HOLISTIC DENTISTRY
Broader based than conventional dentistry and is considerate of the body’s response to dentistry.
- The proactive removal of toxic dentistry for preventative and
therapeutic reasons. - Utilizes modern, biocompatible, non toxic materials and techniques.
Conventional dentistry involves the prevention of dental disease – primarily decay and gum disease and the treatment of their sequellae. For example, poor plaque control leads to decay. If this isn’t treated while at this early stage the decay spreads to the nerve, causing pain and nerve death. Conventional root canal treatment removes the nerve (and hence the feeling of pain) and blood supply to allow you to keep the tooth.
The holistic approach would be to question whether to “save” this tooth at all costs or consider its impact upon the rest of the body. We are of the opinion that conventional dentistry can create more problems. In the prior example such teeth are a chronic site of infection and release endotoxins which can impact upon the immune system. Additionally this tooth can affect an organ system due to each tooth relating to different parts of the body via meridians and disrupt that normal healthy functioning (see chart). For example, a dead front tooth in a woman can commonly disrupt the genito-urinary system and knee.
Therefore dental procedures that look and feel good when the mouth is the only consideration can be harmful to one’s health and the link may not be obvious.
Dentists are the world’s biggest implanters of foreign materials into the body. An holistic dentist takes some simple steps to minimise such impact.
A common example of this is to have dental materials allergy tested before insertion. If you are allergic to the filling material, it is an allergy that can’t be avoided or passed (like a food allergy) and it will impact upon your health until it is removed.
As a consequence of the broader view of dentistry, many additional modalities such as homeopathy, electroacupuncture diagnosis, antioxidant therapy, osteopathy, etc are used to minimise the impact of dentistry on the body.
Specifically there are several main categories of dental problems that can impact on heal.
The main offender is of course mercury from dental amalgam fillings in the mouth. Dental amalgam is the main source of human mercury exposure. Mercury is a known poison, in the top 5 naturally occurring poisons (it is much more toxic than lead or arsenic). It leaks from all “silver” amalgam fillings, accumulates in the body and causes mercury toxicity.
Does it make common sense to implant a material that leaks a known poison into the body? Some say that the amount that leaks is insignificant – that is certainly true for some – but how do you tell who can cope with it?
It is reasonable to expect that the frail, stressed, diabetic people may not cope as well. One may cope for a while but as the amount in the body increases over the years the ability to cope may decrease.
Toxic chemicals kill cells or can block enzymes. This may stop normal production of cells.
Root Canals have also been connected to the release of toxic chemicals such as endotoxin from the residual bacteria that live in the dentine tubules after root canal therapy is competed.
The second major problem is allergy to dental materials which we discussed earlier. Most dental materials (but not amalgam) have been tested for some sorts of biocompatability but this is an individual thing. A material that works for one person might be irritating to the next. Personalised testing avoids stressing the body this way.
The third major problem is dental interference fields. These are small electrical disturbances in the body. Interference fields are thought to be the cause of about one third of all illness. Like a computer, the brain processes lots of information and then sends out commands to the body to maintain normal regulation of its system, eg. input information says thyroid hormone level is too low, the brain sends a message to increase thyroid hormone production – this is the normal regulatory mechanism.
What has been found is that interference fields can create “wrong” information which the brain processes and this creates wrong outputs and corrupts the body’s ability to regulate itself.
Regulatory disturbance may manifest in blood pressure problems, ovary regulatory problems (very common with dead front teeth) and many others.
An example of a common sense interference field is the galvanic cell created by having different metals in the mouth. In high school chemistry, one learned that two different metals in a salt solution create a battery. Saliva is salty! In conventional dentistry many metals from mercury to stainless steel to gold are used and the current created can be up to 3500 times the normal current nerves run on.
If you put 3500 times the normal current through your toaster it works differently – so does the body. People worry about radiation from electrical wires and digital clocks but ignore the huge charges within. An holistic dentist would minimise the use of metals and its required aim would be to have only one (non-allergic) metal in the mouth to prevent the generation of these huge currents.
Interference fields often follow acupuncture meridians and by reading this chart one can often link specific teeth and problems.
Everyone is different. Where patients present with an emergency or pain we react and treat that specific problem. However, we advise that we haven’t assessed the rest of the mouth and prefer to do an individual treatment plan.
Usually this involves some discussion of different treatment philosophies and aims. We try then to tailor treatment objectives to the patient’s requirements. Many patients do not understand the breadth of aims that people present with. For example some patients never want to loose a tooth, some want a holistic approach, some place appearance as more important, others want reliability.
If, for example, we are discussing changing to an holistic approach we go through some of the theory and outline a plan. Once this is determined the patient can then decide the implementation. Some decide to do all in 2-3 appointment, others do a quarter of the mouth per year or even one tooth whenever they can.
With cosmetic problems, very clear understandings must be reached so that the outcomes matches the expectation. Too often in Dentistry we hear of cosmetic outcomes being promised that are not delivered or even possible to deliver due to either lack of ability and/or communication.
A good treatment plan and discussion creates an understanding by patient and doctor of what is possible, desirable and importantly, considers future consequences of any choices. It also creates financial clarity for all concerned.
