#1 Absolute Best Way to Remove Tartar

You brush, you floss, maybe even use mouthwash. But every time you go to the dentist, there's still more tartar for them to scrape off. Sound familiar? The truth is, brushing harder or more often doesn't necessarily fix it. Tartar is just the end result of a deeper problem, a bacterial biofilm that's designed to resist your toothbrush. Hello, health champions. Today I'm going to show you the best way to stop tartar, not by working harder, but by working smarter to get rid of the problem before it hardens. But in order to understand tartar, we first have to talk about plaque, because that's where it begins. And plaque is this soft, sticky, velvety coating that you get on your teeth. It's made up of bacteria and food particles and proteins from your saliva. And you probably noticed this, but it can start forming within hours of eating. And we'll come back to it and talk more, but I really want to point out early that sugar and carbohydrates is the stuff that feeds the bacteria and make them thrive. But in the early stages, the plaque is soft and it's easy to brush away with regular brushing. But the thing about plaque is that it's made up of bacteria and it's a living structure and living things like to defend themselves. So these bacteria, they produce a biofilm. And the biofilm is a protective coating. It's a slime-like matrix that covers the bacteria and kind of hold them tighter together. And if it's not removed with regular brushing and dental hygiene, now it tends to get mineralized by calcium and phosphorus that we're going to have in the saliva. And now this mineralization turns it very, very hard and we call it tartar. The official term is called dental calculus, which basically means dental stones or rock. And the word calculus, even though you think it's just math that's really hard, it's actually tissue that turns hard. So it means pebble or small stone. And by the time it's turned into tartar, now it is almost impossible to remove with a brush. So tartar is actually a mineralized biofilm, this protective coating around bacteria. It can be about a thousand times harder to remove than plaque when it's first made and it's soft. And now it typically has to be removed by a professional that can scrape it away with hard tools. But what we have to understand is it can be prevented. It's not inevitable. The first thing we need to understand is pH, which is how acidic or alkaline something is. And the mouth is normally supposed to be slightly alkaline, which means neutral is seven. And alkaline is a little bit above that, so like a 7.2 to 7.4. And that's a great environment for a healthy mouth. But one of the worst things we can do, like I talk about a lot, for many reasons, is to eat sugar and carbohydrates. Because that's the fuel for these bacteria. You're feeding them, they take all this food, and a byproduct of that is that they make lactic acid. And just like it sounds, that's acid. It's a very low pH. And if the pH drops enough, now the acid starts pulling minerals away from the enamel. And your teeth have the enamel. It's mineralized. It's very, very hard for a reason. So when you start pulling minerals out of it, that's bad for the teeth. But more so, you're also providing minerals to harden that biofilm, that plaque, and the biofilm, and turn it into tartar. So one of the most important things we can do is to cut out the sugar in the carbs, and to do things to establish a slightly alkaline pH in the mouth. Because this inhibits the bacteria. They don't like it at all. And it also is protective to the enamel. Another thing to understand is dehydration, because saliva is our first line of defense in the mouth. It's not there just randomly. It does a lot of good stuff. So first of all, it buffers acids. It contains things that can balance out and neutralize acids. It contains enzymes and antibacterial proteins. So you can break those things up and have a defense against the bacteria. And saliva also washes away debris. And it makes the surface of the teeth a little more slick, so that it's harder for the bacteria and the sticky stuff to get a foothold. So with dehydration, you tend to have a dry mouth. And with a dry mouth, now your mouth becomes more acidic. The bacteria will thrive because there's nothing to wash them away and fight them off. And the plaque becomes more sticky, of course, with less water in there. And we speed up the formation of tartar. So regular brushing is obviously the most important thing that you can do to prevent it. However, there are some additional natural ways that you can use to help strengthen that prevention. And the first one we're going to talk about is an amino acid called NAC, N-acetylcystine. And it is a very powerful nutrient in the body for many, many different ways that liver likes it. It helps the body produce antioxidants, et cetera. But in the mouth, it helps disrupt this biofilm. It breaks down some of the bonds that the bacteria try to make. And in breaking that down, they kind of disable the bacteria. And in doing that, they actually loosen the plaque. The plaque gets sloppier. It's not as tight. And therefore, it is easier to brush it off and to do a complete job when you brush. And when it comes to teeth, you just don't want to eat it and a capsule. You want to eat it as a lozenge that slowly dissolves in the mouth so that there's a contact for many minutes between the NAC and the plaque. And you can also use an oral rinse. You can take the NAC as a powder, mix it in water, and swish it around. Number two is xylitol, which is a sugar alcohol, also called birch sugar. It's a very popular alternative sweetener. But when it comes to teeth, it's especially important because it has several effects. The main one is that inhibits the growth and the function of the main bacterial culprit, called streptococcus mutants, but it also inhibits several other bacteria that are involved. And the xylitol will inhibit adhesion. It'll make it harder for the bacteria to stick. And you've probably noticed if you had a lozenge or a mint or something with xylitol, your mouth, all of a sudden, feels kind of watery. And it does stimulate saliva, but it also makes everything slicker in the mouth. And you can take the xylitol in the form of chewing gum and form a mint or as oral rinse. But because it's convenient and it tastes really good and it feels good in the mouth, most people will do it as a chewing gum or a mint. And unlike some of the things we're going to talk about that you don't want to do every day and we'll explain why, xylitol is something that you do want to do every day. In fact, up to three times a day for best effects. Number three is baking soda. And you probably noticed a lot of toothpaste comes with baking soda in it already. Now, it does neutralite acid immediately. So that's the main thing it does. Sodium by carbonate. It is what the body uses to neutralite acid in the body fluids. But it is also a mild abrasive so it can help get your tea really clean, but it can be too abrasive also if you use it every day. So you want to brush with it or rinse with it about two to three times a week, no more. Number four is hydrogen peroxide, also known as hydrogen superoxide. It has an extra oxygen atom in it. So it's like a supercharge of oxygen. And the bacteria don't like that at all. So when your mouth gets oxygenated, now it's going to kill a lot of those bacteria. Now, the thing to understand about these bacteria that live in your mouth and cause all these problems is that they are mostly what we call anerobs. And that means that they do better without oxygen. Some of them can tolerate a little bit and some can't tolerate any oxygen at all. So when we give them extra, they don't like that at all. Now, there's two kinds. The first one is called a facultative anerobe. And that means it can tolerate some oxygen, but it does better with really low levels of oxygen. So these kind of bacteria, they thrive in the low oxygen environment inside the plaque. So once they kind of hide in that goo, there's not much air. an oxygen exchange. And the other kind is called an obligate anerobe. And that's a bacterium that has to have no oxygen. If you give them any sort of oxygen, then they die. And this is why this guy, he thrives in the deep protected layers of the plaque. As the plaque starts to harden and it gets this protective biofilm and the coating, that's when this guy does really well. And this is why it's so important that we deal with this problems early, that we remove the plaque early, and we prevent the problem by not giving these guys an environment where they thrive. And number five is herbs. So there are many plants that are naturally antibacterial. And some of the most popular ones when it comes to teeth are neem oil, clove oil, tea tree oil, oregano oil and cinnamon oil. So there are some of these you could use in a solution with water, but for the most part they get really potent when they're in the form of an oil, like an essential oil and you rinse with it. Now the thing about these essential oils is that they're very very strong, they can cause severe irritation or almost like a burn if you use them the way they are. So they have to be diluted and you put one to two drops of the essential oil into a tablespoon of carrier oil. So it could be any sort of food grade healthy oil, but I would suggest that you use coconut oil because that's another thing that's popular with oil pulling that you can pull toxins and things out of your teeth by swishing with coconut oil, but coconut oil also contains some medium chain fatty acids that are naturally slightly antibacterial. And using an essential oil in a coconut oil can be especially good if you have sore gums or swollen gums that are irritating, it can be very soothing. So here are some good habits that you can incorporate to keep the growth of plaque and tartar at bay. So one thing you want to do is brush before breakfast to remove the plaque and the biofilm that starts developing overnight. So it's popular with kids to say that well why am I supposed to brush my teeth in the morning? I didn't eat anything at night. Well here's the reason. Another good idea is to floss before your brush because then you remove some of the plaque, you loosen it around the edges and it's easier to get to. And a good habit is to use a silitol mint or a chewing gum or baking soda rinse after meals. Now again the silitol you can use every day like three times, but the baking soda you want to limit to two to three times a week and we'll talk about wine a second. And by doing that after meals you will reduce the bacteria, you will increase the pH and you will stimulate some saliva. And another good habit is to cut back on the sugar and the carbohydrate like we talked about because they will produce acid and they will act as fuel for these bacteria. But I did want to mention separately to really bring the point home that you do not want to overdo some of these things. So when we're talking about baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, baking soda you do two to three times a week and if you do too much it can erode the enamel, especially if you brush with it because it's slightly abrasive. But it can also irritate the gums and even if you just rinse with it what it can do if you do it all the time is it can alter your oral biome. So most people don't realize they've heard of you have bacteria, you have a microbiome in your gut, but you actually have one on your skin, you have one in your mouth and it's a natural culture, it's a balance of beneficial bacteria in your mouth that help fight off the bad ones and they help maintaining natural balance. So by overdoing the baking soda you can actually hurt some of those defenders and alter and change that biome. Now the same thing holds true with hydrogen peroxide, you don't want to do that more than two to three times a week. Hydro peroxide is a perfectly natural substance, your own cells make it, it's a defense mechanism to clean up and kill things off inside the cells inside your body, but you have to be very careful when you add it from the outside and you use it as a rinse. So too much or too often can actually damage some of the soft tissues in your mouth. It can also kill off some of the bacteria just like we talked about with the baking soda, you can alter that healthy natural balance of bacteria in your mouth and it can also cause tooth sensitivity and other reactions and irritation. So how do you take all this stuff safely and turn it into a routine? Well I'm going to divide it up in two things, first the stuff that you can do every day, daily stuff. So NAC, NAC, L'Occissteine, 600 milligrams per day if you took a little more, it wouldn't hurt you, but that's like a typical dose and you can try to find some lozenges or use it as a rinse. And with zalitol you do it every day, you can use the chewing gum or the mint and you want to do that three times a day for best effect. And you can also use oil pulling, meaning that you just use the coconut oil by itself, not with any essential oils in it. If you just use the coconut oil, it's a good idea to do that every day because it is slightly antibacterial and it can clean up and pull some bad stuff out of your mouth. And you can basically do that as long as you're comfortable swishing it around, but five minutes is a good benchmark and if you can do up to 15, that's great too. So the rest of these are much stronger therapies. You want to think of them as something you do once in a while. So baking soda, you can take a half a teaspoon in a little bit of water and you can rinse with that for about 30 seconds or you can create a little bit of a paste and brush with it. But again, realize that it is a little bit abrasive so you don't want to overdo that. And with hydrogen peroxide, you want to dilute it at one to one or more, meaning more water than hydrogen peroxide. And then you swish it in your mouth for 30 seconds. And both of these, you do no more than two to three times a week. And if you want to do the essential oils, then you can add one drop per tablespoon of coconut oil when you do your oil pulling. And you can swish this a good bit longer than the hydrogen peroxide or baking soda, five to 15 minutes. But again, you limit it to two to three times a week that you add the essential oil. If you just use the coconut oil by itself, you can do that every day. So you want to think of this mostly as prevention. It can help to some degree, but it probably will not get rid of all your tartar if you really have it caked on. But what I would suggest is that you start practicing these things, start doing them so you get into the habit. And then next time after you've gone and had a dental cleaning so that your teeth are all clean and fresh again, now you continue doing all these things. And you may never need another cleaning again. If you enjoyed this video, you're going to love that one. And if you truly want to master health by understanding how the body really works, make sure you subscribe, hit that bell, and turn on all the notifications so you never miss a life-saving video.