Less Common Oral Hygiene Options

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Less Common Alternatives For Oral Hygiene!

You almost certainly brush your teeth. You might use mouthwash. A lot of people floss for three weeks at a time, often in January.

There are a lot of options for oral hygiene; variations of the above, and many alternatives too. This is a big topic, so rather than try to squeeze it all in one, this will be a several-part series.

Tooth soap

The idea here is simplicity, and brushing with as few ingredients as possible. Soap cleans your teeth the same way it cleans your (sometimes compositionally quite similar) dishes, without damaging them.

We’d love to link to some science here, but alas, it appears to have not yet been done—at least, we couldn’t find any!

You can make your own tooth soap if you are feeling confident, or you might prefer to buy one ready-made (here’s an example product on Amazon, with various flavor options)

Oil pulling

We are getting gradually more scientific now; there is science for this one… But the (scientific) reviews are mixed:

Wooley et al., 2020, conducted a review of extant studies, and concluded:

❝The limited evidence suggests that oil pulling with coconut oil may have a beneficial effect on improving oral health and dental hygiene❞

Source: The effect of oil pulling with coconut oil to improve dental hygiene and oral health: A systematic review

The “Science-Based Medicine” project was less positive in its assessment, and declared that all and any studies that found oil pulling to be effective were a matter of researcher/publication bias. We would note that SBM is a private project and is not without its own biases, but for balance, here is what they had to offer:

SBM | Oil Pulling Your Leg

A more rounded view seems to be that it is a good method for cleaning your teeth if you don’t have better options available (whereby, “better options” is “almost any other method”).

One final consideration, which the above seemed not to consider, is:

If you have sensitive teeth/gums, oil-pulling is the gentlest way of cleaning them, and getting them back into sufficient order that you can comfortably use other methods.

Want to try it? You can use any food-grade oil (coconut oil or olive oil are common choices).

Chewing stick

Not just any stick—a twig of the Salvadora persica tree. This time, there’s lots of science for it, and it’s uncontroversially effective:

❝A number of scientific studies have demonstrated that the miswak (Salvadora persica) possesses antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-cariogenic, and anti-plaque properties.

Several studies have also claimed that miswak has anti-oxidant, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory effects. The use of a miswak has an immediate effect on the composition of saliva.

Several clinical studies have confirmed that the mechanical and chemical cleansing efficacy of miswak chewing sticks are equal and at times greater than that of the toothbrush❞

~ Hague et al.

Read in full: A review of the therapeutic effects of using miswak (Salvadora Persica) on oral health

And about the efficacy vs using a toothbrush, here’s an example:

Comparative effect of chewing sticks and toothbrushing on plaque removal and gingival health

Want to try the miswak stick? Here’s an example product on Amazon.

Enjoy!

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  • 5 Things To Know About Passive Suicidal Ideation

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    If you’ve ever wanted to go to sleep and never wake up, or have some accident/incident/illness take you with no action on your part, or a loved one has ever expressed such thoughts/feelings to you… Then this video is for you. Dr. Scott Eilers explains:

    Tired of living

    We’ll not keep them a mystery; here are the five things that Dr. Eilers wants us to know about passive suicidal ideation:

    • What it is: a desire for something to end your life without taking active steps. While it may seem all too common, it’s not necessarily inevitable or unchangeable.
    • What it means in terms of severity: it isn’t a clear indicator of how severe someone’s depression is. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the person’s depression is mild; it can be severe even without active suicidal thoughts, or indeed, suicidality at all.
    • What it threatens: although passive suicidal ideation doesn’t usually involve active planning, it can still be dangerous. Over time, it can evolve into active suicidal ideation or lead to risky behaviors.
    • What it isn’t: passive suicidal ideation is different from intrusive thoughts, which are unwanted, distressing thoughts about death. The former involves a desire for death, while the latter does not.
    • What it doesn’t have to be: passive suicidal ideation is often a symptom of underlying depression or a mood disorder, which can be treated through therapy, medication, or a combination of both. Seeking treatment is crucial and can be life-changing.

    For more on all of the above, here’s Dr. Eilers with his own words:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

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    Take care!

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  • Muir Glen Organic vs First Field Original – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing Muir Glen Organic Ketchup to First Field Original Ketchup, we picked the First Field.

    Why?

    This one was a little unfair to you, as you can’t turn them around to read the ingredients here. But the point we want to share the most today is: you have to turn them around and read the ingredients! You absolutely cannot rely on appearances!

    While the Muir Glen Organic may have a very “greenwashed” aesthetic going on and the word “organic” is more eye-catching than any other word on the label, it contains 4x as much sugar and 4x as much sodium.

    Side-by-side, they have, per tablespoon:

    First Field Original: 1g sugar, 60mg sodium
    Muir Glen Organic: 4g sugar, 240mg sodium

    But what about the importance of being organic?

    Well, we have one more surprise for you: the First Field ketchup is organic too, non-GMO, and contains no added concentrates either.

    This isn’t an ad for First Field (by all means enjoy their products or don’t; we’re not invested), but it is a heartfelt plea to always check the backs of products and read the labels, because fronts of products can’t be relied upon at all.

    I’m sure we all get caught out sometimes, but the less often, the better!

    PS: we write this, of course, before seeing the results of your voting. Maybe it won’t be a “Muir Glen Organic” sweep in the polls. But either way, it’s a call to vigilance, and a “very good, carry on” to everyone who does this already

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  • 52 Ways to Walk – by Annabel Streets

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Most of us learned to walk at a very young age and probably haven’t thought much about it since, except perhaps in a case where some injury made it difficult.

    Annabel Streets provides a wonderful guide to not just taking up (or perhaps reclaiming) the joy of walking, but also the science of it in more aspects than most of us have considered:

    • The physical mechanics of walking—what’s best?
    • Boots or shoes? Barefoot?
    • Roads, grass, rougher vegetation… Mud?
    • Flora & fauna down to the microbiota that affect us
    • How much walking is needed, to be healthy?
    • Is there such a thing as too much walking?
    • What are the health benefits (or risks) of various kinds of weather?
    • Is it better to walk quickly or to walk far?
    • What about if we’re carrying some injury?
    • What’s going on physiologically when we walk?
    • And so much more…

    Streets writes with a captivating blend of poetic joie-de-vivre coupled with scientific references.

    One moment the book is talking about neuroradiology reports of NO-levels in our blood, the impact of Mycobacterium vaccae, and the studied relationship between daily steps taken and production of oligosaccharide 3′-sialyllactose, and the next it’s all:

    “As if the newfound lightness in our limbs has crept into our minds, loosening our everyday cares and constraints…”

    And all in all, this book helps remind us that sometimes, science and a sense of wonder can and do (and should!) walk hand-in-hand.

    Treat yourself to “52 Ways to Walk” from Amazon today!

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    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    We recently wrote about…

    How To Survive A Heart Attack When You’re Alone

    …and one of the items was “if you have aspirin readily available, then after calling an ambulance is the time to take it—but don’t exert yourself trying to find some”.

    But what of aspirin as a preventative?

    Many people take low-dose aspirin daily as a way to reduce the risk of atherothrombosis specifically (and thus, indirectly, they hope to reduce the risk of heart attacks).

    The science of how helpful this is both clear and complicated—that is to say, the stats are not ambiguous*, but there are complicating factors of which many people are unaware.

    *it will reduce the overall risk of cardiovascular events, but will not affect CVD mortality; in other words, it may improve your recovery from minor cardiac events, but is not likely to save you from major ones.

    And also, it has unwanted side effects that can constitute a more relevant threat for many people. We’ll share more on that at the end of today’s article, but first…

    A newly identified threat from daily aspirin use

    A large (n=313,508) study of older adults (median age 73) were sorted into those who used low-dose aspirin as a preventative, and those who did not.

    The primary outcome was incidence of anemia sufficient to require treatment, and the secondary outcome was major bleeding. And, at least 1 in 5 of those who experienced anemia also experienced bleeding.

    The bleeding issue was not “newly identified” and will not surprise many people; after all, the very reason that aspirin is taken as a CVD preventative is for its anti-clotting property of allowing blood to flow more freely.

    The anemia, however, has been getting increasing scientific scrutiny lately, after long going unnoticed in the wild. Given that anemia also gives the symptom “dizziness”, this is also a significant threat for increasing the incidence of falls in the older population, too, which can of course lead to serious complications and ultimately death.

    Here’s the paper itself:

    Low-Dose Aspirin and Risk of Anaemia in Older Adults: Insights from a Danish Register-based Cohort Study

    Want to know more?

    As promised, here’s what we wrote previously about some of aspirin’s other risks:

    Aspirin, CVD Risk, & Potential Counter-Risks

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • How To Avoid Age-Related Macular Degeneration

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    Avoiding Age-Related Macular Degeneration

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    Is there no escaping it, then?

    The risk factors for age-related macular degeneration are as follows:

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    • Being over the age of 65 (risk climbs sharply now)
    • Having a genetic predisposition (can’t do much about this one)
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    Genes predispose; they don’t predetermine. Or to put it another way: genes load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger.

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    Prevention is better than a cure in general, and this especially goes for things like age-related macular degeneration, because the most common form of it has no known cure.

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    See also: The Mediterranean Diet

    Next, eat to feed your eyes specifically. There’s a lot of research to show that lutein helps avoid age-related diseases in the eyes and the rest of the brain, too:

    See also: Brain Food? The Eyes Have It

    Do supplements help?

    They can! There was a multiple-part landmark study by the National Eye Institute, a formula was developed that reduced the 5-year risk of intermediate disease progressing to late disease by 25–30%. It also reduced the risk of vision loss by 19%.

    You can read about both parts of the study here:

    Age-Related Eye Disease Studies (AREDS/AREDS2): major findings

    As you can see, an improvement was made between the initial study and the second one, by replacing beta-carotene with lutein and zeaxanthin.

    The AREDS2 formula contains:

    • 500 mg vitamin C
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    You can learn more about these supplements, and where to get them, here on the NEI’s corner of the official NIH website:

    AREDS 2 Supplements for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

    Take care of yourself!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • No Bad Parts – by Dr. Richard Schwartz

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    We’ve previously reviewed Dr. Schwartz’s “You Are The One You’ve Been Waiting For” and whereas that book doesn’t require having read this one, this one would be an excellent place to start, as it focuses on perhaps the most important core issues of IFS therapy.

    We all have different aspects that have developed within us for different reasons, and can generally “become as though a different person when…” and some condition that is met. Those are our “parts”, per IFS.

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    Click here to check out No Bad Parts, and take care of yours!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

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