Video

Protecting Your Smile When Your Stomach Is Unsettled

Losing weight can be life-changing — but rapid weight-loss methods and medications can also change the chemistry of your mouth.
When acid reflux or nausea strikes, your teeth can suffer silent damage. Fortunately, a few preventive steps can make a big difference.

Extra abdominal weight and dietary changes can both increase gastric pressure, pushing acid up into the esophagus and mouth.
Newer weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic®, Wegovy®, or Mounjaro® slow stomach emptying, which can increase reflux and nausea, especially early in treatment.

Even brief acid exposure can:

• Drop mouth pH below the enamel-safety threshold of 5.5
   
• Dissolve surface minerals and cause sensitivity
   
• Accelerate tooth erosion, cavities, and staining
   
• Irritate the cheeks, tongue, and throat tissues
   

The oral environment becomes acidic before visible symptoms.
Early reflux, mild regurgitation, or delayed gastric emptying can silently expose enamel to acid for hours — long before vomiting occurs.

That’s why pre-episode protection is so valuable: maintaining a neutral pH barrier can prevent acid from binding to enamel in the first place.

Using a thin dental tray filled with a pH-balanced gel such as pH7Smile™ or Align-Mint™ can create a temporary “acid shield.”
Applying it before predictable reflux events (for example, bedtime, after large meals, or before weight-loss injections that tend to trigger nausea) offers these advantages:

• 🛡️ Pre-emptive buffering: Neutralizes acids before contact.
   
• 💎 Re-mineralization: Nano-hydroxyapatite replenishes enamel minerals continuously.
   
• 🌿 Desensitizing comfort: Baking soda and natural oils soothe irritated tissues.
   
• 💧 Moisture retention: Helps counteract dry-mouth effects from fasting or medication.
   

For those who experience nausea or vomiting, re-application afterward can help neutralize residual acid and speed tissue recovery.

1. Before likely reflux: Place a generous amount of pH-protective gel in your dental trays and wear before and after the incident. Rinse mouth with water and spit while trays are still in your mouth. If you can only tolerate one tray, the upper one usually provides the greatest benefit.
    
2. After any vomiting episode: (If you do not have the trays and gels) Rinse with water or a mild baking-soda solution and do not brush your teeth. Brushing your tongue with a mineralizing toothpaste or the gels would be a suggestion.
    
3. Nightly routine: If you have a removable dental appliance simply apply the protective gel before bed when salivary flow is lowest.
    

Repeated acid exposure is cumulative. Once enamel softens, brushing—even gently—can remove irreplaceable mineral layers.
Maintaining a neutral environment before acid attacks occur is the best defense.

pH7Smile™ and Align-Mint™ were designed for exactly this situation—supporting enamel health for patients at risk of reflux, dry mouth, or medication-induced nausea.

These protective gels can be very helpful for people that wear any removable dental devices - including snore guards, grinding guards, aligners and clear retainers. ANY dental appliance without pH protective gels will INCREASE DECAY RATES.
 

When a patient starts a weight-loss program or GLP-1 medication, both the physician and dentist should discuss reflux protection.
A custom dental appliance and pH-neutral gel can be prescribed much like fluoride trays—simple, safe, and preventive.