Mouth Hygiene
I thought this would be a good area to look into - I see various information on the web but can't really work out what is myth and what is evidence based. I know mouths and teeth are usually the domain of dentists rather than doctors, but being the start of the digestive tract, surely the mouth must be interconnected with all the other systems of the body. What is good mouth hygiene? Should we be using mouthwashes? On the one hand one component of mouthwash is said to destroy coronavirus (this statement is not fact checked!!) but on the other hand surely mouthwash has a bad effect on the mouth microbiome. I recently saw mouth probiotics for sale - how do these work if they are swallowed as pills? Are some toothpastes bad for the mouth microbiome (eg titanium dioxide components)? Does coconut oil mouth rinsing have any merit? Bad breath is common and has knock on effects socially Good teeth give people confidence to smile and has positive social effects Good saliva aids digestion. Chewing is important for jaw formation. Bad bacteria in the mouth easily track to other parts of the body - leading to heart problems, pneumonia etc Does brushing 2x per day do the cleaning job? Can eating an apple at the end of a meal do as good a job? There are lots of unanswered questions in this area Thank you - have recently found your podcasts and have been mega bingeing!! Have found lots of them so helpful.
Atrial Fibrillation
Many people have atrial fibrillation. I've heard this can be helped by weight reduction. Presumably it can be prevented from happening in the first place, but can it be totally reversed by health interventions (nutrition, exercise etc) When 'heart disease' is specified with regard to lifestyle interventions - does this just mean 'cardiovascular heart conditions' or does it include conductive issues (eg atrial fibrillation)?