Think back to any time you filled out a health history form as a patient in a practitioner’s office or hospital. Were there any questions about your dental health or any procedures you had? When your physician looks in your mouth, it’s generally to look at your throat, and maybe your tongue. How your teeth occlude or jaws align may have a great impact on your posture, joints and painful muscles. Periodontal disease can be a reflection of inflammation elsewhere. Oral structures, being at the point of entry of food into the body are certainly a factor in the digestive process. And perhaps the most disregarded by health practitioners, including dentists, is the systemic effect of dental materials that may be toxic.
Oral Health Overview
Guess what! Your mouth and teeth and jaws are connected to the rest of your body. Of course you know that, but when it comes to being a factor in your overall health, medicine doesn’t even give dentistry a back seat. Emergency rooms are ill-equipped for dental complaints and can give palliative treatment only for pain and infections. Health insurance doesn’t cover dental procedures. Physicians, or any health practitioner for that matter rarely factor in oral health in diagnosis or treatment of systemic health conditions. Why? The answer is they don’t learn about it in their training. Any why is that? Well that’s a history lesson we’ll cover.
Dentistry Definition
The dictionary describes dentistry as “the profession or science dealing with the prevention and treatment of diseases and malformations of the teeth, gums, and oral cavity, and the removal, correction, and replacement of decayed, damaged, or lost parts, including such operations as the filling and crowning of teeth, the straightening of teeth, and the construction of artificial dentures.” Pretty much excludes the TMJ and orofacial pain, which is also excluded for payment from both dental and medical insurance.
Dentists can inject anesthetics, prescribe medications on a short-term basis for pain, infections, and anxiety resulting from dental treatment, but dentists can’t practice medicine. And because other health practitioners know very little about dentistry, there is a void in healthcare. Enter the Holistic Dentist to provide the missing link.
Dentists can inject anesthetics, prescribe medications on a short-term basis for pain, infections, and anxiety resulting from dental treatment, but dentists can’t practice medicine. And because other health practitioners know very little about dentistry, there is a void in healthcare. Enter the Holistic Dentist to provide the missing link.
Holistic Dentistry Definition
The dictionary defines Holistic Dentistry as “the dental practice that takes into account the effect of dental treatment and materials on the overall health of the individual”. Quite different than just being a dental carpenter.
More specifically, Holistic, also known as Biological Dentistry is considered a field of alternative dental healthcare which treats the teeth, jaw, and related structures with particular regard to how the therapy will affect the entire body. Holistic Dentists also recognize that oral health reflects the state of health of the whole body.
Why Aren’t There More Holistic Dentists?
Health focused dentistry is really not a new concept. In fact if you go back to the 1800s you’ll see that dentists were physicians that specialized in dentistry. They were called Medical Dentists. It was the introduction of the first filling material that could be placed in the tooth at room temperature that split the profession. That filling material contained mercury, a known poison. Present day dentistry still promotes mercury containing amalgams as safe for everyone, including pregnant women, children, and medically compromised individuals. The dental associations seek to discredit the dentists who believe otherwise and many holistic dentists have been disciplined by their State Boards of Dentistry.
It comes down to politics and economics. With the advent of better and more esthetic filling materials, amalgam is less utilized, but nevertheless, still deemed safe. Besides being a philosophy of health, much training is involved and some concepts and beliefs are hard to change. It’s also an expense to change over office equipment and supplies and retrain staff. Dental insurance will not cover most procedures. Being a conventional dentist is easier, not going against the flow.
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What You Can Do
Read about the history of dentistry If you have health issues that are mysterious or unresolved, determine if you had dental work done previously. Look in our directory for a holistic dentist. Travel if you must to work with a dentist who is health focused and will work with your practitioners.
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What You Can Do
Read about the history of dentistry If you have health issues that are mysterious or unresolved, determine if you had dental work done previously. Look in our directory for a holistic dentist. Travel if you must to work with a dentist who is health focused and will work with your practitioners.
Products & Practitioners
Read Our Blog