What’s the best dental insurance? It’s not the dental rider on your employer’s health plan. It’s not the government-assisted program better known as a freebie. It’s not some self-pay contraption. It’s none of those obvious things.
 
The best dental insurance is you doing what you need to do for yourself to prevent dental disease altogether. Yup. It’s all you – with a little help from your diet, your lifestyle, and your motivation.
 
Let’s be clear. Our primal ancestors hardly ever had gum disease or tooth decay. There are many reasons – they didn’t eat processed foods; they weren’t exposed to the environmental toxins of today; they didn’t live with chronic psychological stress many of us are coping with. Oh yeah, they ate nutrient-dense foods and lived an active lifestyle. All those things (1) provided nourishment for their cells to survive and thrive, (2) maintained diverse and healthy gut bacteria, and (3) sustained an intact intestinal lining.
 
In today’s world, we can’t duplicate what was around in the Paleolithic Era. And, we wouldn’t want to live that way! But, today we can incorporate the best of that world with the best of our current way of life. Here are the steps I think we all could take to provide ourselves with the best dental insurance (and for that matter, overall health insurance):

• Consume nutrient-dense foods. A Paleo-type diet stands out as being the best from my personal research and experience.

• Sleep restoratively. Sleep about 7-8 hours a night starting from the hours between 9 PM and 11 PM. Make it a dark, cool, quiet room.

• Exercise efficiently. This includes a combination of (1) some aerobic exercise, (2) 1-2 days a week of brief, high-intensity interval training, (3) 1-2 days a week of brief, intense strength training, and (4) non-exercise movements during the course of most of each day.

• Reduce stress. Meditate; practice yoga; try diaphragmatic breathing; and experiment with progressive, total body muscle relaxation.

• Practice effective oral hygiene. Brush into the gum margins; floss and clean the between surfaces of each of your teeth; scrape the topside of your tongue to remove odor forming bacteria and microscopic food remnants.

• Visit a dental professional as necessary. Appointments don’t need to be every 6 months. They need to be with a frequency that addresses your individual needs – sometimes every couple of months and sometimes every few years.

 
There you have it. The best dental (and overall health) insurance you can have.