because my mouth would be open but my eyes would be closed. And so it led to me getting white fillings, which now I know all have BPA in them. I didn't get the right ones. And so going through all of this, I'm now trying to undo everything that I had done. And so I'm trying to fix the roof of my mouth. So instead of just dealing with crowded teeth and compacted sinuses, because the roof of my mouth is pushing up into my sinus cavities, really working on expanding my jaw, bringing and flattening out the roof of my mouth so that my sinuses can drain and getting rid of all the self infection that I had in my mouth from my cavitations dry due to my wisdom teeth being removed. So it's been a long haul. And ultimately I really just want people to understand that if you're struggling with hormones, if you're struggling with allergies, if you're struggling with sinuses and you've done all these other things and they're just not working, gotta take a peek at the mouth because there's a good chance that there's something going on in there.

Yeah. Wow, you hit on so much. We have so much to unpack. So I just first want to say to my listeners, like, Dr. Caitlin looks like a beautiful, normal woman. Her mouth looks beautiful from the outside, you wouldn't know. So what you're describing sounds really scary and like, oh my gosh. But it's really not that obvious, right. You just have a slender, longer face, pretty teeth, but it's what's going on inside. And you know, you talk about stealth infections and I think that's really important because so often we try to balance the sugars, balance the hormones, or treat, you know, some underlying infection, but that just isn't getting you well you're still exhausted. You still have no energy. You're still keeping on the weight. You still have the brain fog, you know, and what you described of getting your tonsils out as a young girl, having dental work done, having heavy, painful periods like that sounds like the majority of my patients. And I don't think very often all those issues are connected. So please talk about. Let's first talk about the tonsil issue. And why is that a big deal? You know, it's just some useless organ. Right, that we don't need.

Yeah. We have all sorts of useless organs in our bodies. Right.

Like gallbladders and uteruses. We just take those out.

Well, the problem with tonsils being removed is tonsils are part of our lymphatic system, and that's actually the gateway to our lymphatic system. So a lot of pathologies, whether it be viruses or bacteria, it could even be toxins from the food we're eating. A lot of it comes in through our mouth because we're talking, you know, we're smiling, we're laughing. We shouldn't necessarily be breathing through our mouth, but we do. And so when we remove our tonsils, we're losing that filtration, we're losing that filter for the rest of our lymphatic system. And the lymphatic system is we have lymph nodes that run all through our body, and then our spleen is part of it, and it just puts more pressure on everything else. What can happen is when we lose that gatekeeper, it's just a lot easier for those stealth pathogens, whether it's viruses, bacteria, whatever it may be, to get into our system versus it being absorbed like a little sponge and then taken care of and broken down appropriately. It's just an easier route for bacteria to enter our system. Unfortunately, more times than not, especially in young children, it's not typically infections that cause inflammation of the time tonsils. It's usually dietary issues. So food sensitivities. And I found out later that I had massive food sensitivities to gluten and dairy. And I bet you if my parents would have known that back then and took me off of those, my tonsils would have likely have shrunk down and I wouldn't have needed to have them removed.

Yeah.

So now I'm having to do a whole lot more dry brushing and a whole lot more lymphatic support to try and make up for the fact that I'm missing, you know, my gatekeepers to my lymph System.

Yeah, I like how you explained that. So these stealth infections can occur and you don't typically get an, you know, the signs and symptoms of an infection. Right. You're not having fevers and chills and redness and stuff. So talk about that a little bit.

Yeah, especially in the mouth. So one of the craziest things that learned about. Because when I started going down this hole and one of our mentors, Dr. Pompa, was like, okay, you gotta look and get a cone beam. Because most of the time, wisdom teeth removal results in what's called a cavitation. So a cavitation, it sounds very similar to cavity, and it's close because a cavity is a hole in a tooth. A cavitation is a hole in a bone. And so when we talk about cavitations in the mouth, we're really talking about holes or infections in the jawbone. And so when a wisdom tooth is removed, more times than not, the oral surgeon doesn't remove the ligament, which is called the periodontal ligament. They don't remove that. And when you don't remove the ligament, the jawbone doesn't know that there's no tooth there anymore. It still thinks that it's there because the ligament's there, so it doesn't actually fill itself in with more new bone. So now you have this, like, nice big cavity that bacteria and all these, like, gross, nasty things can start to accumulate in. And it has direct access to everything because of the blood supply in your jaw, along with the lymphatics that are in your jaw. And we have a ton of lymphatics. Like, every single tooth is attached to a lymphatic drainage point so that our body can maintain proper balance. And so when we have these infections, they can go anywhere. And that's why so many people can have, like, heart attacks out of nowhere. But then when they do the biopsy, they're like, oh, my gosh. You know, they have bacteria that's typically found in the mouth, now in the heart. And it's like, how did that happen? Well, it's because those bad bacteria just started replicating and then got into lymphatics, and then they can go anywhere. So for me, we can talk about it or not talk about it. Where the bacteria went for me has been, quote, unquote, like a fun one. With my uterus, dealing with painful menstrual cycles, dealing with. I used to have more clotting than I should. I used to be all. Not really all over the place, like, timing wise, but I was always between 24 and 26 days. So on the short end, you know, so I've always had hormone imbalances, never really pms, but it really massively affected mine and my husband's fertility journey. And so that, that is a whole other story though, because he had some mercury and things going on too, so. But it's crazy how those infections can go anywhere and cause hormone imbalances and hormone problems.

Yeah, you mentioned that. One way to check for these stealth infections, because you're not getting the typical signs and symptoms, is doing a cone beam X ray. So can you explain what that is?

Yeah. So you just reminded me of something. That I had no symptoms in my mouth, that I had an infection, like not a single one. No pain, no swelling, no redness. It wasn't like hot to the touch, no problems chewing, like nothing. I had no signs of any kind of infection in my mouth. So I found a holistic dentist in my area and I went and got a cone bean scan done. So what that is, it's a 3D scan. And why 3D scans are super important. Not just important, they're imperative if you're looking for actual infections is because X Rays are 2D and they won't actually show the infection, whether it's in the jawbone or even in the teeth for that matter. So what the cone beam does is it's a 3D, just like an MRI, just like a CAT scan that you would get elsewhere in your body. Cat scan, not MRI, but it shows you 3D of that specific structure. And what the dentist or radiologist can then do is manipulate the picture and turn it in different angles so that it can see whether or not there's any kind of hidden infection, whether there's any pockets, whether there's any pus or, you know, what a lot of the old school, like holistic dentists and researchers call it is there. They call it gangrene. So if you have any gangrene in your mouth, the CT scan will show it, whereas unfortunately X rays will not.

Yeah.

So that's the importance behind the cone beam.

Yeah. And I would venture to say most people have never had that done. Most people just get your standard two dimensional X rays. And if you're not having signs and symptoms of an infection, it's assumed that you don't have these issues. But I would say if you are dealing with chronic health problems and you're not finding the root cause, look in the mouth.

So. So, especially since 88% of wisdom teeth removed result in a capitation When I did that, I was like, what?

Yeah, that's a crazy statistic.

And if so, outside of that, if they're just looking at any adult tooth, so having any tooth pulled, so the further back you go, so you know, your wisdom teeth and then your molars and then your premolars. And as you move forward, the incidence of a cavitation forming goes down. But anywhere in your mouth is still 70%. So if you have a tooth pulled improperly, that's the big thing, improperly. Like, if they don't remove that ligament, you have a 70% chance of having an infection build or start in your jawbone.

Yeah. And unfortunately, you probably don't even know how it was done. You know, like someone asked me, do you have silver under your cap? I have no idea. You know, I just trusted the dentist and, you know, went with what they said. So just keep that in mind. So there's biological dentists that are specifically trained in doing all this, correct?

Yes. And some great resources is, like, there's two websites, so one of them is I, aomt.org or IAB DM.org and you still have to, when you call the office, you still have talk to them and ask them questions about their procedures and how they do things to make sure that they're going to do everything that you need. But those dentists typically have more training than, you know, a traditional dentist that graduated from school and either started associating or just opened up.

Okay, yeah, I'll definitely have those links in the show notes because I think that's super important. So you went through this health journey. You were already practicing, and this, you know, sent you on a path to be passionate about helping people just heal with their mouth health. That's your complete focus now, right?

It's definitely part of it.

Okay.

And the reason that is, is there's nobody talks about how what we do in our mouth or the dental procedures we get done, or even the food we eat, how that can affect the rest of our body or how that can affect our actual oral health. And when our oral health is thrown off, especially our oral microbiome, it sets us up for the potential to have gut microbiome disruptions. And so more people understand, they have a better understanding of how important our gut microbiome is. But think about it. It's one big long tube. So if we have a problem in one area, we're gonna have a problem eventually in the other, and it can go vice versa. Like, our gut can cause problems in our mouth and our Mouth can cause problems in the gut. And so I think it's just a really important subject that nobody's really talking about. And the unfortunate thing is dentists, for the most part, can't talk about it because they can get in big, big, big trouble from their licensing board. But since I'm not a dentist, I can talk all about mercury and fluoride and all these other things.

Yeah. So what is the most common reason people seek you out?

It's usually one of two reasons. They've done everything, meaning they've tried changing their diet. They've worked with, you know, alternative doctors, whether they're functional medicine doctors or naturopaths, and they get results, but they never quite get well. Like, there's always something that hasn't fixed itself. They're still struggling with sleep, or they're still struggling with the inability to lose weight, or they still have brain fog, or they're still having horrible hormone imbalances. And so they're like, okay, you know, I've had silver fillings, or I've had root canals, or I've had my wisdom teeth removed. I think that's the missing link. And a lot of times these people have literally done everything, and they're like, I don't know what else to do. I think it's just in my head. Like, I think I just have to live with this. That's what every doctor is saying. And then when they start to hear that it could be coming from their mouth, that's when they start to dig a little deeper. So it's usually the hidden infections causing gut problems, yeast overgrowth, sibo, that kind of thing that they can never kick back. Or it's the hormone imbalances, whether it's thyroid, whether it's sex hormone imbalances, or the inability to lose weight, sleep, all those fall into the same realm. So those are the two big ones. It's either hormone or infections that people are like, there's something missing.

Yeah. And you and I met through Dr. Pompa, one of our mentors who does the true cellular detox. Right. So that is the other reason people come to you. Correct. Because they are trying to get better and they can't. And if it's not a mouth issue, it's a heavy toxic burden issue. Right?

It is. And the crazy thing is that heavy metals. I have yet to meet somebody who does not have heavy metals in them. Just because of our environment, just because of how lead and mercury get passed down from mom to baby for four generations. So that means we have our great great grandmother's heavy metals on top of our great grandma and our grandma. You know, it's. It's just crazy. And so what usually happens is people go, oh, my gosh, you know, I had a silver filling, or I've had multiple silver fillings, and I had them removed, and I had them removed, you know, by a regular dentist. And I got worse. You know, for all of your listeners, if you have silver fillings, please, please, please don't get them removed by just any dentist. You can make things so much worse.

Right. Because that mercury can go up to your brain.

Oh, heck yeah. Heck, yeah, it can. That's usually the easiest route for it because our. Our brain is only like an inch to 2 inches away from our mouth. And so when they're drilling those suckers out, all we're doing is we're inhaling those vapors. So the last thing we want is for it to go to our pituitary, which controls our thyroid, which controls our adrenal glands and our sex hormones and our cortisol response. So we don't want that. But ultimately, working with, you know, Dr. Pompa, we realized that there's a ton of people who want these silver fillings removed. And so it hasn't been released yet. It is all recorded and everything. But we created another portal for people. It's called the dental detox portal, which is part of tcd. So TCD is the removal of all the bioaccumulation from the mercury, from the glyphosate, from the lead, from everything else we're exposed to. But for those that have silver fillings in their mouth, teaching them, okay, who to go to to get them removed or how to research out a dentist, and then what in addition to should you be taking to properly protect yourself during that removal process to make sure that you don't have any additional unwanted symptoms or you don't get worse because of the removal process.

Yeah, for sure.

That should be coming out soon with him.

Well, that's exciting. I'm really excited for that because it's so needed. People need guidance through this, and I definitely don't want people just to hear they need their silver fillings removed and run off to any old regular dentist.

Oh, my goodness. Please don't. They're better off in your mouth than having a traditionally trained dentist. And not that traditionally trained dentists are bad. They're just not equipped with the proper equipment to remove them for your safety and health. Along with their safety and health, unfortunately.

Yeah, exactly. Wow. So what do you think is the biggest game changer for most chronic medical issues? Does it seem to be the mouth or is it a true cellular detox or combination?

So there's always, always, always a toxicity component, whether it's heavy metal, whether it's infection. So the infection can be mold, it can be a biotoxin like Lyme, it can be a cavitation or a root canal, because what ends up happening is aerobic bacteria. So bacteria that are supposed to be thriving in oxygen now get trapped in a non oxygen environment, so they mutate. It's exactly like botulism. Botulism is fine until it's in a can where there's no air. And that's when it becomes toxic and hurts us. So those are really the two big ones that I've seen over the past eight, 10 years that I've been eight years that I've been doing the functional component, that there's some type of missing heavy metal component or there's some type of hidden infection somewhere in the body that hasn't been addressed.

Okay. Do you usually do testing for that with your clients?

Yeah. So depending on a really good case history, like asking them, okay, what kind of dental work have you had done? And anytime that there's like root canals, wisdom teeth removed, pulled teeth, silver fillings, even like the white fillings, if they've had braces and silver fillings, like all of these things are going to lead me down different paths. Especially like, do they have gut problems, do they have digestive issues, are they having hormone imbalances? So I might not always jump to the heavy metal test. So I don't always do the challenge test with clients just because if they've had silver fillings, it's guaranteed that they have mercury bioaccumulated in their body. Unfortunately, just because of how the mercury reacts with one of the oral bacteria that we have in our mouth naturally methylates it. So there's, there's no way that if somebody had a silver filling that they wouldn't have some form of mercury buildup in their body. To what extent that varies. But anytime that there is any type of infection or there's other comorbidities going on, like diabetes, or they have high blood pressure, they have a thyroid disorder, blood work with a CBC with a differential. So super important to figure out, okay, what is it that they're showing? But then I would likely send them to go get a cone beam done so we can see, okay, what's happening in the mouth. Like, is this a driving factor behind the infection? Do they have periodontal disease? Do they have that root canal that's infected? Do they have a hidden cavitation in one of their wisdom teeth removal spots? So everyone's really different. And I think that's what makes most functionally minded practitioners different than, you know, a traditionally trained practitioner. Regardless of what their designated degree is. You start to think outside the box, like, okay, what is this person presenting with? And what is it that I need in order to figure out the actual cost? So instead of just saying, oh, you have thyroid problem. Here, take a thyroid medication. Okay? Why is your thyroid not working? You know, is it mercury? Do you have mercury in your thyroid? Taking up the iodine. So now your thyroid can't actually make T4 and T3. So that's why you have a thyroid problem. Or, you know, maybe the mercury in your thyroid's causing an autoimmune response, causing that Hashimoto's. Because the mercury's choice, changing the cellular structure of your own thyroid, so it now appears as it's an invader versus being itself. So really just figuring out, okay, what is it? Is it mercury in the pituitary? Is it an infection in the mouth? Is it an imbalance in the gut? Like, where's the problem coming from? So a good case history is honestly, that dictates which direction I go with all of my clients. How about you?

Yeah, definitely. That's why my first appointments are an hour to an hour and a long, because you have to sit and listen to their entire life story. Like, there are so many clues in there. And you're not gonna get that if you're, you know, a conventional doctor seeing them for 15, 20 minutes. It's just not gonna happen. I tried it for a decade, you know, so wouldn't that be nice, though? It would be. It would be great, but that's not how it works. People forget things they've experienced. They. They forget surgeries they've had, you know, all the time. Oh, I had that removed. I mean, we remove organs all the time, and it's like, no big deal in this day and age, but really, it is a big deal because they all, you know, serve a function in our body. So, you know, I personally had my tonsils out when I was 40, and that was super rough. And it through my autoimmune, Hashimoto's for a loop. And, you know, I was told that it was gonna make it better, and it made it worse. And when really all I needed to do was change my diet. Like you said, get Rid of those triggers, that gluten and dairy. And so unfortunately, I didn't understand that at the time. And now that I know better, I do better. And you try and do better for your patients. Right. So at the end of all this, you came out happier and healthier. Right. You're no longer staying suffering from horrible periods and all of that stuff. And now you can, like, share that wisdom with your patients and help them heal. So do most people work with you virtually?

It depends. Honestly, yes. And most of my time up until this point was spent in my office. We have an office in Seattle, so most of it was in the brick and mortar. But I've had so many people go, oh, my God, you know, I don't know what to do here. Can you help me? So the answer is yes. It's just, it depends. Everyone is a little different based on where they're at.

Yeah, Well, I would, you know, encourage people to seek you out if they feel like they've run the gamut and they've tried everything and they've done everything and they, you know, they have no hope left. Because I think you're right on this. I think you need to look in the mouth, you need to look at high toxic burden and go from there. So. Oh, such good information. It's, like, overwhelming, right, when you start learning about all of this stuff.

Well, like I said, this is a rabbit hole I've been down for the past almost five years that I just, I haven't been able to get that I learn. The more I'm like, well, wait, what about this and what about that? Yeah, the one thing I do want to let your listeners know is, I know it sounds super scary, believe you me, I get it, but it's not that scary. And just like you said, when we have better information, we have more knowledge, we can make better decisions. And so playing the whole, well, it's better that I just don't know. I just don't want to know. That's okay. Except it might end up, you know, down the road making you more uncomfortable than you actually need to be. And by no means do you need to be even remotely as bad, you know, as I was. My, my biological dentist is like, you're the acute, like, perfect accumulation and a culmination of everything that could go wrong went wrong. And other than silver fillings and a root canal, I've had everything done to me dental wise. So I promise you, if I can get through it, anybody can.

Yeah, exactly. And I think people need to remember that we were not meant to be living in pain with chronic diseases. You know, our bodies are meant to be able to maintain homeostasis and heal themselves and handle things. But our new society, you know, just the past hundred years, has created situations our bodies can't really handle. And so we need to help them out and give them some love. Definitely. So.

Oh, my goodness, their body needs love.

Yeah. Hey, can you talk about, like, dental and oral health? How about Bluetooth paste? How horrible is that?

Oh, boy. So toothpaste. There's a few things with toothpaste. So whenever we're talking about toothpaste or even mouthwash, we want to look at what we're using it for. So just like our gut, we don't want to always take antibiotics just to kill our gut bacteria, because if that's the case, we're just wiping everything out. We're wiping the good and the bad. Now, the same thing happens with our toothpaste and our mouthwash. They're actually disinfectants. So what we're doing when we mouthwash and when we brush our teeth with fluoride to toothpaste. And fluoride's a whole.

Yeah. Whole other topic. Right.

But most toothpaste are disinfectants, meaning it's wiping our mouth of all of the healthy oral microbiomes. So our mouth is the very first place that we start digesting food. And if we don't have the right bacteria in there, we're not going to be digesting food properly, which then can create digestive issues, whether it be like acid reflux, whether it be bloating, cramping, constipation, diarrhea. Like all of those things down the list can come down. Now what we want to do, just like with our gut, is we want to support the good guys. So using like a prebiotic toothpaste to support the healthy microbiome is way more beneficial than just, you know, disinfecting and literally creating an environment for the bad stuff to replicate and thrive in because there's nothing else keeping it at bay.

Yeah.

So I always recommend a probiotic toothpaste. And my favorites were vitamin. I have no, like, affiliation with them, but that's what I use, and it's amazing.

Yeah, I think that's such an important point that we have over sanitized everything in our lives, including our mouths. You know, I remember when I used to try and use mouthwash and it would burn. Like, it's literally killing everything inside of your mouth. And, you know, I don't know that many people have thought about this before, but you actually do want to have bacteria in your mouth that protect you and keep you healthy. You know, like you said, it's helping the digestive process start and everything else. So it's sad because we think we're doing ourselves a favor and we're being so awesome, you know, with our dental health, but really, we're probably making other situations worse. So, you know, go ahead.

I was just gonna say one more crazy thing that most people don't know with, like, dental floss. So everyone knows that they should floss their teeth, but most people don't know that a good majority of dental floss contains gluten. So if you're gluten sensitive or you have an autoimmune disease, you want to make sure that your dental floss doesn't have gluten in it. Otherwise, you could be triggering your condition, triggering your sensitivity. So it's a map.

Sad.

Isn't that crazy? A great option is like a water pick.

Yeah.

You don't have to worry about it.

Yeah, definitely. I love that. Oh, my gosh. Such good information. Well, is there anything else that we didn't touch on that you really want to make a point of for my listeners?

Ultimately make sure that you guys are thinking about your mouth as part of the rest of your body. It's not just your mouth. Not like the dentist. You just go to the dentist just for your mouth. Try and find a dentist that's going to be more holistically minded, meaning they're going to look at your mouth and go, okay, why are you having so many cavities if that's an issue? Or why are your gums bleeding? Or why are your teeth loose? Or why do you have discolored teeth? Or there's always a reason behind it. So making sure that you're looking at your mouth as you would the rest of your body because it is part of you. And when you take care of it and when it's functioning properly, I assure you, the rest of you will be functioning much better and be much happier as well.

Yeah. And just as doctors aren't all created equal, neither are dentists. So the one down the street might be completely practicing a different way than the other guy that you're seeing. So great advice. Oh, my goodness. So where can my followers and my listeners follow you and find you at?

Yeah, so you can come and listen to Dr. Tabitha on the Women and Wellness Podcast, which is a podcast that I do weekly with Dr. Sonya Jensen. And then other than my women and Wellness podcast. I am finally doing YouTube videos. So it's Dr. Caitlin with Bite Sized Health on YouTube or Dr. Caitlin Suzowski on Facebook. Those are probably the easiest ones. I'm not very good at Instagram. Instagram, to me, is so hard. Oh, my gosh. I know.

We all have, like, our preferred place. You know, like, I hate Twitter. I don't know how to use it.

I don't understand Twitter. I don't understand Snapchat.

I think we're just too old, right? I don't know. But I will have those links in my show notes so people can definitely find you and check you out because I just think you're such a wealth of knowledge on this topic and you could really help them if they're struggling and not figuring it out. So thanks for being on so much for having me. Oh, my gosh, this is wonderful. And I'm gonna have to have you back to talk about some other topics because like, you, you love to to just keep learning. We're lifelong learners. We're big fat nerds. You know, give us the research and we'll just keep reading. So, yeah, we'll have to have you back another time. So thank you.

Thank you.

All right, bye. I hope you found that episode super helpful to getting to the root cause of your issues because it is often a mouth issue or heavy toxic burden issue. So I would be happy to work with you. You can always reach out to me. I would love to help you on your health journey to reclaim your health. Just to recap, the organizations that Dr. Caitlin mentioned are IABDM, that's the International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine, and then also iaomt, the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. So I will have those links in my show notes along with the links for Dr. Caitlin and myself. If you want to do the true cellular detox program with me, just reach out to me. So shoot me your questions. I want to hear what you're thinking and consider hitting the subscribe button and giving me a review. I would love to that and then I can shout you out on a future episode and send you a free gift. Thank you for letting me serve you and trusting me and giving me your time. Now go out there and have an amazing week and support your sisters, every race, creed in color. And let's continue to make a difference and move forward in love. Bye, ladies.