Our Lips Are Sealed: Mouth Tape + Dental Hacks To Blow Your Mind 🦷

Two tooths and a lie

FASTING & FURIOUS

If this week’s news gave you wellness whiplash, you’re not alone. The big headline, “Intermittent Fasting Linked To Death From Heart Disease,” elicited shock and awe and probably a few phone calls from worried bubbes to the roughly 10% of our population that practices a time-restricted diet. Certainly a lot to digest when you’re not eating.

But this is an example of how mass news reports don’t always tell the full story, and often they get it wrong in an effort to break a scoop.

The story, based on a study by the American Heart Association, appeared in every news outlet from the USA Today and Forbes to People and everything in between (Moneycontrol.com? Why tho?), as a reprinted press release of the findings. The results suggested a link between people consuming all their calories in an 8-hour window and a 91% higher risk of death from heart disease, based on observational findings. This last piece is key, as are the other important caveats buried deep in the coverage: “The findings are not peer-reviewed or published in an academic journal” and “the scientists looked at data where participants tried to recall how they ate for two days,” so essentially there is tons of room for vagaries and human error.  

All this to say of course we don’t know everything there is to know about time-restricted diets, so they should be followed with caution and medical care, and there are certainly folks who see a trend or a shortcut to “health” and take it to an extreme, only for it to backfire and result in serious consequences. And ok, I know this is rich coming from the lady who convinced you to forgo solid food in favor of liquid kale and cashew milk, which sparked a fearmongering campaign around “starvation culture” from the traditional nutritionist community—irresponsible at a minimum and outright slander at worst.  Yes, we have now come to recognize that an all-juice regimen has its flaws and should not be a long-term plan, but for many people it was nothing more than a tool that helped them think more carefully about their relationship with food, and I stand by that.

The point here is to please remember not to believe everything you read and tell everyone the sky is falling until you read the fine print. Chew on that 10 times before swallowing.

ORAL COMPASS

Something that IS likely linked to heart disease? Your trap, your piehole, your kisser– AKA the hole in your face that puts out words, songs, and sighs and takes in oxygen, water and sometimes cheese. Your mouth serves as the doorway to your overall health, and it’s more than gums-deep. The science on dental health as a marker for whole body wellness is hard to ignore. Examples: peer reviewed academic journals (ahem!) show that bacteria in your mouth can enter your bloodstream and attach to blood vessels near your heart, creating inflammation and in worst cases, heart attacks and strokes. And mouth breathing during sleep alters the pH in the mouth, which can lead to an increase in the bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease. Enter mouth taping and other fun hacks. I had the pleasure of interviewing holistic dentist Dr Lauren Poole on a recent podcast, and her list of recommendations was truly eye-opening…and mouth-closing.

HERE’S A TIP, MAKE THE CHANGE

So, I was today years old when I learned this incredibly valuable tip. It’s beyond simple but somehow not intuitive: when you brush your teeth, DO NOT rinse after the last brushstroke.  The whole point of toothpaste with fluoride and fluoride alternatives like hydroxyapatite (read up on this, especially beneficial for kiddos!) is to let them work their magic on your teeth, strengthening enamel and remineralizing (i.e. rebuilding) to protect against decay. So, that last gratifying swish and spit is undoing all the good stuff you just did, as is drinking water for about 20 minutes. File under Duh. Your complete oral care shopping list is below, for paid subscribers only—hope you’ll come along for the ride, check out a free trial! Otherwise, be well and also have fun.

YOU’RE NEVER FULLY DRESSED WITHOUT A SMILE

You asked, I got answers-for our first edition of Ask The Experts, Dr Lauren Poole shares her definitive guide to her non-negotiable products and practices:  "If I had to choose, I'd say flossing, THEN brushing, then tongue scraping, in that order."   Here are her top picks for whitening, brushing and scraping…