What if the secret to long-term oral health isn't about what we remove, but what we keep?

Eliminating every “bad” bacterium is not the goal. Creating a stable, health-supporting ecosystem is. 

In this episode of Let's Talk Oral Health, hosts Martijn Verhulst and Rachel Chau sit down with Professor Wim Teughels, a leading researcher in oral microbiology from KU Leuven.

Together, they explore a major shift in dentistry: moving away from the broad elimination of bacteria toward the "stewardship" of a healthy, resilient human oral microbiome. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

🟢 Eubiosis vs. Dysbiosis: Understanding the difference between a balanced microbial state and one that reinforces disease.

🟢The Role of Resilience: How a resilient oral ecosystem withstands everyday pressures like plaque accumulation and systemic inflammation.

🟢Microbiome Modulation: Why the future of care involves guiding microbial communities using probiotics and prebiotics instead of trying to "sterilize" the mouth. 

🟢Systemic Influence: How low-level systemic inflammation and gut-oral connections determine how your mouth responds to stress.

🟢Personalized Care: How clinicians can use these biological insights to move toward more personalized, biologically-informed patient care.