Sedation for Routine Cleaning

If you have never been to our office, whether for a routine cleaning or for oral disease treatment, you’ll find that holistic methods do not make the experience very different from a conventional office visit. For those of you who are absolutely terrified or loathe to go to the dentist, that probably doesn’t do much for you (though we do have other options that might appeal to you). But you should actually be aware that — for a routine cleaning and checkup, for example — our standard protocol calls for things that might bring you more comfort, security, and satisfaction with your visit.

If you are due for x-rays, we will do those for you quickly and as comfortably as possible. Each room has a big screen where you can instantly see the digital x-ray images taken of your teeth. We’ll discuss any potential problems if they appear. Every few visits we will also probe your teeth to measure the gaps or pockets between your teeth and gums. The smaller the gap, the better. You want your gums to be nice and snug against your teeth because that indicates there is no good place for bacteria to grow and cause infection. Deeper pockets indicate spots that are probably hard to clean, and therefore may be an infection waiting to happen. We will give you advice steering you in the direction you should take to help those gaps close up, also considering any pain or inflammation you may be experiencing.

Then the hygienist will perform the cleaning, polishing, and flossing. The better you take care of your teeth by daily brushing and flossing at home, the speedier this part will be. We always finish off the cleaning with a quick ozone irrigation. Oral irrigation is the best part. If you’ve never heard of it, it is basically “flossing” with water or whatever liquid* you put in the machine reservoir. In our office, we use ozone water. The ozone effectively kills off any remaining bacteria released during cleaning, and also brings a cool, soothing sensation that will leave you feeling refreshed.

After that, I will check for cavities or other problems; if none are found, you’ll be sent on your way with some restocked dental care supplies and a bright smile.

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

*I’ll give you some more information on oral irrigators in the next post.

Thoughts On Holistic Dentistry

Holistic dentistry is fun. There is always something new to learn, some nifty gadget to discover, some way you can improve upon your practice. It keeps things interesting. It’s also a great feeling to know that you really are providing the best care possible for patients who, as you are more than aware, are entrusting a great deal of their care to you. They are not robots on whom you may just mechanically operate and send on their way; patients are people, and they should be treated as such.

This is another reason why I have chosen a holistic path: holistic dentistry takes the whole patient into consideration instead of isolating all ties to a particular medical or dental problem. Treatment involves health-promoting solutions, thus giving both the patient and doctor a great sense of security and well-being.

Bringing the best care to my patients is my passion. I hope my patients feel not only taken care of, but also happier, healthier, and more confident when they leave my office.

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

Overview of Mercury-Safe Dentistry

Holistic dentistry calls for not using metals or toxins when treating patients. However, sometimes patients come in, previously having had fillings or crowns using mercury placed in their mouths by another dentist. It is imperative that patients have this work removed and redone as soon as possible, and I’ll explain why in a second.

Some dentists proudly tout their positions as being mercury-free offices. But there’s a difference between mercury-free and mercury-safe dentistry. Mercury-free dentistry does not incorporate mercury into any part of its practice; however, that does not automatically include the priority of removing/replacing preexisting mercury from regular patients.  And even then if it does, does its staff know how to do it safely?

Mercury is most toxic to the human body when it is vaporized, because that is the form of mercury most easily spread and embedded throughout the tissues. Mercury vapor is constantly emanating from amalgam fillings, set off by body heat, movement during speech, chewing, teeth grinding, etc. Even when perfectly still, low levels of mercury vapor still leak into your system. Some people feel its effects sooner, and others later; those effects may be drastic or occasional inconveniences (migraines out of nowhere, for instance). Unfortunately, mercury poisoning is usually misdiagnosed for other illnesses because its range of symptoms is so wide. Thus mercury toxicity hides under the radar for long periods of time, in many cases for life. Mercury is particularly threatening to brain and nerve health. Pregnant or nursing mothers and children should take the biggest precautions to avoid exposure to mercury.

The human body is always in a state of cleansing or detoxifying. The standard American diet, along with the general exposure to daily environmental toxins, chemicals, drugs, and dangerous materials, already puts toxic burdens on our bodies that are too heavy to bear. Our bodies are accumulating more toxins faster than we can get rid of them. Why compound the problem by tolerating mercury in our teeth?

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

Thinking Ahead

After taking into consideration that what goes into your body is going to affect the long-term health of your teeth, what do you think needs to happen so your dental work will last just as long?

Having already reviewed some damaging effects of invasive dentistry, you now know that “invading”/intervening with the natural tooth’s structure is not what you should pursue if you want your teeth to last (and maintain great condition) as long as your life. Remember:  if you lived to be 100 years old, choose sustainable dentistry that will last you just as long. If you are eating well and taking care of your body in all other ways, your body and, therefore, your teeth will be strong, healthy, and functional for a long time. Sounds like a good plan for the later years, right? Save yourself as many physical, emotional, and financial burdens associated with bad health as you can now. The cure for any disease is to avoid it in the first place!

What if you have already had work done on your teeth that is not sustainable? Well, if it includes mercury-saturated amalgam, it is best to get that replaced immediately. Not only will it need replacement after a handful of years — over and over again until there is no more tooth, but a stub needing a crown — but it will also infiltrate tissues throughout your entire body with poisonous mercury. No matter how well you take care of yourself, mercury constantly leeching into your body from your teeth will never allow you to progress towards complete wellness. As your body degenerates with age, mercury poisoning will speed that process up and bring on a host of symptoms that will (almost universally) lead the average doctor to the wrong diagnosis. It will be left untreated, you will be left confused and miserable, and there won’t be enough time left to detoxify.

Don’t put mercury in your mouth!

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

Nutrition’s Role In Dentistry

There is way too much information about nutrition’s role in dentistry to cram into one little blog post. However, maybe I can introduce a little more information to you that maybe you’ve never considered before.

Dentistry is all about teeth and oral health. Patients don’t usually show up expecting to hear dietary advice other than “Stay away from sugar. It will rot your teeth.” Yes, sugar is the number one preferred cuisine for the bad bacteria dwelling in your mouth, and it will definitely cause those bacteria to excrete acidic waste that causes cavities and infections. But that, in addition to brushing and flossing every day, surely isn’t the only thing to consider when looking out for the health of your teeth.

Your teeth are bones. How do you keep the rest of your bones healthy? Your teeth have nerves and blood vessels running through them. How do you maintain healthy nerves, blood, and nutrient levels? Your gums are soft tissues serving as protection and support. How do you take care of your skin and the rest of your organs and muscle tissue?

Endless cleaning and dental visits can actually do very little to build and preserve strong, healthy teeth that last well into old age. It’s like taking care of a car. You don’t merely wash it over and over again and expect that to keep it functioning for a long time. You have to go under the hood, getting to the machinery and the mechanics “behind the scenes.” That’s where you can ensure the car will run well.

Back to your teeth: what makes the biggest difference is nutrition! A healthy, strong body will give you healthy, strong teeth. Likewise, malnourishment will give you crooked, weak, painful, and vulnerable teeth. Thus, poor tooth health is an indication that the rest of your body is not faring well, either, and no amount of diligent cleaning will ensure lifelong resilience.

So the main idea to focus on is the fact that food itself coming into direct contact with your teeth is not what you should worry about (but don’t go munching on lemons every day, now). Rather, be mindful about everything you consume because you’re now looking out for your whole body, not just your teeth.

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

Holistic Dental Practice

Modern medicine is bent on having us believe that unless something can be proven by science, it is not trustworthy as a remedy or cure for any disease. While this is a very good thing for our safety, its hand is a little too heavily suppressing the availability of alternative options. Most modern doctors, though their intentions may be perfectly upright, don’t put much faith in alternative medicine. Reasons for this vary. The point is that patients need to be aware that they have a choice in what kind of care they seek, and that it just might be better to go the holistic route even if a highly educated professional pooh-poohs the idea.

They might tell you the results of alternative medicine are inconsistent, unreliable, or dangerous. They’ll stress that there is so much more security going the “normal” way. They might say it’s fine to choose a holistic alternative if that’s what the patient is most comfortable with, but to not be surprised if it doesn’t work. “Alternative medicine is not clinically effective; is a waste of time; is this, that, or the other thing.”

Don’t buy into this. Approached with wisdom and skill, alternative medicine is the best route to take. Truly good health for a patient means permanent (maybe with occasional exceptions) independence from doctors and pharmaceuticals, which is a bad business model for them. So in spite of the major advances in knowledge and technology, they will not change their current methods that keep bringing patients back. Those methods keep us believing that our bodies are not capable of taking care of themselves; we need outside help and intervention. Thus, our focus stays on symptoms of disease — and suppressing them with drugs — instead of building disease-avoiding health altogether.

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

Alternative Dentistry Isn’t Merely an Ideal

Mainstream public tends to believe that alternative medicine (which, I’m sure you know, carries many derogatory nicknames) implies methods that are dirty, ineffective, or just plain weird. The public also sees alternative medicine as unreliable and dangerous because it “hasn’t been proven to cure disease” by conventional medicine. But don’t get me started on the politics behind this that keep the public in the dark about natural medicine. It is a controversial topic.

Anyway, people are generally skeptical of holistic options for their medical needs, believing that they are inferior to what the majority of doctors and professors practice. “Science” reigns over all, and any other options are swept under the rug. After all, conventional medicine is what everyone does. It is easily available, trusted, and constantly advocated by the media. So why bother with the effort and expenses of alternative medicine?

Conventional medicine (and when I say “medicine,” dentistry is included) generally relies on methods and materials that isolate a particular problem or symptom and treat it without considering its root cause. We’ll discuss what the root cause usually is later. In the holistic world, the ailment or disease itself is the “symptom” of something greater going on with the patient’s overall health. Going to the doctor or dentist and diagnosing/treating an ailment or disease is only half the battle. Holistic medicine sees beyond that and strives to bring the individual patient to his optimal condition of health and immunity, therefore healing from past vulnerabilities and avoiding all potential diseases, illness, or relapses in the future. Diseases don’t just happen; they develop gradually, culminating when the body can no longer handle the burden of resisting them. The best cure for degenerative disease is to avoid it in the first place.

That being said, this is why we practice holistic dentistry. Conventional dentistry alone just isn’t enough to restore oral health to a patient. In fact, the patient’s oral health is negatively impacted by conventional methods. So many other things must be considered when treating a part of the body, teeth included. The patient’s best interest is not taken into account unless his health and treatment are approached comprehensively.

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

Detriments of Invasive Dentistry (Pt. III)

The title for this post doesn’t exactly seem appropriate, even though it is along the same lines as the previous couple. Oh, well. We’ve listed some detriments of invasive dentistry; today I’ll give a brief explanation about the benefits of minimally invasive holistic dentistry — precisely what we strive for in this office.

If dental work needs to be done, minimally invasive procedures are what will be best for the patient’s dental health in the long run. When all measures are taken to preserve the natural tooth, the need for dental work in the future is greatly reduced. This is pretty valuable; you don’t want to be the patient who seems to be in the dentist’s chair all the time, but sees that either nothing improves or new problems keep coming up. Good dentistry (and diligent daily care on your part) means you don’t have to keep going back!

Minimally invasive dentistry also allows the least amount of dental work to be performed. The high quality of work and genuine care for each patient’s best treatment saves the quantity of materials needed, saves time in the chair, saves money in the short and long run, and brings more comfort to the patients who want to know that the best is being done for them.

To explain minimally invasive dentistry, I’ll use the cavity filling again as an example. Also being a holistic practice, it is important to us that we evaluate the patient’s overall physical health and immune strength. Extra care must be exercised with patients whose ability to fight infection is compromised (we may offer advice and refer the patient to sources for improving nutrition and rebuilding immunity).

Once the green light is given, tooth restoration begins. As opposed to the filling itself, how the tooth is prepared for the filling is in the spotlight this time. The tooth is “sick” and infected. It must be remineralized to restore the nutrients that keep it healthy. With our combination of ozone and dental lasers, the infected tissue is easily and quickly removed, and the tooth is completely sterilized. Sealant is then applied to preserve the healthy tissue and protect the tooth from further decay. Bacteria and acid can easily continue rotting the tooth over time if it is not sealed well.

Then, finally, the restoration is installed, which may range from a small, laser-cured filling, or an inlay/onlay formed by our CEREC unit. The type of restoration depends on the amount of lost tooth. All of our materials are metal-free and aesthetic, meaning we will ensure that the restoration looks and functions as naturally as possible. Unsightly metal? No, thanks! Sometimes, if decay has gone beyond a certain point, a crown is needed. Crowns traditionally require quite a bit of unnecessary sanding down of the tooth, but minimally invasive dentistry sees crowns as a last resort if the natural tooth is not restorable with partial reconstruction. And even then, using our CEREC unit will ensure that no natural tissue is removed unnecessarily. The results will be both strong and functional, ensuring secure dentistry for years to come.

If needed, bite splints may be fitted and supplied to the patient to eliminate the effects of bruxing (teeth grinding). Bruxing can quickly damage both healthy tooth structure and dental repairs, so it is important to protect against it.

Ta-da! Now, with proper hygiene, nutrition, and mindful monitoring by his dentist at regular cleanings/checkups, a patient shouldn’t expect to need another restoration for a good, long while, if ever.

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

Detriments of Invasive Dentistry (Pt. II)

Let’s take a regular cavity filling, for example. When a cavity develops, the decaying material inside the tooth must be removed, completely sterilized, and filled so that it does not continue growing and lead to a root canal (full removal of a sick tooth beyond repair). Metal fillings are a poor choice not only because of their toxicity, but also because their permanence is questionable. Believe it or not, their need for several replacements over the years is quite common. Unfortunately, though, neither dentists nor patients are really aware that the fillings are not in tip-top shape.

Replacing the filling means removing the first filling (which can be dangerous to the surrounding tooth as it is); re-sterilizing and removing infected tissue that, yes, may have continued developing underneath; sanding down yet more healthy tooth in preparation for the next filling; and, finally, a higher amount of metal than the patient started with to fill that empty space. In some cases, this process repeats itself enough to where the patient needs a root canal — full removal of the tooth — all because of wrong materials installed in the wrong way since the beginning.

As you can see, this is definitely not the best way to go. It makes patients miserable, especially those whose health, oral and physical, is in poorer condition than most. It doesn’t make sense to keep using this method — filling mouths with unsightly, dysfunctional metals.

It doesn’t stop at fillings. Patients come back in to get crowns, bridges, veneers, etc. to be redone and freshly attached. Conventionally, each of these procedures requires invasive dentistry that removes at least some of the natural hard and/or soft tissues in the body and replaces it with unnatural and often ill-tolerated materials. The effects may lie undetected for a long time while the patient blindly accepts appointment after appointment for more dental work in the office.

If you lived to be 100 years old, would you really want to visit the dentist for a repeated surgery every few years, losing part of your teeth each time until your entire mouth is replaced with artificial materials?

Tomorrow, we’ll see why minimally invasive holistic dentistry is superior in comfort, quality, and strength for long-term oral health.

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

Detriments of Invasive Dentistry (Pt. I)

Conventional dental work, to put it flatly, is not designed to last. The materials primarily used, which already contain metals toxic to the human body, require invasive methods of treatment in order to function properly. Certain methods, such as using amalgam (silver/mercury) fillings for cavities, are so common and expected that most patients don’t think twice about an alternative. They (and, unfortunately, many dentists themselves) are not aware — or are in denial — that these methods are laying a weak foundation for long-lasting oral health.

When the word “invasive” is used, what does that mean exactly? Invasive dentistry literally means the dentistry “invades” your mouth’s natural state. It may not be intentional, but many dentists remove still-healthy or recoverable tissues in the mouth in order to make room for fillings, crowns, etc. Our teeth and jaws are incredibly strong and resilient in their highest naturally functional state. Replacing natural tissues compromises their structural integrity, opening up opportunity for weakness, infection, and disease.

Further, what isn’t understood is that if you suppose your oral health is in poor condition by nature, that doesn’t mean what is still good needs to be taken out. In fact, most disease and infection can be reversed and healed with no surgery, though it may take a little time and discipline. Invasive dentistry might work for a while, but when there is a better alternative, it is better not to take the risk of weakening oral health and strength yet more.

(This thought will be continued tomorrow!)

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com