Episode 52: Healing Beyond Medicine: Wisdom for Doctor Moms with Christina Kraft, DMD

Have you ever wished you could go back in time and give your past self some much-needed advice?

What would you say? What would you do differently?

I have a few things that spring to mind. But the truth is, if I could actually go back, it might change everything – even the lessons I needed to learn.

What I can do is take action now, make healthier choices and share what I’ve learned with other people.  

That’s exactly what we’re doing in today’s episode.

My guest, Dr. Christina Kraft, is an integrative dentist who has walked the difficult road of burnout and health challenges. Her journey forced her to rethink how she balanced work and life.

She crafted a new practice in dentistry that considers the health of the whole person.

We sat down to discuss her shift away from burnout and toward a more balanced and peaceful way to practice.

There is always another way. Listen to her story.  

Meet Christina Kraft, DMD, DipACLM, NBC-HWC, RYT-200

Dr Christina Kraft is an integrative dentist dedicated to understanding the links between oral health and systemic well-being. She is a graduate of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine Fellowship, a Diplomat of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, a certified Integrative Health and Wellness Coach, and a Yoga Teacher. Dr. Kraft is committed to empowering patients to optimize their oral-systemic health through evidence-based integrative care.

Let’s get started!

Dr. Cindy: Welcome Dr. Kraft. How are you?

Dr. Kraft: I’m great. Thank you so much for having me today.

Dr. Cindy: Oh, I’m so glad that you could join me today and talk to my listeners, which is full of physician moms and professional moms and pretty much all in the medical and dental field. So, this is great. I’d love to dive in first with a bit of your story. If you can tell us some of your background and what your story is.

Dr. Kraft’s Journey into Dentistry, and Burnout

Dr. Kraft: Yeah, absolutely. It’s a bit of a long one. I’ll try to keep it short. I became a dentist at a very young age and I had my own practice for 14 years. I sold it. I started to burn out like most of us do. I wasn’t taking very good care of myself as I was taking great care of all my patients, just like a lot of doctors.

And I can’t even imagine. Also having, I don’t, full disclosure. I don’t have kids. I have furry animals, and I have so much respect for moms and people that do all of this because the amount of energy that I have given to patients and then having to give that also to children and take care of all of that is so impressive and so hard.

I broke just by giving so much of my energy to my patients. I am a sensitive empath, which is hard in the dental profession. I was giving all my energy to my patients, all of my time, all of my thoughts and not taking care of myself. And what that led to was burnout, physical burnout and mental burnout that I ignored.

I got an autoimmune condition. I have Hashimoto’s disease now. I didn’t know what it was for a long time because I wasn’t paying attention to me. It took my body breaking first. I stopped sleeping very well. Then I wasn’t able to eat very well. And then I wasn’t pooping. And then I was crying and screaming on the way to work in the morning, and I was hurting all over.

And I ignored all of that because I was doing so much good and helping so many people. And then my hand started to hurt. And as a dentist who did a lot of surgery. I finally listened. And that was the physical burnout.

The mental burnout was I started to get really frustrated with seeing all of these amazing patients and people that I was helping and fixing them, as doctors we fix. As a surgical person who does procedures, we fix. You can’t fix people. They have to fix themselves. But I was seeing these cavities, seeing these diseases and I was fixing them with things like crowns, bridges, implants, root canals, not really root canals. I sent those away.

But everything I did, I understood that I was never actually getting to the root cause of what was causing the problem in the first place. And everything I was doing to help people to fix their teeth and their mouth was just all going to come right back. Because I was never addressing why any of this was happening.

So that coupled that frustration of not feeling like a good doctor anymore, coupled with the physical and mental burnout of giving too much of my energy away, broke me pretty intensely and I had to stop.

I had to sell my practice, and I had to look at things a little bit differently. So I did that, got some surgery, got some final understanding of healing, what I needed for my body and said, okay, I’m going to build a life that makes me feel good. That makes me feel like I don’t need a vacation from every single day.

And I wanted to be a better doctor. I wanted to know why all of these things were happening with curiosity. I like to know why. So, I looked through, I thought about going back through medical school, becoming an MD, but I’m like, man, so much of it is nutrition.

Like I’m a dentist. I see what food does to people’s mouths first. There’s not enough nutrition information in medical school.

Transition to Integrative Medicine

Dr. Kraft: I found the Andrew Weil Center. I did the two-year fellowship in integrative medicine with them. As a dentist, there haven’t been that many. So, I went and hung out with all you MDs and DOs and amazing nurse practitioners.

And I was so far behind, I had to catch up and then go forward with that. Because they don’t teach us the same things as you in dental school. I understand now why they say dentists aren’t doctors after that training. I was like, Oh, I get it. Okay. I get it.

So really diving down into nutrition and lifestyle medicine, mind, body medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, all of these things I said, okay, now I understand.

And all the dental issues that I’m seeing come from lifestyle. So, cavities and periodontal disease and oral dysbiosis, and all of this is coming from what we’re doing on a daily basis. I got more interested in lifestyle medicine, got board certified in that. And I had all this knowledge, right? I knew how to tell people what to do.

Finally. I knew the why, but I can tell people what to do until I’m blue in the face. As we know, as doctors and be like, I found out your diagnosis. I told you what to do, like pat myself on the back. I did a good job. But if the patients don’t actually do it, it doesn’t do a damn bit of good. So I did a health coaching program because I wanted to help people.

First of all, learn how to meet people where they were. Cause as someone that just directed people what to do all the time, I wasn’t so good at that. Then actually help them make the changes that would make their lives better, their health better, their teeth better, their whole oral systemic health.

And I learned even more about how what I was doing was affecting even more of the body. Most of us know about the heart mouth connection, but the connections to breast cancer to adverse pregnancy outcomes to Alzheimer’s disease to dementia to rheumatoid arthritis.

All of these things that I could make a massive difference on. I said, okay, I want to build a practice where I feel good about how I’m helping people, not only oral- systemically, but for myself. Because now after learning that working five, six days a week, doing intense surgical style dentistry breaks me, I can’t do that anymore.

And I had to mourn that because boy, I love fixing teeth. It’s so much fun.

So going through the mourning process of saying, okay, that’s not the most important part about how I can help people anymore. My words are.

Building a New Practice

Dr. Kraft: I have built a more consultation style dental model – building a little bit of a new type specialty where I am sitting down with people doing full oral systemic integrative, even holistic, but not traditionally dental holistics. Like just looking at whole health, everything, evaluations doing oral salivary microbiome testing, which is fascinating.

It gives me an objective measure of what’s going on in people’s mouths and the whole rest of their body that I can have direct influence on. And then creating entire wellness plans for people, what they can do at home and what they can do with their doctors.

I’m seeing patients now virtually all over the country.

With those patients, I have to focus more on what they can do at home and if they would like, and if their dentist will listen, because not all dentists are this far in understanding how the science works, collaborate with them and their other medical providers.

I also am working with two different dentists in Tucson to bring this specialty style consultative practice into theirs – to actually help the patients that are dealing with chronic diseases from an oral systemic health perspective, because I can make a difference and all of that. So that’s what I’m doing.

All of this is back to, I feel good about this now. This is how I can help people. And I pay attention to myself and create balance for myself and teach yoga still, which I became trained in after, and work.

I do outdoor adventure guiding because sitting in a dental office or medical practice all the time without getting out into the seventh pillar of lifestyle medicine is nature makes me very sad. And so, finding that balance of practicing in a way that makes me feel happy.

I’m actually helping the way I’m supposed to, and then balancing my own body and mind needs has been a hell of a journey with a lot of challenges, lots of ups and down, lots of crying on the floor being like, what am I doing?

And then also a lot of elation Oh, this is working. You can’t have the highs without the lows, man, the low sucks so much.

Dr. Cindy: Wow. Oh, thank you for sharing your story. You followed the basic trajectory of, I want to be in dentistry. I want to fix people. I want to be hands-on. I want to be, I want to help them.

And you did that, but it broke you. And that was a low. But the curiosity is what pulled you out of that and you pivoted and you started learning something new and you found a whole new way to apply, not throw away what you know, but build on that.

Now you created this new life with what you already know and then what you just learned and now you’re helping people in a different way And yeah, you can see it on your face, you’re thriving!

Dr. Kraft: Most days – some days I’m still laying on the floor crying.

Dr. Cindy: Ups and downs.

Dr. Kraft: Yeah, and then perimenopause is coming, so like laying on the floor crying sometimes it’s not really a hormone response.

Addressing the Toxic Culture of Medicine

Dr. Cindy: With a lot of women that I speak to are just beat down by, I’m going to shift a little bit to the culture of medicine or the culture of being a physician, which is rather toxic these days. And so, a lot of these women also chose what they wanted to do because they want to help people.

They love the science behind it. They love working with their hands, they love working directly with patients and helping their lives be better. And also, they like to help educate patients, right? Teaching them takes time and the [medical] culture doesn’t allow that.

What is your opinion about helping others in this current culture, which I think has shifted dramatically for the past 10, 20 years?

Where can you still help your patients, but you can also help yourself like what you’re describing.

Dr. Kraft: Yeah, absolutely. It involves some tough decisions, and it involves balancing. So you can use things in your current situation, which I didn’t do very well, but now I’m figuring out better to create space for yourself. To create moments, mindful moments.

Meditative moments, if you will, if that works for you vernacular throughout the day to say, this is my time. And this is the time that works for me to reset, regroup, build that resilient time in between patients. Like even for me taking three deep breaths before I walk through an exam room door.

I’m sure that’s a common one that a lot of people know about and use breathing exercises, but within the culture, the tough decisions are, do you find a way to function within it – and create those moments and that’s enough for you? And that’s enough for your body? Or, do you say this isn’t for me.

That’s a hard decision to make. I couldn’t make it even though I knew I needed to, without my body breaking.

Now, I really wish if I could go back, I really wish I would have made this decision much sooner.

If you are at the point where you’ve tried all of the ways to function within your scaffolding, within your culture, within your hospital system or private practice system, whatever you’re doing, and it’s not working, take one thing at a time and say, I’m going to try this.

I’m going to try to shift this and try one thing at a time. And if it doesn’t work, give it up and try something else. Do you think that’s helpful? What do you think? What works for you, Cindy?

Dr. Cindy: My story is similar to yours. I did burn out with medicine multiple times, actually. I would go through a period of burnout and then think that I fixed things, because I moved, or I reduced my schedule.

I went from a hundred percent to 80%, which is a big deal – because you get a day off a week and I thought, okay, this is going to fix it.

I was trying, I was throwing things at the wall and see if they would stick. And, but it didn’t quite work.

I think it’s a matter of being persistent and just keep trying. What you’re saying is that if you try something that doesn’t work you know now, okay maybe I got something out of that, but I learned okay, let’s try something different.

I think it’s a matter of persistence and just trying new things and you will find the things that help you and you will find the techniques and we’re bombarded with techniques!

So, this is what you should do – you should like breathing exercises (is one example) But you know what? I don’t like it when people tell me how to breathe. And so, I tried it. I don’t like it when they say, okay, now breathe in for four and now hold it. And I’m trying to follow their cues, and it just gives me stress.

I have my own way of doing it. I use the numbers, and I just count with myself, and I don’t listen to anybody else and that works.

What I’m getting at in a long-winded way is that you just keep trying things that call to you. You keep trying things that sound interesting and something will help, and those things build on each other.

Sometimes you can, like you said, build the scaffolding and stay in your field, and sometimes the tough decision is to leave. And so that’s another big one that only you can answer, or only that woman can answer.

And when is the point when you turn away? You know what, the answer’s inside of you. And it’s a matter of trying all these things and talking it out with someone, I hope that answers your question.

Dr. Kraft: It does. Thank you.

Dr. Cindy: Curious. Yeah.

Dr. Kraft: It’s interesting.

I want to talk a little bit of the breathing exercises. I’m sure you know this, but I’ve learned this the hard way working with people. If you’re going through a lot of anxiety, having someone to tell you to hold your breath, that’s really a bad idea. So the fact that you figured that out and what works for you on your own is commendable.

And you took that initiative to say, no, that doesn’t work for me. I’m going to try something else. I’m a visual thinker. And you said something that really stuck with me and is actually one of the visions I have all of the time, which is throwing something at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Have you ever heard of the giant flying spaghetti monster?

No. Okay. I’m sure there’s more around this because my husband’s explained it to me, but I forgot because I have too many things on my brain. Imagine you are a giant ball of flying spaghetti monster. You’re going to have meatballs in there too. That’s the other stuff. And whenever I think about some of the movies and some of the ways people test to see if pasta is ready is they throw it to the wall and see if it sticks.

My goal is to be a really big spaghetti monster with like penne and rigatoni and like farfalle and like all the different shapes of spaghetti so that I can take and throw those at the wall and see what sticks.

So if you don’t know what to do, go and try to find a different shape of pasta.

Build your repertoire of things and then throw it at the wall and if it falls off, go pick another shape.

Dr. Cindy: Yeah, I love that. I’m going to be a big ball of pasta now. Big ball of pasta, right? Absolutely. Yeah, throw things and see what sticks. Oh, that’s perfect. Thank you for bringing that up. I’m going to steal that from you and your husband.

Integrative Dentistry Explained

Dr. Cindy: I want to spend a few minutes to really highlight your practice, which is integrative dentistry. You mentioned this a little earlier, but you can you speak to how you are different from my dentist. I go to a traditional dentist, and they clean my teeth. They say hi for two minutes and then they leave so how are you different if people come to you?

Dr. Kraft: Completely different. At this point, I am not doing traditional dentistry. I am working with traditional dentists and letting them do the traditional dentistry.

What I’m doing is sitting down with people. And I don’t know if anyone has done or has had a integrative health consult consultation, where your physician dives down deep into all of the things that you’re doing in your life, in your health, in your blood work, which I’m still not quite as good at reading as all of you guys, but I can get enough of it to be helpful.

And really look at what is causing whatever problem that you are coming in for. Like people will come in for uncontrolled diabetes. I’m working with one patient right now that’s had multiple pregnancy losses and wants to know what oral contributors are making it so that she can’t stay pregnant.

People have arthritis and IBD, IBS, Crohn’s disease, and the gut is one big tube. So, I sit down with them, figure out what lifestyle things are contributing to their chronic condition that they’re dealing with, which is why they’re seeing me. You’re not coming in to see me for a regular checkup.

You’re coming in to see me because all of the other things aren’t working. Or they’re going to the dentist and they’re saying every time I go, my gum disease never gets better. I have cavities every time, and I’m doing everything right. I’m doing everything right. And it’s not working.

Please help me. What’s wrong.

Those are the patients that I’m working with – the chronic diseases and the ones where they’re trying everything. It’s not working.

I sit down with them, figure out other things that are working. Sometimes it’s something simple. It frequently is that they just need to shift a bit.

Saliva: The Dentist’s Diagnostic Tool

Dr. Kraft: And then I also do oral salivary diagnostics. When you go to the dentist, now you get your gums measured, they call it three, two, three, three, two, three. And that’s the way that they’re measuring gum disease. But by the time that you have those numbers that are getting higher and you’re getting bleeding, it’s already gone far enough.

It’s all the steps that lead up to getting cancer, but we can’t find it until it’s happened. As we know, with cancer, early detection is everything. With gum disease and losing your teeth from gum disease and chronic inflammation and having that affect your arteries, your heart, your brain, your breast, your prostate, your everything, your colon, early detection is important.

I’m doing oral salivary diagnostics where I’m looking at the different bacteria species and amounts that are in the mouth that we know are aggressive, resistant to traditional dental treatments where you get your teeth scraped, cleaned and x rayed. And doing different modalities, things like sometimes conjunction of treatment with traditional dentistry, scaling, replaning, cleaning, hygiene therapies, using dental ozone treatments which kills bacteria that are resistant, that have become resistant to our mouthwashes.

We’re learning now and our chlorhexidine mouthwashes – using alternatives to those as well. Sometimes systemic antibiotics to actually decrease the populations of these bacteria that are causing dysbiosis and causing the periodontal disease, the cavities, the dry mouth, the chronic yeast infections in gut and mouth.

They’re connected. We can see that in your mouth before it gets real bad in your gut frequently. So doing the full, sorry, I’m long winded doing the full evaluation of lifestyle habits, listening to you, is the important thing, partnering with you and listening to my patients and then doing this objective oral salivary test testing, which is like blood work you’d get at the doctor.

Saliva is to dentists what blood is to doctors when we’re doing testing. (H2)

Then getting the results, doing a follow up and really seeing personalized care – what you need for your specific bacteria species, for your specific habits for your specific mouth. Sometimes [we] use traditional dental methods, sometimes alternative integrative, sometimes getting you back to your PCP. And look at different vitamin deficiencies and doing what we can to support if you do need big dental treatment, surgeries, implants, root canals, extraction. [We are] supporting people’s bodies, health and their ability to heal before, during and after those procedures.

It’s a lot and it’s wonderful.

Integrative Dentistry and Specialist Collaboration

Dr. Cindy: Thank you for explaining that because I could really see how you could work with so many different specialties not just PCPs, but specialists too, particularly GI docs, as you mentioned. There’s so much press on the microbiome in our gut, which is fantastic that we’re talking about that.

But what about in the mouth? And I wonder, is there a world where integrated dentists are going to work with these different specialties? What do you think about that idea? Are you already doing that?

Dr. Kraft: Yeah, it’s already starting to happen a bit. I have.

I feel like the first step that’s going on is Dr. Bradley Bale and Dr. Donine are cardiologists. And they have come out with a preceptorship saying, “Hey, they’re the ones that said periodontal disease is causing heart attacks and strokes. And here’s why.” And there are dentists and doctors that have done their preceptorships and learned with them, and there are some collaborations happening between doctors and primary care physicians.

There are some medical dental groups that are trying to do this, but they’re not doing it very well because dentistry is still – you only get paid for your services when you’re drilling or doing surgery. And medicine is more, you get paid for your services of diagnosing, talking and doing this. There’s a really hard disconnect between that, which is why I have to function outside of the insurance system because it hasn’t gotten to that point yet.

Hopefully they will, but Lord only knows with what’s happening right now. There are people doing that. I think that I am extremely excited to start working with more specialists. That is my goal, my business model, my business plan.

It’s not the people coming in for checkups that have the most benefit for me. It’s the people that have something else going on.

The Oral-Gut Connection

Dr. Kraft: Like naturopaths, also GI physicians that come in and they say, “Oh my gut, I’m doing all of the things,” once again, I’m doing all of the things, that medicine has taught me to help IBD, IBS, Crohn’s disease…

“I’m doing all these things, but it’s still coming back.”

It [the gut] is not as good as it should be. There’s probably an oral component.

We swallow one and a half or one to two liters of saliva a day, and there’s billions of bacteria in there and the oral and gut connection.

We used to think, oh the stomach acid kept them apart, right? It keeps them separate. The oral bacteria doesn’t migrate to the gut.

Oh, what about proton pump inhibitors, antacids that these people have been taking? Cause they’ve been having GI tract problems. We are causing all of these problems as we’re trying to help.

And the more we know, the better we can do. And that’s what I have to tell myself too. When I think about all the patients that I treated in general dentistry, doing the best I could with what I had.

And I think back now and I’m like, oh my God, I missed so much. I missed so much. I want to do better for all of them.

I want them all to find me again so that I can do better for all of them because I know more now. It’s forgiving yourself for who you were and doing the best you can and continuing to push the envelope and work with specialists and work with oral systemic understanding providers to make whole bodies better.

Does that answer your question?

Holistic Oral Systemic Consultations

Dr. Cindy: Yes, it does. Absolutely. I’m thinking, what if someone listening today would be like, you know what, I have this patient we’ve done everything and they’re doing all the things, if they wanted to send someone to you, how would they do that?

Dr. Kraft: Absolutely. I have a website that is accessible to everybody. That is called HandKraftedlife.com. My last name is Kraft. It’s spelled with a K like the macaroni and cheese. And I’m doing oral systemic holistic oral systemic consultations and salivary testing nationally.

I am doing that, with one disclaimer, I am doing that from a health coaching model because as a dentist licensed in Arizona, I’m only allowed to diagnose and prescribe in Arizona.

I will happily collaborate with anybody and do the entire oral systemic evaluation, salivary testing and follow up wellness plan and work with whatever specialist wants to send me patients to help figure out what else is going on orally.

And there’s always a component – there’s almost always something out of line. It’s in 80 to 90 percent of the people walking around have some form of oral dysbiosis where their bacteria are not helping them like they should be

Dr. Cindy: Wow, yeah, that sounds like a great opportunity and you are another resource for so many docs out there that have patients that are just resistant to what we know.

Dr. Kraft: so yeah, not everything works for everybody.

Everyone, the patients need to find their own path. Some people resonate with some of the things I say and what you say, and some of them won’t and will go find something else. And the key is to just get them to hear the thing, the one thing that allows them to make the change for themself.

Dr. Cindy: To go on a lighthearted note, thinking back in my career as an anesthesiologist, I’ve seen a lot of mouths.

Dr. Kraft: Oh, man, I bet you have.

Dr. Cindy: But people prepare when they go to see you or, any dentist, they brush their teeth and they floss, they’re like, okay, here I am. But not so much for anesthesia.

Yeah, boy, thinking back, I wish I could have referred a lot of people to you! They need someone to help with this because you can see gum disease and the bleeding and how friable the tissues are. And yeah,

Dr. Kraft: Oh, they don’t either. Oh, I’m assuming that’s my assumption. I apologize. Sometimes they do. And we’re very pleased. Thank you. Thank you for all of you that do, please. I appreciate you so much for the ones that don’t please brush your teeth and floss them before you go to the dentist.

That helps, but there’s other things, right?

And then I just saw an interesting, I know we’re out of time on this webinar on oral herpes simplex viruses and significantly increasing the chances when we don’t treat them aggressively, like we’re supposed to be of Alzheimer’s dementia later in life. And so that, and aphthous ulcers and a lot of dentists don’t really know what to do with that.

So that’s newer research and science coming out and we’re going to be making a massive difference in brain health with what we are doing, speaking and working with specialists.

Dr. Cindy: Yeah.

Dr. Kraft: And prevention.

Dr. Cindy: Yeah. You’re connected to every system of the body. Great. And speaking of aphthous ulcers, we had a problem with that in our family and would ask our dentist.

This is years ago, and they didn’t know, just like you’re saying, it’s just not common knowledge.

Dr. Kraft: So what did you do? We asked?

Dr. Cindy: Oh, it was taking the supplement L-lysine worked like a charm. We tried everything else. We tried different toothpastes. We tried different mouthwashes, and lysine was magic and then there were no issues.

Dr. Kraft: That is amazing. See, that’s a tip for everyone. A lot. Even then, like how many of you listening now are like, oh.

Dr. Cindy: Yeah, just because they’re so incredibly painful and they get worse with stress. And I had them in college and med school and it was just miserable.

Dr. Kraft: And yeah, I did too.

All that stress. Oh my gosh. I was in dental school. I go, “I’ve got cancer.”

Dr. Cindy: If only we’d known, if only we’d known.

Burning Dental Questions and Tips

Dr. Cindy: Just to end on a light, light note, what are some burning questions that people ask you? Like mine was about at the ulcers, and thankfully I have my answer, but what are some other just common things we know for our audience, maybe who have kids running around and what do I do with my kid?

They’re having this problem. What are some common questions for you?

Dr. Kraft: Absolutely. You know what? The one question I always come up with is, “Yeah. But what toothpaste do I use?”

Yeah. Because that’s going to fix everything. It’s not, there’s multiple things, but once again, personalized medicine, different people need different things for different issues.

Speaking of kids, I met an amazing dentist recently, he’s a pediatric dentist. And he told me the story he always told people – oh, just use whatever toothpaste you want for your kids. It’s fine. Just don’t let them swallow it if it’s got fluoride.

And then he finally had kids and he’s – oh, what toothpaste do I want to use for my kids?

And that answer wasn’t good enough anymore. So, he created an entire company using all of the latest science on the best toothpaste and products used for kids. It’s called SuperMouth like Superhero, but it’s SuperMouth and they do have adult products. They are really effective at killing different types of the pathogenic bacteria, but not all of the bacteria.

They are fluoride-free. They’re using hydroxyapatite, nano hydroxyapatite vitamin K2, Vitamin D, vitamin K2. They’re using all what science has gotten us to, which is the best option for children, for people.

And then the other question, is fluoride, good, bad? Mostly bad. Like silver fillings were the best we had at the time, so we did those.

Fluoride was the best prevention of cavities that we thought we had at the time, not as preventative as we thought. We have better science now. Now we can use things like nano hydroxyapatite and xylitol mixed together, which actually mineralizes teeth better.

But the real question is, “Why are your teeth demineralized thing in the first place?”

Remember why, it’s not the toothpaste. It’s all the lifestyle habits that you’re doing on a regular basis.

Why is your body reversing the pull of building your teeth up with minerals, which is what’s supposed to happen all the time. And instead pulling minerals out of your teeth. And if it’s pulling it out of your teeth, guess where else is pulling minerals out of, your bones.

So, if you have those cavities all the time, what else are you missing in your diet and your habits that is causing your body to reverse that? From building to destruction, to pull those minerals out.

It’s not just, it’s not just the bacteria in our mouth, pooping out acid and eating away our teeth. That’s part of it.

There’s so much more involved so we can find out more and the dental profession will do better. It’s lagging, but it will do better by figuring out while this is going on.

There’s so much science and research happening now to be better about this. Just like in medicine, we [just] thought it worked this way and we were wrong. Now we’re learning more and doing better that happens on a regular basis. And so we’re doing better too.

Dr. Cindy: The ingredients that you mentioned that helped better than fluoride, now that we know, are in that, that one brand you’re mentioning, SuperMouth.

Dr. Kraft: SuperMouth is really great for kids. They do have an adult product. I find their adult products a little bit too sweet personally for my own personal palate. I don’t like sweet things as much. I know. Perfect. And that’s right. But there’s Boca, there’s Spry. There are several different options if you want to be fluoride free.

And I will give you one caveat with fluoride. The people that need to avoid fluoride are more of those that have an auto immune condition. There is. Lots of science coming out that it’s not good. But if you don’t have access to the others, it’s better than nothing for most. But swallowing it in our water supply is not so good.

Topical application is better, but we have better products that are coming out. So get curious and ask questions.

Ancient Teeth vs. Modern Diet

Dr. Cindy: Exactly. That’s the word curious. There was a conference in Arizona, the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine that just happened in January.

And in the conference, and I’m trying to remember exactly where we learned about our ancestors and their teeth, and how, oh, by the way, they used to be straight. They didn’t have braces.

And I’m thinking right now, as I sit here, oh, by the way, were cavities as prevalent? Then when you speak to lifestyle and we’re eating sugar and we’re having diet soda, and they didn’t have that back then.

I’m really curious. What were the teeth like from a cavity standpoint for ancestors?

Dr. Kraft: It had to do more partially with what they were eating and how they were eating it. And had that’s actually an airway question, which is another thing that is a major focus, especially of working with pediatric or kids.

Our airways are shrinking and our ability to have enough face for our teeth is shrinking. And our foods that we eat, our airways are shrinking because we don’t have to chew our food as much anymore.

The function of the teeth and the muscles working together to build, maintain bone and build the whole shape of our face as we are children has completely changed throughout massive amounts of time of human history. Their teeth were better because they were eating more fruits and vegetables.

It was better because in eating those fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats, they had to chew them more. It wasn’t ultra processed food or highly processed food. And when you chew more, the food stays in your mouth for longer. But it wasn’t full of sugar. And all of the phytonutrients that they were getting was allowing their body to have that better push pull of mineralizing and demineralizing.

So they were more replete with the minerals and nutrients they needed in general, for 40 years until they died of old age at 40.

But it was a little bit different. But they could breathe. They had their mouths closed at night when they were sleeping. They had their mouth closed and they breathe through their nose more primarily, which keeps your mouth more moist, which allows a healthier microbiome to function.

If you have a dry mouth, all bets are off. We need to do everything we can to support your oral health because you don’t have the saliva to feed the bacteria.

One final note, it’s not the food that you eat that feeds your bacteria, your healthy bacteria in your mouth. There’s good guys and bad guys.

It’s not the food that you eat that feeds the good guys, it’s your saliva that feeds the good guys. So, if you don’t have enough saliva and you’re not eating enough nitric oxide producing foods to create salivary flow, you don’t have enough good guys. So once again, lifestyle and diet, and if you have a dry mouth, inquire about it.

Dr. Cindy: Okay. Yes. I know we’re about out of time. Can you mention your website again, please, for people to contact you?

Dr. Kraft: HandKraftedLife.com. Perfect. Crafted with a K.

Dr. Cindy: Yes. I will put that in the show notes. I so appreciate you coming here today and talking with me. This has been a delight. Thank you.

Dr. Kraft: Thank you so much for asking me, Cindy. I feel blessed to be here.

Dr. Cindy: Oh, thank you.