Germs: harmful or benign?

[Bruce Paine]

Hi,
I'm having an argument with a fellow who eats an lacto-vegetarian diet, who believes that after one brushes their teeth they should use a mouthwash to not only make one's breath smell fresh but also kill germs.

He washes all his dishes, utensils, and cookware with dishsoap (Seventh Generation Dishwashing Detergent).

And when he gets sick he takes prescribed medicine and antibiotics, if need be.

Is he correct?

Should we kill germs or learn to live with them?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce

[Roy Collins]

Bruce. The fellow should be OK doing what he is doing with his teeth as long as he is using a sugarless form of dentifice that has some alkaline base to it and that the mouthwash has no sugar or alcohol in it. Good oral hygiene involves brushing teeth AND flossing at lest twice daily (in the am and pm whenbactria counts are highest). Simple sugars, alcohol and tobacco are the worst culprits in creating cavities. Dairy which also contains a large amound of bacteria attracing sugar, as well as contribute to sinus infection which can cause upper tooth decay, is also a culprit for decay.

No problem washing dishes with eco-sound detergents as long as they are well rinsed. Using medications on a regular basis contibutes to disease and is symptomatic treatment at best.

I hope this helps.

Inpeace, Roy

[Michael Bauce]

Bruce & Roy:

Using mouthwash is not, in my opinion, a harmless symptomatic treatment. It's modern culture, just like deodarant and perfume.
Natural or not, it covers up a deeper problem; so I don't encourage it. It also gives a bad message to children: that germs are bad.
It's not just a question of personal hygeine; it's the problem with the modern lifestyle: always another product to rely on.
The alternative health industry is a multi-billion dollar affair; not much different than corresponding conventional products.
Tell your friend to look how he's eating, living, thinking...forget about the mouthwash. There's really no end to buying these products once you've started.
Thanks,
Michael

[Roy Collins]

Thank you for your opinion, Michael. Mouth washes and rinses have been used for millenium and is not an invention of "modern culture" as you stated. Modern culture, per se, like anything else, has both positive and negative aspects, but to knock modern culture in general is one-sided and narrow. Tremendous breaktrhoughs in health, science, the arts, technology, etc. come from the modern word. There are millions of people who enjoy its benefits. People like the Taliban may not, and may seek ways to destroy it. It is better to be more flexible in your thinking and allow nature to run its course and let people hold to whatever belief systems they have.

One of the most natural forms of "mouth wash" is water and serves well to remove both food particles and acids from the mouth. Even if you don't brush, rinsing with water after you eat helps to neutralize the efftects of even the most concentrated sugars. Ten percent salt water is even better and adds a more alkaline effect. There are a number of tea rinses that can both help eliminate "bad" bacteria, (such as the decay-causing Streptococcus mutans) such as golden seal, gold thread, myrrh,
ginger, peppermint, and green tea. Green tea has natural flouride in it and helps in remineralization of dental carries.

There are a numer of EXCELLENT natural food products such as Jason Natural, Tom's of Maine, Neways, Nature's Gate, and Peelu that offer eco-logically sound tooth products that are not harmful to your health and I endorse them, just as I would endorse the "dentie" black gel and powder made by the macrobiotic industries. I would howeverr use caution with the powderred dentie as it is very abrasive and can remove tooth enamel.

In my opion there is a GREAT DIFFERENCE between what the natural food industry offers and what the conventional mainstream products offer. Not only in quality, but in their testing methods, use of organics, non-gmo's and a whole list too long for me to go into.

The readership of cybermacro is one that is quite diverse and encompasses both rigid thinking macrobiotics, flexible thinking macrobiotics, new comers to macrobiotics, non-macrobiotics, vegetarians, people that live contradictory lives that use computers, wear clothes spun in modern factories, ride in cars and planes and watch TV's and try to set up modern society as being the Great Satan while they eat whole grains and vegetables (that most likely they didn't grow themselves). It is just those with fanatical interests that do the least for macrobiotics. Macrobiotics is all embracing, a world that is both large and wide. Do not let FEAR dictate your lives. In peace, Roy

[garymill]

I feel that it is best to close this thread. We can conclude simply that both Michael and Roy and differing opinions on this subject, a multitude of more posts by each of them is not going make any difference. The thing here is I want to attempt to keep a sense of peace within the forums. I have learned my lesson the hard way a few years back where I let a few people with very strong personalities dominate the forums to the extent that most of the members left for a far less contentious forum to the point that it too well over a year for the forums to recover from the damage inflicted to them. My closing this thread is simply preventing this from even beginning to happen again.