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
- Typically fermented (skyr, uncooked cheese, cultured butter)
Now evaluate 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 could possibly 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 improvement course of in a approach that’s so exact, it’s virtually laborious to consider 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 you.
- Vitamin K2 is the site visitors cop. It prompts proteins like osteocalcin and matrix GLA protein (MGP) that direct calcium into bones and away from arteries, kidneys, and tender tissue (Beulens et al., 2013; PMID: 23525894).
Right here’s what that appears like in apply: your youngster eats a bit of cultured, full-fat cheese. That cheese incorporates 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 allows your physique to soak up these nutritional vitamins—with out it, they don’t make it out of your plate into your bloodstream. And in case you’re not getting sufficient of the nutritional vitamins themselves—or don’t have the microbiome to transform K1 to K2—you’re leaving improvement 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 improper 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 resulting from 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 improvement, particularly of the face and jaw, is most energetic 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 improvement, 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 types (like MK-7), not the MK-4 type our bones and enamel appear to favor most. With out the correct 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 types (like MK-7), not the MK-4 type 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 conventional food plan that probably 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 totally 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 food plan preserves the microbiome wanted to transform vitamin K1 (from vegetation) to K2 (the one we want 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 fascinating.
Full-fat dairy incorporates a lesser-known fats: C15:0 (pentadecanoic acid). It’s what’s referred to 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 comprise C15:0. This isn’t about fats normally. It’s a few very particular sort of fats that comes from a really particular supply.
C15:0 is an odd-chain saturated fatty acid—uncommon, and doubtlessly important. A 2020 research in Nature Communications proposed it might be the primary new important fatty acid found in a long time, 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 on 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 date 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.
Trendy diets have virtually eradicated this fats. In actual fact, one research 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 as a result of shift away from whole-fat dairy and towards low-fat, processed alternate options over the previous 50 years. Until you’re ingesting quite a lot of full-fat milk or consuming pastured cheese day by day, you’re probably not getting sufficient.
Reasonably than attempt to overhaul my whole food plan or depend on consuming massive quantities of full-fat dairy each day, I’ve appeared for a constant and practical option to reintroduce it.
So I take Fatty15, a pure, vegan-friendly C15:0 complement.
You may 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 each day.
I consider meals is drugs—and high-quality, nutrient-dense meals is foundational. However I’ve at all times supplemented. Our soil is depleted. Our schedules are packed. And until your full-time job is cooking and diet, it’s practically not possible to get all the pieces you want from meals alone. Fermented, full-fat dairy is the muse. However let’s be sincere: full-fat dairy can get caloric quick. I don’t wish to depend on massive portions of it each day to get sufficient C15:0. Supplementation fills that hole with out the additional load.
In case 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 lots of the anti-inflammatory and membrane-supporting results present in food-based sources. Nevertheless, we nonetheless don’t know whether or not supplementation absolutely replicates the synergistic affect of complete 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.
In case you’re elevating youngsters? This is among the finest causes to convey again butter.
I remorse falling for the low-fat development 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 assumed we had been doing the correct factor. Now I do know higher. And if I may return and alter that, I’d.
However all isn’t misplaced. Right now, purposeful dentists have instruments like MARPE and palatal growth to assist correct airway and jaw improvement—even when these foundations weren’t laid in early childhood. These are structural interventions that may enhance respiratory, facial stability, and long-term oral well being. In case you’re questioning whether or not this might assist your youngster (and even you as an grownup), the very best first step is to discover a supplier educated in this sort of care.
That’s why I constructed the Purposeful Dentist Listing—to attach individuals with dentists who perceive the full-body affect of the mouth. And in case you’re a dentist or hygienist fascinated with receiving this sort of coaching, my CE course—Foundations of Purposeful 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. Purposeful 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 dwell. Sufferers are hungry for this. In case you’re a healthcare supplier, you could be the one to convey it to your neighborhood.
Again to the subject at hand…I’ve at all times saved uncooked sheep cheese in my rotation as a result of it delivers a lot in a single chew—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 chew after dinner. Cheese helps neutralize acids within the mouth, lowering 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 could 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 after we had been advised skim milk was the “more healthy” choice? What if I advised you that perception might have set us again a long time in understanding oral improvement, fat-soluble vitamins, and irritation? Ahead this to somebody who nonetheless thinks skim milk is “more healthy.”