Could the strongest substance in your body have the strongest connection to your whole-body health? Patients and health practitioners alike often overlook the dental connection to healing from chronic illness. Microbes in your mouth impact your health in the rest of the body.
William Osler, founder of the John Hopkin’s Hospital, said the mouth is a mirror to the rest of the body and disease process. This statement holds a wealth of truth. Ancient wisdom has recognized this for thousands of years. Recent research continues to confirm it as fact.
Beyond Dental Hygiene
Simplifying oral health as a mere matter of hygiene under appreciates its significant contribution to total health. The condition of our mouth is especially important and influential. In fact, it often determines our fate when it comes to idiopathic (of “unknown” origin) conditions. This includes mysteries to modern medicine like fibromyalgia and autoimmunity as well as conditions on the rise like breast cancer and Lyme disease.
Research has now linked major systemic diseases and conditions (heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, arthritis, implant infections, brain abscesses, hematological infections, adverse pregnancy outcomes) with periodontal disease. These conditions relate to the health of most tissues, including the teeth and gums.
They contribute to either a decreased host resistance to infections, or dysfunction in the connective tissue of the gums. This process increases patient susceptibility to inflammation-induced destruction 1.
The state of teeth and gums play a vital role when looking at a patient through the lens of biological and energetic medicine. We look at what created the environment for chronic illness to take root and also for what is allowing it to persist.
In many cases, you need to partner with a biological or holistic dentist to remove any interference to complete healing. I have seen numerous cases where success hinged on the proper handling of amalgams, bridges, permanent retainers, or root canals.
Disruptive Fields
There is only so much that functional, biological, and energetic medicine can do to restore healthy microbial balance and tissue vitality when limitations of inflammatory, infectious, or implanted obstacles remain in the way. These obstacles are called disruptive fields.
It does not matter how potent or specific an anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, pharmaceutical, or nutraceutical may be. Until you remove the disruptive field, full restoration of health cannot be attained.
Currently, the technique most prevalent for viewing the body is through mechanical, segmented lenses. Instead, we should view symptoms as clues into how the entirety of the body’s systems have ceased working together.
Practitioners and patients are easily misled by focusing only on areas where symptoms occur. This is not a faulty approach. It is merely incomplete. One must remember and assess the whole body in order to best understand the issue.
The Interconnectedness of the Human Body
The entire anatomy of the human body is interconnected. An irritation in one part of the body can cause long-range interference. This inhibits the proper function of other tissues or organs. These small, local inflammations that may not exhibit symptoms at their specific site.
Consider this similarly to the electrical wiring in your home. Each breaker has a series of outlets, switches, and appliances connected together. The power flowing to each point stops if there is a short circuit in any of its outlets or appliances. You can easily diagnose electrical problems. You just need to determine which electrical device or appliance is drawing too much power and overloading the circuit.
Stress, toxins, poor sleep, lack of nutrients, etc can all short circuit our system. We are all familiar with this mechanism. We usually think about lifestyle factors when we look to what led us down the path to dis-ease and illness.
But what does it look like when our condition is the result of a disruptive field?
This would be the equivalent of going to the breaker box and switching off an individual breaker. Disruptive fields shut down the performance of every tooth, gland, organ, muscle, and joint connected on a circuit.
These fields act through the acupuncture meridian pathways and biological terrain to affect distant systems, tissues, and organs.
Types of Disruptive Fields
- Dead teeth (root canaled teeth)
- Scar tissue
- Chronic inflammation in tonsils or sinuses
- Chronic inflammation in gut
- Uterine fibroid scars
Anytime a chronic condition is stubbornly slow to heal or does not respond to treatment, disruptive fields are likely standing in the way.
Teeth are the most common form of disruptive fields. Teeth are more than just teeth. They are highly functional, specialized nerve endings. Functioning as sensors, they connect to every function and organ in our body.
Teeth and the Circuitry of the Body
Teeth are meant for more than just chewing. They stand as sentinels to our temple. Always at the ready to sense, screen, and prepare the body for what has just entered it.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Physicians and healers have viewed the body as interconnected for thousands of years.
The teeth’s connection to the whole body was best explained in the 1950’s. German physician Reinhold Voll, researched and created a method known as electroacupuncture according to Voll (EAV). His research showed that every acupuncture point of the body has distinct electrical properties. Each tooth is energetically connected to specific organs.
Dr. Voll grouped each tooth to a group of related organs, joints, and glands. From his work, we now have a chart that maps out all of these connections.
This knowledge and awareness gives savvy practitioners another gauge for evaluating the needs of each patient. It’s an important lens for looking deeper at organ system imbalances. A vital dental connection to healing chronic illness, that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Each tooth is connected to a part of the meridian system. Its health, or its distress, are projected into the related meridian circuit. The same can go for the reverse. If a particular organ is distressed, it can have a detrimental effect on the tooth that shares the same meridian.
For example, a silver amalgam on your first upper left molar may set you up for stomach problems, breast issues, knee instability, or thyroid dysfunction. This means that unless you remove the hindrance, you’ll likely exhaust yourself trying to correct your thyroid hormone. Whether you use either natural or pharmaceutical means, you may find little-to-no relief. If you do get your thyroid levels to balance, the relief may only be temporary or you may find you have to continually adjust your dosages.
The same goes for persistent conditions in the other related organs and tissues associated with that tooth. Energy is spread too thin to get to the root of the problem. Although well meaning, the conventional medical system focuses on specialists. However, partnering with too many practitioners may result in this crucial piece of the health puzzle being overlooked.
Dental Connection to Healing from Chronic Diseases
Like most things pertaining to our health, prevention is the best cure. This means taking care to do the following:
- Floss daily
- Brush twice daily with non-toxic (i.e. free of fluoride, SLS, and other chemicals)
- Aim for a minimum of 30 grams of fiber a day
- Maintain gut health through diet, vitamin D, rotating probiotics, and eating bitter foods
- Reduce your stress load, rest, and keep high levels of vitamin P (purpose, passion, pleasure)
If you are concerned that your dental condition might be holding back your healing, contact the Institute for Restorative Health. Together we can determine a personalized strategy that best fits you and address the dental connection to healing chronic illness.
References
- Kim, Jemin, and Salomon Amar. “Periodontal Disease and Systemic Conditions: a Bidirectional Relationship.” Odontology, vol. 94, no. 1, 2006, pp. 10–21., doi:10.1007/s10266-006-0060-6.
