I'll try to keep it short, I won't be too verbose about my history, regimen, etc. If need be, I'll write about them later.
I have never heard of a relationship between dental hygiene or gum health and acne, but simply flossing every night has reduced my lesions by 90%. It hasn't cured me though, my skin is still sensitive, flossing is simply the most important piece in my acne regimen, but if I neglect my diet or sleep poorly (things which by themselves never had any effect on me), my skin will react.
I've already had temporary successes fighting acne 3 or 4 times in past, but inevitably all would return to normal in no longer than 3 weeks. But this time my skin has been almost acne free for 3 months, with the exception 2 one-week periods in which I did not floss, thus confirming my hypothesis.
I would like to ask your help with two things: 1) figuring out a link that explains the relationship between flossing and acne, and 2) devising regimens and strategies to 'complete' my cure taking into account that explanatory link and thus preventing the 10% of remaining acne from breaking out.
Thanks
The link is chronic inflammation, which is also the root cause of most of the generative diseases everyone suffers from these days.
Other strategies would be to consume more anti-inflammatory foods (just about every whole plant food/herb/tea/spice that isn't a grain/seed) and fewer inflammatory foods (sugar, refined grains, trans fats which means avoiding/limiting most commercially prepared foods, and anything you have an intolerance to).
Avoid chronic stress. Sleep right (at night), avoid pro-inflammatory workouts (the kind most people do) etc.
Dental hygiene is definitely important. There was a girl on this forum a few years ago who tried everything and her acne kept coming back, and it turned out she had an infection in her teeth.
I say keep flossing if it's working, and maybe try a hypoallergenic mouthwash to kill bacteria. I use one with tea tree in it and it seems to work.
I'm not sure killing bacteria is the answer. Helping your mouth maintain its proper ph helps it ain't akin the right microbes. That's one of the things inositol does which is why they put it in gum, toothpastes, etc. chamomile tea is a good thing to have at bedtime to both alkalize your mouth and help sleep.
Mint also retards biofilm formation and many night time teas are blends of mint & chamomile.
Dental Health thread.
Thanks for the replies. I already have a quite god diet and sleep relatively well, so that's not an issue. I have some mint growing in the garden, can I chew it instead of brewing a tea with it?
Now that my face is pretty much clear, I can easily notice what causes any change, positive or negative. Most importantly, I noticed there's some sort of cycle going on: after some time with 0 acne, there's a longer period when I always have 1-2 active pimples. Taking into account traditional chinese and ayurveduc medicine (and my slightly high transaminases), the patches on the left of my tongue, which follow the same cycle, lead me to believe the problem is liver-related. Apparently nothing I do or don't do affects this cycle. Any clues?
I tried taking resveratrol, chlorella, and turmeric (and maybe some others I don't recall), which are things that used to make wonders for my skin in pre-flossing times, but now they make absolutely no difference. I haven't been to an acupunturist a yet, I'll give it a try.