The holistic dental connection, an overview
by Katherine Willow ND
My recent preoccupation with teeth came about after my daughter Coral’s dentist drilled into a nerve by mistake when fixing a cavity. Our lives became a living hell. Coral couldn’t eat, sleep or nurse properly. Baby Felix, who is normally calm and delightful, became understandably and perpetually cranky. And I responded very unhelpfully by shutting down, my typical reaction when my kids are hurting.
By the time I finally unwound enough to start thinking clearly, Coral had not one, but two root canals — at eighteen years old. Hours later, one of the doctors I had called for advice told me he probably could have prevented them with a holistic technique called neural therapy. And then he recommended a book detailing studies that show why you should avoid root canals at all cost. They are banned in Europe.
This was all a bit traumatic for me. I had already known about the dangers of root canals, but not what to do instead other than pull the tooth. Coral was just happy to be out of pain after 3 weeks. (Yes, it did take me that long to get it together, embarrassing and regretful as that is.) Therefore I thought I’d write a little about the experience, so that others can be more aware. Because there is more to teeth than the average dentist can tell you…
Holistic Dentistry
There’s a huge amount of research on holistic dentistry. Root canals are only a small piece of it. However, the solutions are often expensive, hard to find and/or require unrealistic lifestyle changes for most people. From the German New Medicine perspective, one needs to resolve emotional conflicts related to wanting to bite someone! (I’ve actually seen this twice in the last year.)
My conclusion is that we need to do some studies to find easier ways to deal with dental issues. There must be a better way. So I am connecting with some of the holistic dentists in Ottawa and across North America, as well as some of my colleagues who address dental issues in their practices, to design a study to see if we can help oral conditions, which usually require dental work, with simple lifestyle changes, affordable supplements and homeopathic remedies.
In the meantime, here are some tidbits that may be of interest:
* I discovered that you can easily check teeth with muscle testing. When Coral touched the teeth with the root canals, her muscles went totally weak. They strengthened again when she touched one of her other teeth. Coral’s dentist asked me to test her for a filling material and we were able to find one that was best tolerated to fill the root canals. (This wasn’t the original dentist, in case you’re wondering.)
* Each tooth is linked via lymph channels to specific organs, which are then affected when that tooth is sick.
* When material from root canalled teeth is inserted under rabbits’ skins they often get the same diseases that the person has, and may even die within days. Material from ordinary teeth doesn’t cause this reaction. I know, horrible study for the rabbits. I don’t agree with animal testing. This was done decades ago and is the basis for the book mentioned earlier: Root Canal Cover-Up, by George E. Meinig, published by Bion Publishing in 1998. (Just for the record, I dislike the reactionary tone of the book.)
* You probably know that mercury fillings leak mercury into the body. These are also banned in Europe. However, taking them out is a tricky procedure which ABSOLUTELY needs special equipment to avoid poisoning oneself–or the dentist!
* It’s possible to test potential materials used in your mouth for tolerance, either with muscle testing, the Biotron or the Vega machine. We have an ND in Ottawa who specializes in testing for dentists — Anthony Toplak in Bells Corners.
* My approach to teeth, so far, has been to work on the rest of the body first. The teeth can sometimes settle down or we can better handle the dental materials we already have in our mouth. And, if we still need work done, our body can handle that with less reactivity after strengthening and detoxifying.
* Other dental issues that affect the rest of the body include the occurrence of subclinical infections (which we can pick up on the regutherm and sometimes treat homoeopathically), the misalignment of teeth which can cause pains elsewhere, gum disease which is rampant and threatens the life of our teeth in this culture, and grinding teeth, which, along with misalignment, can be helped with craniosacral therapy.
My experience with Coral has re-inspired me to refocus on holistic solutions for dental problems, and maybe create some new ones. Let me know if you’re interested in participating in a study. I’ll announce it again when we’re ready to run it, probably sometime this fall. You can leave a message at the clinic at 613-839-1198.
