Lyle Hurd: It’s a pleasure to welcome you back doctor. What we would like to do now if possible is talk a little bit more about the subject of oral health. Can you give us an idea please where hygiene fits into oral health and the total scope of it from being a toddler until, well, through the rest of you life?
Flora Stay: Yes. It’s very. . . hygiene is very, very important. One example I’d like to give for oral hygiene is as if you have a garden and the garden has a lot of beautiful plants growing in there and that type of thing; and as long as you maintain that garden, give it the right nutrients and water it properly and pull out the weeds as needed, you’ll continue to have a beautiful, beautiful garden to enjoy. But if you neglect it, and don’t water it, and allow the weeds slowly to grow, then pretty soon the weeds will overtake the garden and you won’t be able to enjoy that garden as much. And it’ll take a lot more work and money to bring that garden back to the beautiful state that it was in. The same thing is with the mouth. We’re born with healthy tissues. We have certain number of teeth under normal conditions that come in. And as long as from childhood, from the minute we come into the world, we take care of the gums at the beginning when there are no teeth, we eat nutritious food, and take care of the mouth properly throughout the years, then; age has nothing to do with it. We can enjoy our teeth for the rest of our lives. And of course, the teeth make such a major impact on us, whether it’s on a physical level, an emotional level, mental level. I mean, my goodness, digestion starts in the mouth; our confidence level is boostered or lowered based on how our teeth appear to people when we smile or don’t smile. I mean, our smile makes a big difference, psychologically, and I’ve had patients that have tried to hide their smile because of their teeth—they wouldn’t smile. All of that is very important and hygiene: there’s a lot of good information that I need to share with the consumers. Of course, the mouth is the easiest way to absorb anything into the body. So what we use on a daily basis is very important.
Lyle Hurd: Let’s start with toothpaste. In your book, you talk a good deal about toothpaste and the ingredients. Let me give you a quick scenario. We have a little granddaughter who’s three years old and she went to Costco, and they bought some Barbie toothpaste and brought it home. It was Colgate. When they did, I took it out of the bag, and I said to my daughter, who’s a professional in the health field, “Did you read this warning?” She said, “I never read any warnings on the toothpaste.” It implied that if you took any more than a bead of it, that it could be extremely toxic and if they swallowed any of it, it could be life-threatening. Now this is on something that little kids can, 2 years old, administer to themselves, and love it, and go back when people aren’t around. What about the kind of toothpaste that you buy. What do you really need to know?
Flora Stay: Well, actually, to give a little more detail on that, what it says on the warnings is ‘keep out of the reach of children under the age of six.’ That’s on all toothpaste, whether it’s a children’s toothpaste or adult toothpaste. There are two reasons why that warning is there. One is from the American Dental Association because of the fluoride. And the second reason is from the FDA because of saccharin. And of course we know saccharin is banned in many countries, including Canada. But in the U.S., we’ve continued to use it, for whatever reason, but it must have a warning. It’s just unfortunate that even in children’s toothpaste they put saccharin in it. There are a lot of other ingredients that I am totally against that are in toothpaste. Even these same children’s toothpastes have a lot of artificial dyes, which we know can cause all kinds of problems. Also a lot of the toothpaste, especially the adult ones now, has anti-microbial ingredients, which is just mind-boggling. It’s the same ingredients that are used in hand soaps; triclosan, cetylpyridium, chloride, other ingredients that we’re constantly trying to fight and kill and destroy bacteria, but at the same time, we’re bringing about a resistance to antibiotics by bacteria. So that when we really need these medications, they may not be as effective—which we know is what’s happening right now. So the ingredients—the same information as far as a lot of the toothpastes that are in health food stores —I’m very alarmed about as well. For example, the same antifungals and antibiotics, are, of course, present in plant form because all drugs – their roots are botanical. For example, tea tree oil, which is sort of the ‘in’ plant right now—herb right now, or botanical—is in so many toothpaste and mouthwash and skin care etcetera. Yet, tea tree oil is actually an antifungal that’s really meant for athlete’s foot or other fungal infections. Why should a person who doesn’t have any gum disease and has healthy gums, or maybe just by learning how to brush their teeth better, or by practicing good oral hygiene can get rid of any minor problems that exist—why should they have to use products they’re absorbing into their body that contain antimicrobials?
Lyle Hurd: We’ll be able to find information in your book that will direct ourselves to toothpaste and other oral hygiene products that will be able to help what we want to do, without being involved with those types of ingredients, is that correct?
Flora Stay: Absolutely. I am very science-based, Lyle. In my book, I list the source of scientific studies. I list anything that anyone wants to get more information from. I go into it as much as I can in detail in the book. But if anyone wants further information, I have the resources there. So they can look them up.
Lyle Hurd: Well, thank you very much. I look forward to talking more with you.
Flora Stay: Thank you.
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