The Mouth-Body Connection: How Oral Health Shapes Whole-Body Healing

Most people don’t realize that what happens in the mouth can ripple
through the whole body. The balance of the oral microbiome—the
community of bacteria living in our mouths—can either protect us or
trigger widespread inflammation that affects the heart, joints, and
brain. Hidden dental infections or mercury fillings can quietly
drive fatigue, autoimmune issues, or dementia—and fixing the mouth
often helps the rest of the body heal, too. The good news is that
with simple steps like eating whole foods (often removing gluten),
cleaning the mouth well, and breathing through the nose, we can
protect both our smile and our overall health. When we care for the
mouth as part of the body, lasting wellness becomes possible from
the inside out. In this episode, Dr. Todd LePine, Dr. Elizabeth
Boham, James Nestor, and I talk about how a healthy mouth
microbiome is a key to whole-body wellness. Dr. Todd LePine
graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and is Board Certified in
Internal Medicine, specializing in Integrative Functional Medicine.
He is an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner.
Prior to joining The UltraWellness Center, he worked as a physician
at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA, for 10 years. Dr. LePine’s focus at
The UltraWellness Center is to help his patients achieve optimal
health and vitality by restoring the natural balance to both the
mind and the body. His areas of interest include optimal aging,
bio-detoxification, functional gastrointestinal health, systemic
inflammation, autoimmune disorders, and the neurobiology of mood
and cognitive disorders. Dr. Elizabeth Boham is Board Certified in
Family Medicine from Albany Medical School, and she is an Institute
for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner and the Medical
Director of The UltraWellness Center. Dr. Boham lectures on a
variety of topics, including Women’s Health and Breast Cancer
Prevention, insulin resistance, heart health, weight control and
allergies. She is on the faculty for the Institute for Functional
Medicine. James Nestor is an author and journalist who has written
for Scientific American, Outside, The New York Times, and more. His
book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, was an instant New
York Times and London Sunday Times bestseller. Breath explores how
the human species has lost the ability to breathe properly—and how
to get it back. Breath spent 18 weeks on the New York Times
bestseller list in the first year of release, and will be
translated into more than 30 languages. Breath was awarded the Best
General Nonfiction Book of 2020 by the American Society of
Journalists and Authors, and was nominated for Best Science Book of
2021 by the Royal Society. Nestor has spoken at Stanford Medical
School, Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, The United
Nations, Global Classroom, and appeared on more than 60 radio and
television shows, including Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the Joe
Rogan Show, and more. He lives and breathes in San Francisco. This
episode is brought to you by BIOptimizers. Head to
bioptimizers.com/hyman and use code HYMAN to save 15%. Full-length
episodes can be found here:The Functional Medicine Approach To Oral
Health Getting Rid of Cold Sores and Canker Sores The Power Of
Breath As Medicine