This article first appeared in the December 2017 issue of Austin All Natural magazine.

© 2018, Austin All Natural

BIOLOGIC DENTISTRY: What exactly is it, and how can it contribute to your health?

by Dr. Matthew Carpenter, DDS   

There’s no recognized specialty for Biologic Dentistry, although there are a few reputable holistic dental organizations that pay attention to science, as well as to the impact dental materials and procedures can have on your health and your propensity for autoimmune disease,heart disease, or neurological disorders. 

The best biologic dental organizations are the IAOMT (International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology), the IABDM (International Academy of Biologic Dental Medicine) and the HDA (Holistic Dental Association). There are accreditation exams for each organization. If you’re seeking a biologic dentist, you’d want to know they’re accredited members of one of these organizations. 

One of the problems – and blessings – with biologic dentistry is there’s really no baseline for procedures or protocols. As with any organization promoting truth and honesty, there will be varied opinions, and all are welcome. They all serve to improve awareness of informed, consented, and research-based approaches to the safe removal of poisonous metals, no use of fluoride, and natural approaches to dental hygiene.

Like poison in our air, chemicals and toxins in our water, genetically modified and chemically treated food, poisons in our dental work can illicit disease. A few illnesses documented in research to be related to toxic dentistry include Hashimoto’s disease, Lupus, Leukemia, Sjogrens disease, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, fibromyalgia, Alzheimers, Parkinson’s, heart disease, and cancer. 

            I chose to change my dental practice out of necessity, like most people choose a different path with natural healing – whether it’s diet, supplementation, meditation, chiropractic, biofeedback, neural therapy, acupuncture, prayer, muscle testing, massage – and see it now as a blessing. There are good forces guiding us. 

     As an Integrative Biologic dentist, there are three basic levels of how I assess the impact of dental procedures and materials on patients – Structural, Microbiological, and Energetic.

Structural considerations. 

            When you look at the anatomical relationship of the mouth to the heart, you realize that it looks like your favorite water slide at Schlitterbahn. Vessels draining toxins from the mouth (from infected gums, teeth, sinuses, and tonsils) have the ability to drain directly into the heart. A current look at heart disease from cardiologist Tom Levy demonstrated that most infectious agents in atherosclerosis, heart attack, and coronary artery disease originate in the mouth – particularly from root canals.

By pumping cerebral fluid through your brain’s tissues, the glial lymphatic (glymphatic) system system flushes wastes from your brain back into your body’s circulatory system. From there, it eventually reaches the liver, where it’s ultimately eliminated. It’s been demonstrated repeatedly in research that mercury from fillings enters the brain within minutes of the fillings being placed in the mouth. 

In my practice, we help remove metals safely, and through supplementation and neural therapy help stimulate this system to drain toxins from the brain.

Microbiological considerations.

Bacteria, parasites, mold, fungus, viruses – the mouth is a dirty place. From anaerobic bacteria associated with gum disease that produce hydrogen sulfide gas, to the Mycobacterium Leprae (leprosy) routinely discovered in genetic pathology reports of root canal-treated teeth, the mouth can contain some of the most toxic bacteria in the world. 

When you have an infection, the entire immune system is alerted. When you have eight or ten necrotic bone infections in your mouth, the immune system becomes overwhelmed. It’s why you experience fatigue if you have an abscessed tooth – it’s draining your energy.

A competent immune system is intimately tied to having a healthy life. Infections observed in an unhealthy mouth routinely cause death, and no one is safe from this possibility, regardless of race, socio-economic status, or gender. Death by oral infection happens to successful people every day.  

            At Transcend Dental Health we use microscopes and genetic reports to diagnose these bacteria and use ozone, essential oils, and natural products to help patients be at their best health – naturally. We help patients create individualized daily hygiene protocols to help keep their mouths from becoming an instigator to blood-borne bacteria.

Energetic considerations.

In our office, we routinely use a Chinese Tooth, Organ, and Meridian chart to help discover oral and systemic connections of disease, and strategies for healing. Thomas Rau, MD, who operates a clinic in Switzerland, found root canal-treated teeth in ninety-seven percent of the breast cancer patients he treated, on the same meridian as the breast. (The breasts are energetically connected to the upper right and left first molars, #3 and #14, on the same meridian as the breast.)  Jerry Tenant in Dallas found the number to be closer to ninety-nine percent of cancer patients he treated with a root canal on the same energetic meridian as the cancer.

            Think of it like electricity through a wire. A root canal is a dead tooth draining vitality from the meridian it’s on, resulting in low vitality of energetic life force traveling through that meridian – potentially affecting each organ, joint, muscle, and gland sharing that meridian. The light bulb won’t shine as brightly if there’s loss of power in the wire supplying it electricity.

Resonate with any of this information?

A consultation and a review of your panoramic radiograph can let you know if dental procedures from your past, or materials you have in your mouth, could be contributing to your health problems. That could be a good resolution for a new year – or anytime. 

Dr. Matthew Carpenter of Transcend Dental Health is an Integrative Biologic Dentist and Board Certified Naturopathic Physician, offering natural oral care products incorporating essential oils, drill-free air abrasion, ozone therapy, non-surgical treatment of gum disease, safe mercury and root canal removal, and natural heavy metal elimination. (512) 255-3618, www.tdhtx.com