There’s a natural equilibrium involved in staying healthy, and an outstanding example can be observed in how well the body is designed for maintaining our eating apparatus: healthy teeth and gums.

Helpful Allies
Besides the obvious mechanical action of the jaws, teeth and tongue, there are biochemical processes going on in the mouth.  Enzymes from the food we eat and from our saliva are required for digestion and their presence is provided for by our biology and our diet.  In addition, bacteria that live in our mouth also play a crucial role in digestion, and are ultimately necessary for our survival.  Bacteria are so pervasive and abundant on Earth that they insinuate themselves into the survival mechanisms of all complex life forms.  A few infamous pathogenic strains have tarnished all bacteria with a bad rap, but instead of going to war against them all, let’s see and appreciate how well our bodies are designed to cooperate with our little allies.

We can’t avoid bacteria.  People used to think that most of the Earth’s biomass was in the form of forest trees, but recent discoveries of additional habitats for bacteria are leading to the re-evaluation that most of the biomass is actually in the form of bacteria.  Even in our own bodies, up to 10% of our weight is actually the weight of bacteria.  There are many times more of these single cell creatures living in and on each of us than there are human cells that comprise our body.  It’s estimated that 99% of bacteria on the planet are either benign or helpful, some indirectly, such as “fixing” nitrogen from the atmosphere to the nodules of food-plant roots, and some more directly, such as protecting us from pathogenic microbes.  We could not live without the services of our bacterial occupants.

By occupying the moist, hospitable environments of our mouth, nose, and throat, colonies of beneficial bacterial flora crowd out any harmful microbes that may attempt to take up residence.  Some strains of beneficial bacteria actively destroy pathogenic microbes as well.  Aside from keeping us healthy from pathogens, beneficial bacteria also are critical to our absorption of food.  Bacteria throughout the digestive tract, from the mouth to the stomach and the intestines, help in the process of breaking down the chemicals of food into molecules small enough for the body to absorb.

Designed for Equilibrium
In a typical mouth, over 300 strains of oral bacteria have been identified.  Under the conditions in which primitive humans have lived for thousands of years, all of these strains coexisted among themselves and with the human body in a healthful equilibrium.  Under modern conditions, the equilibrium has been upset, leading to a few strains of bacteria getting so out of hand that they infect gums and teeth.  The repercussions are an epidemic of gingivitis, periodontitis, tooth decay, and over time a host of bodily ailments.

But when in balance, the equilibrium worked so well that the skeletal and teeth remains of early humans show that they had excellent oral health.  As recently as the 1930’s, there were still isolated populations who lived and ate like our ancient ancestors and also had excellent oral and bodily health (as documented by Dr. Weston A. Price).  Before turning our attention to what upset the equilibrium, let’s look at how well this beautifully balanced system worked.

As mentioned above, the 300+ strains of oral bacteria lived in equilibrium and the digestion-aiding bacteria were allowed to grow just populous enough to work on the food that the humans ate.  Part of this equilibrium was the interplay between a person’s diet and the four-phase life cycle of bacteria.  At the (first) lag phase, bacteria adjust to their environment and make the vitamins and amino acids necessary to reproduce.  At the exponential phase, the bacteria multiply by having each bacterium split into two daughter cells, doubling in population from a few days to as little as a few minutes, the maximum rate differing according to the strain.  How well the different strains of bacteria are supplied with their specific nutrients also affect how quickly the first two phases progress.  When a person’s diet was such that the slower-replicating bacteria were fed nutrients that allowed them to keep pace with the faster-replicating strains (which received less of their favorite nutrients), then the bacterial habitat became so fully populated by the varieties of bacteria that they went into the (third) stationary phase, in which their growth declined.  With all niches in the mouth occupied, equilibrium among the bacterial strains prevailed.  Finally, for any single bacterium cell, the final phase is the death phase, where reproduction no longer takes place and the cell is absorbed for its nutrients and replaced by another cell.

After thousands of years and many generations of humans eating in a way to keep their bacterial flora in equilibrium, humans started developing and eating refined carbohydrates and sugars that turned out to be high-octane fuel for a few select strains of oral bacteria.  These particular nutrients, never before seen in nature and some pharmaceutically pure, jolted a couple dozen strains of bacteria out of their stationary phase and back into a runaway exponential phase.  Their out of control bacterial population could then displace fellow strains that normally would have kept them in check, and the overpopulated strains would overwhelm the gums’ defenses, leading to an infection of gums and eventually of teeth.

Safety Net
Prior to refined carbohydrates, when a hunter-and-gatherer or neolithic person’s diet temporarily got out of balance, bacterial populations would also fluctuate somewhat, but the body used its built-in safety systems to contain the resulting problems until a healthy diet returned the bacterial flora back to a normal equilibrium.  The gums are especially set up for efficient immune system response in times of temporary infection.

The connective tissue beneath the gum lining funnels specialized cells to the infection site that devour the invading microorganisms (phagocytes, mostly in the gum lining) or that kill them (lymphocyte white blood cells, mostly in the gum’s deeper connective tissue). As other live cells react to the toxins of the bacteria and to the microscopic battle taking place between immune system cells and bacteria, and as dead cells accumulate, the gum tissue at the infection site swells up. When the source of the irritation is removed and the bacteria population is brought under control, the immune system can handle the occasional invader and the entire episode is experienced merely as a temporary and reversible flare up of gingivitis—inflamed gums.

Besides fighting the invading bacteria, gums are also set up for fast healing.  Gum cells are among the quickest to be replaced and have extremely short lifetimes compared to other types of cells.  The lifespan of a healthy gum cell typically ranges from only two to seven days, and is usually replaced in four or five days.  Fast cell replacement rates make for fast healing, once proper nutrients are once again being ingested and after the varieties of bacterial strains once again find their relative balance.

Losing Our Way
After people started eating refined carbohydrates, sugars and denatured foods as a permanent part of their diet, there would be no return to the diet-induced healthy equilibrium.  The few problematical strains of bacteria develop in ways our ancient ancestors hardly ever saw.  An individual free-floating (planktonic) bacterium forms its own hard but tiny mineral shell, but it can’t do any real damage in that form. The bacterium biochemically attracts the minerals of like bacteria, until chains and then clusters form. These are still not too threatening. The clusters join together to form colonies, and the colonies form an even stronger attraction for each other. Eventually there’s a continuous, delicate mat of bacteria and other microscopic material covering the gum and tooth margin, called plaque. The bacteria in plaque thrive on an acid environment, and as they feed and multiply, the by-products of their feeding actually add to the acidity under the mat of plaque. If left undisturbed, this mat steadily builds a hard protective shell of calcified minerals, called calculus. Under the hardened calculus, the colonies of bacteria multiply even more rapidly.  The acids dissolve away enamel, eventually exposing the softer interior of the tooth, which can then be infected.

The immune system tries to fight off the invading bacteria, but the unnatural foods fuel the exponential phase of bacterial growth so much that new bacteria more than replace the casualties that were killed by the immune system.  Eventually the immune system changes tactics from trying to rid the body of the infectious agents (acute inflammation) to trying to isolate the infectious agents from healthy tissue in the body (chronic inflammation).  The immune system will “amputate” infected cells, and this process can be observed as receding gums, deepening gum pockets, and loose teeth (as periodontal ligaments are severed).  These deteriorated conditions that once were very rare are now so commonplace as to be considered a normal part of getting older.

But all is not lost.  Once the problem and its root causes have been understood, there are things that can be done to correct the problem and to return our teeth and gums to health.  First and foremost is learning and following the principles of healthy nutrition.  From this foundation, we can then take measures to reverse teeth and gum problems (the topic of another article due in Sept. 2010).  And in the process of improving our oral health, we’ll also improve our prospects for bodily health (another article due in Sept. 2010).

John Chisholm is co-owner of a small company that makes Good-Gums, a toothpaste-replacement that supports the body’s ability to heal its gums. When WAPF Chapter Leaders started carrying Good-Gums, John started learning and practicing Weston A. Price dietary principles, as lucidly explained by Kevin Brown’s Liberation Wellness. Already a regular exerciser and feeling pretty healthy, John didn’t anticipate how well his body would further respond to unprocessed, full-fat, pasture-raised foods.