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Can a simple filling impact our whole body health?

The procedure we’d like to discuss and bring to light today is one that most practicing dentists, biological/holistic or not, literally do multiple times each work day.  Together, let’s explore the impact that the simple filling on the chewing surface (called an occlusal filling) can have on the long-term whole body wellness of the patient.

To really consider the whole body implications of the occlusal filling on our whole body health, we have to get a strong grasp on the relationship the teeth play with the various internal organ systems in our bodies. Traditional Chinese Medicine has long been very aware (and has meticulously charted) that each of our individual teeth relates to specific organs in our bodies.

While it seems strange in our Western way of compartmentalizing the body into a bunch of separate organ systems, the fact is that Traditional Chinese Medicine has been, in regular practice, effectively addressing all sorts of illness of the human body for several thousand years. From our perspective, Traditional Chinese Medicine stands the test of time. Otherwise, it would have stopped being used thousands of years ago!

Here’s an image of one version of the chart which illustrates the connection between the teeth and the various internal organ systems and body regions. You can find an interactive ‘internal organ & tooth chart’ by following this link. (It’s really cool. You can click on a tooth and it will show you what organs relate to that specific tooth :))

 

 

So, let’s lay down some pieces to this puzzle:

1. Each of our teeth relates to specific regions and organ systems in our bodies.

2. Biting down on two teeth to chew generates pressure between those two teeth (and other neighboring teeth).

3. If the chewing surface is disrupted/disturbed by filling material, this can create disrupted conduction of the nerves associated with the specific teeth.

4. This disrupted nerve conduction has an impact on the internal organs related to the teeth in question.

Let’s face it, if a filling on the biting surface causes us to use our teeth differently, then we are going to be firing the nerves to the affected teeth differently. Nerve conduction runs closely parallel to bio-energetic flow in the body. In fact, nerve tissue is the closest connection western medical theory has to the Chinese medical model of energy flow. So, if the nerve is impacted by the different chewing surface, the energy flow to that associated tooth may very well be influenced, leaving our organ systems unbalanced. Therefore, it serves us well to make certain that any fillings placed in our mouths, or the mouths of our loved ones, have the least disturbance to our common bite and chewing patterns as possible.

 

Some solutions:

There are parts that both the dental professional and each of us as patients can play to help move this awareness of the impact that ‘simple’ fillings can play in the health of the whole body. Below you will find a few things that anyone in the dental profession can do to help bring this whole body aspect to dentistry into the culture at large.

More importantly, each of us can empower ourselves with knowledge and patiently share this information with our dental professional. After all, we are the patients, right? We have to be patient when sharing these important points of discussion with those we hire to help us navigate to greater oral health.

If we as individuals (who have the financial power by the way) patiently help the professional community to become aware of seemingly new (yet very old) information, we are playing an active role in helping the profession adapt to our desires as consumers of their services. We think it’s crucial for each of us to realize the power we have in changing the system. After all, if each of us gently approaches dental professionals about these issues, they will realize that they have to educate themselves on this or be left unable to compete in a growing and adapting professional field. The power is within each of us in our own communities.

 

Steps each of us can apply:

1. The dental team becomes acutely aware of the impact that “simple” fillings can have on the whole-body health of the patient.

2. The dentist becomes gentler with the patient, while reducing the filling material (which helps minimize disturbances to the chewing surfaces). Ideally, we would like to see dental offices implement next-day, follow-up appointments with the patient to make room for any necessary adjustments to the filling (after any local anesthesia has worn off). This way, the patient is able to tell how their bite feels without the hinderance of being numb.

3. The patient becomes empowered with the capacity to slow down the dentist after the filling has been set and compassionately demand that plenty of attention be given to ensuring that the bite is adjusted until it is minimally impacted.

This bears repeating…

“Tap, tap please”

Regardless of the type of filling material used, the dentist will use a special piece of tape and place it between the teeth at the site of the new filling and ask you to bite down. This is what we all have grown to understand what the dentist means when s/he says, “Tap, tap”. It’s this step which must be patiently addressed and not rushed. Although the professional team is ‘done’ with this patient’s filling at this point, they need to stop and pay particular attention to ensuring that the bite surface is minimally impacted. Otherwise, they risk unknowingly imbalancing the whole body wellness of the patient by quickly skimming past this crucial piece to the puzzle.

We prefer to request that this important step is performed in multiple steps. First, the action of tapping is helpful (think crunching up something easy to chew like some softer nuts). But we must also have the dentist check our contact when grinding our molars (think chewing some pastured beef that you cooked a little too long! :)). So, explaining to the dentist that you would like to have your bite checked using all the ways in which you use your teeth daily to chew would help you immeasurably. Then be willing to take 3-5 passes at having the dentist place the disclosing tape on the chewing surfaces.

While it can be momentarily uncomfortable, the benefits far outweigh any awkwardness (coming from the cultural baggage we must bump up against) when we patiently explain what we need from the dental professionals. After all, we have hired them to help us navigate to greater oral health. We call this dental self-empowerment and it is a subject you will hear a lot more about from us! 🙂 We are passionate about providing you with all the knowledge you need to take control of your oral health.

Do you have an experience where you stood up for your rights and were willing to state your needs (either for yourself or for your child) in a dental/health office? Please share your story below in the comments so we all can benefit from your experience! 🙂

Of course, if you find value in this article, we ask that you share it so others can learn steps how to create positive change in their oral health.

If you’d like to know what questions to ask to find a dental team who will work with you on your journey to greater oral health, feel free to download our FREE Guide to Safe Dentistry.

As always, holler with any questions, we’re here to help!

Thank you and Aloha!

Will and Susan

 

Helpful, Related Resources:

Guide to Safe Dentistry [free eBook download]

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Children's Oral Care, Mouth/Body Connection, Tooth Decay

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01, children's oral care, mouth/body connection, whole body dentistry

Will And Susan

Will and Susan are the founders of OraWellness and are passionate about health, wellness and positive living.

"We are experienced dental health crusaders and holistic oral health product innovators who know first hand the power of nature to heal in miraculous ways."

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Comments

  1. Troy Santos says

    November 28, 2016

    🙂
    Just a comment here. A friend who has had extensive acupuncture treatments, and likes to talk (also with his acupuncturist ;), told me that he’s learned there is a pretty sharp difference between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM). To sum up what he told me, TCM is a rather new thing, created after the revolution by people who wanted to “modernize” the health care system. What they did was adopt Western medicine ways of seeing things in narrowly. This is in contrast to CCM which historically took a far far broader view, and, crucially, didn’t treat symptoms, but looked for root causes, and treated the patient there. I found this blog post, which gives a similar view as what my friend told me. Instead of just being semantical here (with names), I want to emphasize that if a TCM practitioner is treating the whole person, and not one or more symptoms, then the name TCM or CCM matters only for purposes of communication, and not with what’s involved in the treatment.

    https://chinesemedicinecentral.com/2007/the-differences-between-traditional-chinese-medicine-and-classical-chinese-medicine/
    🙂

    Reply
  2. Deborah Covi says

    March 8, 2015

    Aloha,

    Thanks for the great information. Is there any way you can make available for download the beautiful chart showing the teeth and their connections to body parts? I have used your interactive chart but would love to have a copy of this beautifully colored chart as well.

    Thank you very much
    Deborah

    Reply
    • Will says

      March 8, 2015

      Aloha Deborah,

      Thanks for stopping by to ask. I’ll see what I can do. Right now, we don’t have a downloadable version. Please keep your eyes on any emails from us and you’ll know when we make this available. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Allena says

    September 9, 2014

    it is informative and useful post for all of us.through this post i get to read something stuff material.keep sharing.

    Reply
  4. Irritable Bowel Syndrome says

    July 17, 2013

    This is full of discussion you got here, a long informative article.

    Reply
  5. Mary says

    July 15, 2013

    Wow! Thank you for this great chart and informative email. Having previously lived in China and experienced some of the benefits of Chinese medicine, I know it is valid that there is a connectedness to all parts of our body. I have a question though… seeing what areas of the body are impacted when one’s bite is off with a given tooth, can you please explain how far reaching the impact might be if you’ve previously had a root canal?! (Given that it was in the tooth #11 that impacts the health of heart and liver, I’m obviously concerned). Mahalo~ Mary

    Reply
  6. jackie says

    July 13, 2013

    yikes!!! i don’t have any cavities or decay, but many of my composite fillings have fallen out, and my teeth have completely shifted since taking out my root canaled tooth and not replacing it a few years ago. plus, my teeth have totally worn down from grinding and also drinking/eating too much apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, etc. so i need like 9 or 10 fillings, an onlay, and maybe a crown! i’m not looking forward to it….

    anyway, thanks for the article.

    Reply
  7. Kathy says

    July 13, 2013

    Hello thank you for this article it was really helpful.
    However, my question is do my children have to Have the fluoride treatments after their teeth are cleaned

    Reply
  8. Nancy says

    July 13, 2013

    When I asked my dentist about the material used in my son’s filling, he was sort of dismissive and said “It’s an amalgam” and nothing more. When I asked if it was “safe”, he acted offended. I love our dentist, we’ve seen him for years, but he plays it out like “you wouldn’t understand….I know what I’m doing.”

    Reply
  9. David says

    July 13, 2013

    Hard to read but true. Your web page is not set p for mobile devices
    David

    Reply
  10. Starlene @ GAPS Diet Journey says

    July 12, 2013

    This is a really good article. I recently had 11 amalgams removed by a holistic dentist in two visits. The first visit they did the left side, top and bottom. I ended up with my teeth not aligned properly and didn’t want to make a fuss or complain so I waited three weeks until the second removal. Now I have quite a few spots that are not right. The dentist told me don’t wait so long next time if you need an adjustment on any of the fillings but I have not yet been able to bring myself to make an appointment. It has been about four months and I sometimes really hate how my teeth fit together. It’s not really too bad but there are just parts of my teeth that are not meeting correctly which is affecting my bite and chewing food. I need to go back and get some fine tuning done, and your article helps me to realize that it is important for me to get this done. Thanks.

    Reply
  11. Julian Holmes says

    July 12, 2013

    A great starter on this topic, but although you chat about the impact of fillings, it would be useful to have some text on how to minimise the risk of decay. So addressing the issues of diet, brushing, gum care and routine dental examinations with modern diagnostic tools, NOT a mirror & probe, would have been very appropriate here. Regards Julian

    Reply
  12. Emily Morgan says

    July 12, 2013

    Wow great info. I have a question that is related and through this chart brought to my attention. I’m 36, Over a year ago I had a filling done in tooth 31, about 3 weeks after that my 32 wisdom tooth decided to move in my mouth and cause extreme nerve pain in my mouth. I would get shooting pains and they xrays and showed it was touching my nerve and some was wrapped around it. SO needless to say I had to have it removed, after the recovery of that I have lost some sensation from the damaged nerve to the back right side of mouth. Just in the last few months, I have cracked my 31 tooth(no pain) but the sharp edges and me looking in the mirror I can see the split in the tooth. I have also been having digestion issues for the past year…Reading this chart they are related, as well as other issues I am having. So my question is do I have the crack fixed(it doesn’t hurt) or continue to try and heal myself(taking FCLO and cutting out gluten) Are there any products that I need to help my body better heal and fix the tooth? I hope that you can understand this it is a lot of information.

    Reply
    • will says

      July 12, 2013

      Aloha Emily,

      Lots in your email. I’m sorry to hear about the cracked tooth. We really can’t make suggestions. We do hope the chart and information/articles from us help you have a more empowered perspective to navigate the crazy waters of the dental world. Please email us directly if you would like to ask more specific questions. We may be able to help more there.

      Thank you for posting!

      Reply

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I am truly grateful for your products and for what your company stands for! Thank you so much OraWellness for changing my life!

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