FIR Episode 36: The oral microbiome and your digestive and mental health

The health of the oral microbiome can influence most of the common conditions we see in the brain, the gut and everything in between.

For example, did you know that cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease are linked with your oral health?

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This Free and Inspired radio episode will explore the silent epidemic occurring “right under our noses.”

Learn about how the bacterial environment in your mouth causes issues, and some tips to change it.

The oral microbiome is the second most diverse bacterial environment, only to the large intestine and the colon. In fact, the digestive tract and the mouth combined house around sixty per cent of the total bacteria in our body.

That’s almost seven hundred different species of bacteria, all potentially living in your mouth right now.

And these bacteria can influence the brain and the gut more than you think.

Some people say that the mouth is a window into our health!

For example, a 2021 Nature study showed that variations in the oral microbiome were found in young people with depression.

Plaque that develops on our teeth is bacteria forming a film to protect itself and, in some cases, spread.

Learn about how bacteria behave in your mouth and how problems start. For example, discover how bacteria forms plaque, causes gum disease and spreads, sometimes to the rest of your body!

Early colonisers are species of bacteria that we miss with our toothbrushes and it doesn’t take long for problems to start.

For example, the bacteria Actinomyces starts to develop after six hours and matures over seven days. After twelve weeks, the variety of bacteria in the oral microbiome overgrows with predominantly bad bacteria. 

The more plaque around your teeth, the more bases bacteria have to travel from into your body. 

The way that bacteria that travels in the body like this is called “translocation.”

This translocation is the beginning of how bacteria from oral microbiome starts to affect the brain and the gut.

For instance, a study comparing healthy people and people with Alzheimer’s disease found that the brains of those living with Alzheimer’s disease had higher levels of a toxin called gingipain.

The oral bacteria P.gingivalis produces this toxin, one of the critical causes of chronic gum disease.

This places one of the most common bacteria in the mouth at the origin of one of least well-understood modern brain illnesses.

It doesn’t stop there.

People swallow about six hundred times a day, roughly equating to around one and a half litres of saliva containing numerous oral bacteria.

And here is where we can see the bacteria travelling again to affect different parts of the body. For example, organs such as the stomach, small and large intestine can all come into contact with these bacteria.

The ability for oral bacteria to travel to our digestive systems has reached a point where we can now measure certain species in stool exams!

Now there are some simple things to do to remedy this.

Learn how to take control of your oral microbiome through dietary changes and dental care tips you can do yourself.

For example, did you know that there is evidence pointing to a Paleo diet being beneficial for dental health?

All this and more in this episode of Free and Inspired radio.