Dr. Nathan Bryan

We have to kill all the bacteria in the mouth, so if you have bleeding gums, there's no translocation of that into systemic circulation, and we can prevent heart attack or stroke. That was 100 years ago, and we've learned a lot in those 100 years. Number one, it wasn't recognized that we have a microbiome on our body, in our body. So now, when I ask dentists all the time, why do you use fluoride?

We have to kill all the bacteria in the mouth, so if you have bleeding gums, there's no translocation of that into systemic circulation, and we can prevent heart attack or stroke. That was 100 years ago, and we've learned a lot in those 100 years. Number one, it wasn't recognized that we have a microbiome on our body, in our body. So now, when I ask dentists all the time, why do you use fluoride?

And they go, well, it's been used for 100 years. And I go, I don't care what the question is, that's the worst answer you could provide. Just because we're doing it because that's the way we've always done it. Right? So now we have to understand, how do we selectively kill the pathogens while maintaining a healthy microbiome?

And they go, well, it's been used for 100 years. And I go, I don't care what the question is, that's the worst answer you could provide. Just because we're doing it because that's the way we've always done it. Right? So now we have to understand, how do we selectively kill the pathogens while maintaining a healthy microbiome?

And so this field started probably in the, I mean, some of the first papers were published probably in the 90s, showing that there were, if you use mouthwash, it destroyed the microbiome, and we saw an increase in blood pressure. These papers were published in the late 2000s. We published on this probably in 2008, 2009. We created what's called an association.

And so this field started probably in the, I mean, some of the first papers were published probably in the 90s, showing that there were, if you use mouthwash, it destroyed the microbiome, and we saw an increase in blood pressure. These papers were published in the late 2000s. We published on this probably in 2008, 2009. We created what's called an association.

So people who had the healthiest and most diverse bacteria in their mouth had the best blood pressure. people who had the least diverse oral microbiome, and we could not culture any of these nitric oxide-producing bacteria, appeared to have the highest blood pressure. So that's what we call association. It's not causation, but it's a nice association.

So people who had the healthiest and most diverse bacteria in their mouth had the best blood pressure. people who had the least diverse oral microbiome, and we could not culture any of these nitric oxide-producing bacteria, appeared to have the highest blood pressure. So that's what we call association. It's not causation, but it's a nice association.

So in 2019, we published a paper showing, okay, now let's see if we take normal intensive patients, young, healthy people with good nitric oxide, good blood pressure, and we just give them mouthwash twice a day for seven days to kill the entire oral microbiome. And then we do tongue scrapings to see if we're killing the bacteria, and we do blood pressure measurements.

So in 2019, we published a paper showing, okay, now let's see if we take normal intensive patients, young, healthy people with good nitric oxide, good blood pressure, and we just give them mouthwash twice a day for seven days to kill the entire oral microbiome. And then we do tongue scrapings to see if we're killing the bacteria, and we do blood pressure measurements.

And so we do that twice a day for seven days. Seven days, we bring them back in, we measure their blood pressure, And then we stopped for four days. We said, okay, don't take mouthwash for four days. Then come back, let's remeasure your blood pressure, and let's do tongue scrapings and figure out what's happening to these bacterial communities.

And so we do that twice a day for seven days. Seven days, we bring them back in, we measure their blood pressure, And then we stopped for four days. We said, okay, don't take mouthwash for four days. Then come back, let's remeasure your blood pressure, and let's do tongue scrapings and figure out what's happening to these bacterial communities.

And what we found was that if you eradicate the bacteria, within seven days your blood pressure goes up.

And what we found was that if you eradicate the bacteria, within seven days your blood pressure goes up.

I think it occurs earlier. But we looked at seven days. We only looked at day one at baseline, seven days, and then four days after stopping the mouthwash. But in one 21-year-old kid, his blood pressure went up 26 millimeters of mercury.

I think it occurs earlier. But we looked at seven days. We only looked at day one at baseline, seven days, and then four days after stopping the mouthwash. But in one 21-year-old kid, his blood pressure went up 26 millimeters of mercury.

That's clinically hypertensive. So for every one millimeter increase in blood pressure, that increases your risk of cardiovascular disease by 1%. So within seven days, we increased this kid's risk of cardiovascular disease by 26% simply by giving him mouthwash.

That's clinically hypertensive. So for every one millimeter increase in blood pressure, that increases your risk of cardiovascular disease by 1%. So within seven days, we increased this kid's risk of cardiovascular disease by 26% simply by giving him mouthwash.

Well, we're still trying to understand mechanism. Again, we're at the observational level that's really indisputable. Because these bacteria, there's what we call nitrate-reducing bacteria. And humans do not have this enzyme. So nitrate is what's found in green leafy vegetables, right? These plants assimilate nitrogen in the soil in the form of nitrate. We consume these vegetables.

Well, we're still trying to understand mechanism. Again, we're at the observational level that's really indisputable. Because these bacteria, there's what we call nitrate-reducing bacteria. And humans do not have this enzyme. So nitrate is what's found in green leafy vegetables, right? These plants assimilate nitrogen in the soil in the form of nitrate. We consume these vegetables.