Holistic Dentistry Approach

Metal-Free Dentistry

Following our holistic philosophy, we use only materials that are bio-compatible with the patient's mouth and body.

We do several bio-compatability tests to ensure that the patient's mouth is not going to create an adverse reaction and that the material to be used is going to be neutral to that patient's body.

We are metal-free. We avoid any sort of metal restorations and there are many reasons for that. One fundamental reason is that materials actually create an electrical field.

People in the profession of acupuncture understand that the teeth have an electromagentic connection to the body that is called the meridian-system which connects the body to the teeth and vice versa.

Metals can interfere with that field and that is one of the reasons that we avoid metals, not to mention that metal-free dentistry is very beautiful and natural looking dentistry which we prefer from all angles.

Infections and Treating Infected Teeth

One of the prevalent measures used to treat infected teeth is root-canals or endodontic treatment. Our philosophy is to avoid root canals any time it is possible and we go to great lengths to prevent root canals from happening.

However, if a tooth is presenting with an abcess and there is no way to reverse the course of the infection, then we are left with two options. One is to extract the tooth and that in itself requires all infection be cleared and cleaned as well, but also leaves us with the bio-mechanical problem of a deficiency in the bite-system.

We treat a large number of TMJ patients and that is something we'd like to avoid if we can because the associated bio-mechanical problems can create their own separate health issues. That leaves us with the option of saving the tooth with a root-canal procedure.

To make the root-canals as biological as possible we want to ensure that the infection is completely cleaned and removed. We use several modalities for that including Biolase, calcium-hydroxide and other modalities which create a very clean environment.

The biofilm needs to be addressed. The biofilm is the environment where the bacteria proliferate. Bacteria can thrive inside the cavernous area of the root system or even within the bone area all of which need to be cleaned with lasers or ultra-sonic measures and, of course, addressing the pH of the area is very critical. For example, cavitational lesions or apical lesions tend to be very acidic. In fact the pH may range from 3 to 5 and in that range the immune system cannot function, cannot thrive so that addressing the pH becomes very important so that the immune system can re-boot in the bone area and the vicinity of the tooth. Calcium hydroxide, being both anti-microbial and highly alkaline in nature, helps tremendously in creating more of a balanced pH to address the acidic environment.

So there are many, many measure that need to be carefully addressed in order to provide the safest possible root canal treatment for the patient.

In looking at this from an overall picture, our philosophy is to prevent root canals but the presence of infection is the worst circumstance that can occur and one in which the tooth needs to be removed or needs to be addressed with biologically sound root canal therapy.


San Diego TMJ Specialist and San Diego Sedation Dentist