How to Improve Your Teeth & Oral Microbiome for Brain & Body Health | Dr. Staci Whitman

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Staci Whitman. Dr. Staci Whitman is a functional dentist with expertise treating both adult and pediatric patients. She focuses on oral health as a key feature of overall gut health and a powerful modulator of brain longevity, heart health, hormones, and fertility in both men and in women. Today, we discuss many of the common myths about tooth and gum care and how to use specific nutrition, breathing, and cleaning methods to repair cavities, whitened teeth, and freshened breath, while at the same time improving the oral microbiome. This is very important because as Dr. Whitman explains, most of the things that people do in pursuit of better tooth health and appearance and fresh breath actually damage their oral microbiome and indeed can lead to serious cardiovascular issues. So today we discuss how to brush, how to floss. I know we've all heard that we need to brush and floss, but Dr. Whitman explains exactly how to do those so that they are of the maximum benefit for our tooth health, gum health, and oral health generally. We also discuss the signs and benefits of things like tongue scraping and oil pulling. And we discuss fluoride, which of course is a very controversial and timely topic nowadays. It's a very interesting conversation that I believe everyone, young, old, parents, and kids need to be aware of. We also discuss treating things like tongue ties, deviated septums, canker sores, and more. By the end of today's episode, you'll have the most up-to-date knowledge about how to take care of your oral health, both for aesthetic reasons and, of course, to reduce cavities and gum disease. And in doing so, how to support your brain and heart longevity. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, this episode does include sponsors. And now for my discussion with Dr. Staci Whitman. Dr. Staci Whitman, welcome.

**Staci Whitman** (2:07)
Thank you, Andrew.

**Andrew Huberman** (2:09)
I'm super excited to talk about oral health from all perspectives. Your public-facing content, especially on Instagram, has completely transformed the way I think about this thing that I call my mouth, that people think of as their teeth and their mouth and their breath and their tongue and all this stuff as a key site for evaluating and maintaining health of my brain, my body. And today you'll make it clear as to why that's the case. I'd like to just start by looking at this oral health thing through the lens of what I think most people think of when they hear the words oral health, which is people want, it seems, white-ish or very white teeth depending on their preference. They want fresh breath or at least to not have bad smelling breath. And they want their mouth to sort of feel good, right? The question I have is, what are some of the things that many, many people do in trying to have white teeth, fresh breath, that actually are very destructive for our teeth and our oral microbiome? And if we go through that entry point into this conversation, then we can get into some of the specifics of why that is. So what's something that you see many people doing in terms of trying to have bright white teeth that actually is harming their teeth?

**Staci Whitman** (3:40)
Sure. Great question. Great way to start off. So I first want to commend you and thank you for including the oral microbiome and oral health as one of the pillars of health. That means a great deal and it has a lot to do with this answer. So unfortunately, we have been taught that we need to carpet bomb the mouth. We need to add astringents and alcohols and foaming agents and really strong essential oils to clean, disinfect and to freshen the breath. But we're really, what we're doing with these products is damaging our delicate microbiome, which can make things far worse. So much of oral health is a less is more approach and it's not so product heavy. It should be more focused on diet and lifestyle like anything with health. Unfortunately, dentistry has been separated and compartmentalized out of the body like much of medicine. You know, we were so specialized and subspecialized and dentistry is included in that. And we need to remember it's all interconnected. And what we're doing to the mouth, whether it be strong toothpaste, mouth washes, certain gums, and even what we're eating and how we're breathing can really do a number on our oral health. And so it's taking a different perspective and it's a bit of a mindset shift to really get us back to optimization.