We all know that crooked teeth and the need for orthodontia is a big problem. But did you know that it can affect everything from your breathing to mental clarity and performance? This is all caused by poor childhood nutrition, and as today’s guest, Dr. Steven Lin, will tell us, it is all preventable.

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Dr. Steven Lin is not what you think of when you think of a dentist. As a world-leading functional dentist, TEDx speaker, and author of the international bestseller The Dental Diet, Dr. Lin focuses on understanding dental disease through nutritional principles. Ever passionate about preventative whole-health advocacy, his work has shown that crooked teeth and the orthodontia epidemic are caused by nutritional problems as children which are completely preventable.

Today we discuss the connection between your mouth and your gut. A problem in one is a sign that something is not right in the other. We talk about supporting good oral health through proper diet and breathing. This conversation certainly changed the way I think about the mouth and its connection to the rest of the body.

Have you taken action to improve your teeth and breathing through proper nutrition? Leave a comment below!

In this episode:

• The mouth and teeth as a window to understanding whole-body nutrition
• How gum disease is an early sign of leaky gut or another nutritional problem
• The causes and consequences of crooked teeth and how it affects much more than just your smile
• Why it’s so important to foster good breathing techniques starting at a very young age and the role that the tongue and palate play in this
• What it means for a child to be tongue-tied and signs to look out for
• Dr. Lin’s recommendations to prevent a whole host of nutritional and oral problems

Quotes:

“We’re looking at how people can really optimize their health by understanding their body better, and it all starts in the mouth. It’s pretty remarkable how much you can do just by understanding the mouth.” [3:03]

“It’s very typical of the scientific progress, when it first breaks we kind of discount it and it may get thrown out. Then we go back and go ‘Whoa, this person’s actually on to it.”’ [9:47]

“When you lose the balance of the microbiome and when you don’t feed the nutrients to the defense system inside the tooth, then you get tooth decay. And that’s a very similar process to conditions throughout the digestive system.” [14:02]

“Prenatal nutrition is critically important for the mother. As soon as the kid is born we need to understand how they are using their tongue, how they are feeding, do they need a lip-release, a tongue release. There are often oral restrictions there that are preventing breathing.” [33:41]

Links:

Find Dr. Steven Lin online

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Dr. Lin’s Practice

The Dental Diet

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price