Final week I discussed one thing in passing that caught your consideration: throughout my time in Iceland, I couldn’t assist however discover how many individuals appeared to have broad, well-developed jaws—particularly in comparison with what I usually see within the U.S.
In Iceland, dairy isn’t demonized. It’s celebrated—and it’s completely different from what we discover in most U.S. grocery shops.
Typical Icelandic dairy is:
- Full-fat
- Pasture-raised
- Minimally processed
- Usually fermented (skyr, uncooked cheese, cultured butter)
Now examine that to the US: homogenized, pasteurized, low-fat dairy usually stripped of fat-soluble vitamins and enzymes.
So what’s really on this dairy that might be shaping stronger jaws?
The fats in full-fat dairy carries three key fat-soluble nutritional vitamins: A, D, and K2. These aren’t simply useful—they’re important regulators of bone progress, mineral utilization, and immune protection. Collectively, they orchestrate the facial growth course of in a manner that’s so exact, it’s nearly arduous to imagine we’ve forgotten it.
- Vitamin A ensures that cells differentiate correctly and that the epithelial linings of the mouth, sinuses, and respiratory tract keep wholesome and defended. It additionally performs a vital position in osteoblast exercise—these are the cells that construct bone.
- Vitamin D will increase calcium absorption within the intestine and makes certain that calcium really enters the bloodstream. With out it, all that dietary calcium passes proper by way of you.
- Vitamin K2 is the visitors cop. It prompts proteins like osteocalcin and matrix GLA protein (MGP) that direct calcium into bones and away from arteries, kidneys, and mushy tissue (Beulens et al., 2013; PMID: 23525894).
Right here’s what that appears like in follow: your little one eats a bit of cultured, full-fat cheese. That cheese accommodates calcium, sure—but additionally nutritional vitamins A, D, and K2. The vitamin D ensures the calcium will get absorbed. The vitamin K2 ensures it will get deposited the place it belongs—within the rising jaws, cheekbones, and palate—not within the kidneys or arteries. Vitamin A ensures these oral and airway tissues keep wholesome and structurally sound.
Now think about that meal with out the fats. You’re lacking the supply system for these vitamins. Fats is what permits your physique to soak up these nutritional vitamins—with out it, they don’t make it out of your plate into your bloodstream. And if you happen to’re not getting sufficient of the nutritional vitamins themselves—or don’t have the microbiome to transform K1 to K2—you’re leaving growth as much as probability.
Worse, you may very well be placing your self in danger. With out sufficient vitamin K2 to activate matrix GLA protein, calcium absorbed by way of vitamin D can find yourself within the mistaken locations—like arterial partitions. That is what Dr. Kate Rhéaume-Bleue, creator of Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox, warned about: the silent calcification of soppy tissues on account of vitamin K2 deficiency (Rhéaume-Bleue, 2012). Over time, this will contribute to atherosclerosis, kidney stones, and stiffening of joints and tissues.
It’s not that calcium is harmful—it’s that it wants a information. K2 is that information. With out it, you’re build up plaque as an alternative of bone.
Adults profit too: these vitamins proceed to keep up sturdy bones, wholesome gums, and resilient immune obstacles. However the window for skeletal growth, particularly of the face and jaw, is most lively in childhood—which is why this issues a lot for younger households.
Based mostly on what I noticed throughout my time there, Icelanders’ nutrient-dense conventional dairy habits could also be serving to protect bone density, airway growth, and facial construction—even when it’s not one thing they consciously acknowledge.
With out fats, these nutritional vitamins are tougher to soak up. And let me be clear: K1 isn’t sufficient. Whereas some intestine micro organism can convert vitamin K1 (present in leafy greens) into K2, that course of is inefficient and extremely variable. Most individuals—particularly those that’ve taken antibiotics, have intestine irritation, or don’t eat fermented meals—don’t convert sufficient K1 to satisfy their wants. And even once they do, it’s often the long-chain kinds (like MK-7), not the MK-4 kind our bones and enamel appear to favor most. With out the precise microbes, they’re tougher to activate.
Let me be clear: K1 isn’t sufficient. Whereas some intestine micro organism can convert vitamin K1 (present in leafy greens) into K2, that course of is inefficient and extremely variable. Most individuals—particularly those that’ve taken antibiotics, have intestine irritation, or don’t eat fermented meals—don’t convert sufficient K1 to cowl their wants. And even once they do, it’s often the long-chain kinds (like MK-7), not the MK-4 kind our bones and enamel appear to favor most.
You want pre-formed K2 from meals—or from a complement. That’s why fermented dairy, organ meats, and aged cheeses matter. It’s additionally why conventional diets that included these meals noticed fewer points with dental crowding, facial underdevelopment, and artery calcification.
Iceland has each: dietary K2 and a standard weight-reduction plan that possible helps a more healthy intestine microbiome. Fermented dairy and fish present not solely vitamins but additionally the microbial variety that helps optimize absorption of fat-soluble nutritional vitamins like A, D, and K2.. This microbial variety is important for nutrient absorption, together with the enzymes and cofactors wanted to completely make the most of fat-soluble nutritional vitamins like A, D, and K2.
Their mineral-rich volcanic soil boosts the nutrient content material of their meals. And their conventional weight-reduction plan preserves the microbiome wanted to transform vitamin K1 (from vegetation) to K2 (the one we’d like for bone and jaw progress).
However there’s another piece of the puzzle that most individuals have by no means heard of. You is likely to be questioning—why is that this particular fats solely in dairy? Why not in different full-fat meals like avocado or nuts?
Right here’s the place it will get much more attention-grabbing.
Full-fat dairy accommodates a lesser-known fats: C15:0 (pentadecanoic acid). It’s what’s generally known as an odd-chain saturated fats, and it’s discovered primarily within the fats of ruminant animals—like cows, goats, and sheep. That’s why meals like avocado, olive oil, and coconut—although nutrient-dense and stuffed with wholesome fat—don’t include C15:0. This isn’t about fats generally. It’s a couple of very particular kind of fats that comes from a really particular supply.
C15:0 is an odd-chain saturated fatty acid—uncommon, and probably important. A 2020 examine in Nature Communications proposed it could be the primary new important fatty acid found in many years, citing anti-inflammatory results, mitochondrial advantages, and mobile resilience (PMID: 33099653). Whereas extra human research are wanted, early findings place C15:0 as a compelling nutrient of curiosity for ageing and metabolic well being.
Why does that matter to your mouth?
C15:0 has been proven to decrease over 18 pro-inflammatory markers, together with IL-6, TNF-α, and prostaglandin E2, which is linked to gum irritation and bone loss (Nature Communications, 2020, PMID: 33099653). It additionally strengthens cell membranes—together with these in gum tissue—and helps a extra resilient, balanced inflammatory response throughout the physique.
Many of the analysis to this point has come from animal research and small human trials. Promising, sure—however early. Nonetheless, the information are compelling sufficient to take critically.
Personally, I’m not ready.
Fashionable diets have nearly eradicated this fats. In actual fact, one examine analyzing NHANES dietary knowledge discovered that over 95% of the U.S. inhabitants consumes far beneath the estimated useful ranges of C15:0 (Fleming et al., 2020; Fatty15 White Paper). That is largely because of the shift away from whole-fat dairy and towards low-fat, processed alternate options over the previous 50 years. Until you’re consuming plenty of full-fat milk or consuming pastured cheese day by day, you’re possible not getting sufficient.
Moderately than attempt to overhaul my whole weight-reduction plan or depend on consuming massive quantities of full-fat dairy day-after-day, I’ve regarded for a constant and lifelike approach to reintroduce it.
So I take Fatty15, a pure, vegan-friendly C15:0 complement.
You’ll be able to learn extra right here: fatty15.com/askthedentist
Right here’s the place I land after digging into all of this…
The early analysis isn’t definitive proof—nevertheless it’s undoubtedly sufficient for me to be taking it day-after-day.
I imagine meals is drugs—and high-quality, nutrient-dense meals is foundational. However I’ve all the time supplemented. Our soil is depleted. Our schedules are packed. And except your full-time job is cooking and vitamin, it’s almost inconceivable to get every part you want from meals alone. Fermented, full-fat dairy is the muse. However let’s be trustworthy: full-fat dairy can get caloric quick. I don’t need to depend on massive portions of it day-after-day to get sufficient C15:0. Supplementation fills that hole with out the additional load.
Should you’re dairy-free—like my spouse, who’s lactose illiberal and takes Fatty15 day by day—that is one workaround. Early proof means that supplemental C15:0 like Fatty15 can mimic most of the anti-inflammatory and membrane-supporting results present in food-based sources. Nonetheless, we nonetheless don’t know whether or not supplementation absolutely replicates the synergistic impression of entire meals—particularly these with co-factors like nutritional vitamins A and K2. That’s an space I’d like to see extra human research discover.
Should you’re elevating youngsters? This is likely one of the greatest causes to carry again butter.
I remorse falling for the low-fat pattern again within the ’90s. For a protracted stretch whereas elevating our daughters, we didn’t have actual butter in the home in any respect—only a vegetable oil unfold from Dealer Joe’s. My spouse and I believed we have been doing the precise factor. Now I do know higher. And if I might return and alter that, I might.
However all isn’t misplaced. In the present day, purposeful dentists have instruments like MARPE and palatal enlargement to assist correct airway and jaw growth—even when these foundations weren’t laid in early childhood. These are structural interventions that may enhance respiratory, facial steadiness, and long-term oral well being. Should you’re questioning whether or not this might assist your little one (and even you as an grownup), the very best first step is to discover a supplier educated in this type of care.
That’s why I constructed the Practical Dentist Listing—to attach individuals with dentists who perceive the full-body impression of the mouth. And if you happen to’re a dentist or hygienist occupied with receiving this type of coaching, my CE course—Foundations of Practical Dentistry—opens subsequent month. It’s absolutely on-line and open to all, worldwide. I hope you’ll be a part of the purposeful dentistry motion. Practical dentistry is in excessive demand—I get day by day emails and DMs from individuals saying there’s not a single purposeful dentist inside a 50-mile radius of the place they reside. Sufferers are hungry for this. Should you’re a healthcare supplier, you may be the one to carry it to your group.
Again to the subject at hand…I’ve all the time saved uncooked sheep cheese in my rotation as a result of it delivers a lot in a single chunk—vitamin K2, hint C15:0, useful microbes, and fat-soluble vitamins. (Selecting sheep or goat as an alternative of cow is one “hack” to make sure you’re getting grass-fed.) And it’s scrumptious. I’ll have it as an hors d’oeuvre, sliced with fruit or olives—or as a small chunk after dinner. Cheese helps neutralize acids within the mouth, decreasing enamel erosion and supporting a more healthy oral pH. It’s some of the pleasurable (and efficient) methods to guard your enamel with meals.
Hope you may have a beautiful weekend. Would love to listen to what you considered this text, and which matters you’d like me to cowl subsequent.
Dr. B (Mark)
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P.S. Keep in mind once we have been instructed skim milk was the “more healthy” possibility? What if I instructed you that perception could have set us again many years in understanding oral growth, fat-soluble vitamins, and irritation? Ahead this to somebody who nonetheless thinks skim milk is “more healthy.”