Gut health starts in your mouth—did you know that before today?

Follow me @askthedentist for more gut health tips from a dentist.

I’m not saying never have it once in a while…
I’m saying: understand what it’s doing. And rinse with water after. Or better yet—swap it out for something that actually supports both your oral and gut health. Plain water is still the gold standard for your every day drink!

Heres how it ties back to gut health…
If your oral microbiome gets thrown off, it doesn’t just mean cavities. It means your gut microbiome gets impacted too.

So ironically, the drink marketed as “gut-healthy” could be undermining your gut from the very first place digestion begins: your mouth.

I know this might make me sound like a buzzkill dentist dad 😅—but trust me, it’s so much easier to prevent cavities than to treat them later.

👉 Curious—which one surprised you the most? Drop it in the comments or send this to a parent friend who’s always packing snacks.

5️⃣ Panda crackers (and its processed cracker cousins like Annie’s bunnies and goldfish) → they turn into sticky paste in grooves of molars. (String cheese, apples or crunchy veggies for the win.)

4️⃣ Dried fruit → sticky sugar bomb. (Fresh fruit doesn’t stick to teeth like glue, allowing cavity causing bacteria to feast for hours.)

1️⃣ Sippy cups → Open cups are way better.
2️⃣ Flavored water/juice → acid + sugar combo = cavities on repeat. Plain water wins every time.
3️⃣ Milk at bedtime → sounds cozy, but it coats teeth in sugar overnight. (Milk is for dinner time, nothing but water after brushing, flossing, and tongue scraping.)

STOP ignoring your snoring,
STOP normalizing exhaustion, and actually fix your sleep.

What are your questions?

5. You can’t biohack your way out of bad sleep. Doesn’t matter how many supplements, ice baths, or gadgets you use—if your airway collapses at night, you’re stuck in survival mode.

4. Kids who snore, mouth breathe, or grind at night? That’s not ‘just a phase.’ It’s a red flag for poor growth, ADHD-like behavior, and long-term health issues. Early airway help is everything.

3. Snoring isn’t funny, it’s a warning sign. It’s your body begging for help. Treat it now, or you’re fast-tracking high blood pressure, brain fog, and heart issues.

2. Grinding your teeth at night isn’t just stress—it’s your airway trying to stay open. Stop wearing down your enamel and start fixing the root cause: your sleep and breathing.

ask yourself: does your child snore, mouth breathe, or have behavior that concerns you? Get them to a myofunctional therapist for a consultation, followed by an assessment with an AADSM-trained dentist: both AADSM.org and @functionaldentistdirectory have free lookup tools that are worldwide.

I’m not saying crowded teeth guarantee problems.
I’m saying they’re an early warning sign worth paying attention to.

Poor sleep in kids is tied to hyperactivity, attention struggles, and lower school performance.

Catching this early means you can address airway and growth problems before they impact learning and behavior.

Your child’s teeth SHOULD have spaces between them.

Crowded teeth aren’t just about looks—they can be a red flag for mouth breathing and sleep issues and a SMALL airway.

📉 Dental insurance
It’s not insurance. It’s a capped coupon that hasn’t adjusted since the 1970s. It won’t cover prevention and often gets in the way of real care.

🦷 Mouthwash
Kills 99.9% of bacteria — and that’s the problem. It doesn’t discriminate. Long-term use can mess with blood pressure, nitric oxide production, and makes breath WORSE.

🪥 Essential oils in toothpaste
They can wreck your oral microbiome. Some are antimicrobial bombs that wipe out the good bugs in your mouth, too.

🥩 Impossible burgers
A processed frankenfood marketed as wellness. Real meat (from a healthy animal) is infinitely better than this ultra-processed cocktail of additives and soy.