Tag Archive for: holistic dentistry

Why Conventional Dental Products Can be Bad for You

We Americans tend to take our high standards of hygiene and the available hygienic products for granted. Think about it. Compared to the rest of the world, we are pampered with so many different commercial concoctions to keep ourselves tidy and smelling fresh. It defines our culture. We are dirty and unrespectable if we don’t use these chemicals to de-grease, de-hair, de-plaque, or deodorize our bodies.

The toothbrush aisle is quite a sight nowadays. As a lover of simplicity, I often question these kinds of presentations. Do we really need 30 different types of floss? 100 different toothpastes? endless “new and improved” toothbrush designs? Why is there still a need (at least they give us the impression of “need”) for newer, better, stronger products?

It is true that different people have different needs, different wallet sizes, different preferences, etc. I understand there is no one-size-fits-all. But I think we are spoiled.

What also bothers me is that we are “spoiled” with these things that are not good for our health.

Conventional dentistry fixes you up just enough so that for a while your teeth seem to work fine, but eventually a new problem will crop up and you’ll eventually need to go back. You are still dependent. That’s what keeps us dentists in business.

The Philosoraptor can be clever sometimes.

I try to play it safe by supplying more natural dental hygiene products to my patients. We shouldn’t have to rely on foreign chemicals and substances when caring for basic hygiene. Those with poor dental health should take a look at the root of the problem — the health of the body and gut — instead of falling for the newest commercial product. For a truly lasting effect, your oral and dental health rely on your overall health, not tubes of minty who-knows-what.

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

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

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

Dental Zirconium Implants

The great thing about zirconium dental implants is that they can be installed in one single stage. If you’ve ever had the stomach to watch videos or clips of traditional dental implants being installed, you’ll see that there are many steps involved in putting the implant puzzles together; the installation process alone can take several hours, after a likely several weeks’ worth of appointments and analyses performed on the operation area and the teeth themselves. Not to mention, the fact that they are made with titanium, a metal, is degenerative to our health.

Zirconium implants, however, are made of zirconium, a ceramic material with a chemical compound structure similar to our own bone, and are installed as a single piece in a single stage. The crown or bridge is the only other piece, designed to be snugly fitted on top and join the “party of 32” in your mouth… or 28, or somewhere around that number, if you had wisdom teeth removed.

But anyway, the procedure is far simpler with better results. The single piece of zirconium provides fewer surfaces, cracks, and crannies for bacteria and, therefore, infections to grow. There is smoother osseointegration, or blending in with your facial bones like a natural tooth’s root, than the metal implants, which frequently give infection trouble and a difficulty establishing a sturdy root.

This is partly why holistic, metal-free dentistry is the way to go; metal in these proportions and the human body just cannot meld and work together.

Dr. Boyajian, Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

Why Dental Zirconium Implants

So, why are these metal-free implants such a big deal? Why not just stick with what’s been handed out to us for years and years? It worked for everyone we know, right? Why not just go with the convenience of your community/family general dentist down the street who can take care of you in with a whip and a snap (not literally — the whip, I mean) and send you out with an entertaining bag of goodies? Why not see this dentist who may be your “regular” merely because of his/her friendly staff or toothpaste that doesn’t taste bad?

Well, there’s one reason, and it seems kind of obvious: you only have one set of teeth in one mouth in one head sitting on one neck, and you are entrusting it to this person in a white suit. The human body is a very delicate mechanism, and delicate care must be taken in turn. Most dentists aren’t giving that “delicate” care that works with the body’s chemistry, even though we may have quite the display of perfectly straight, white teeth. Very often what we don’t know CAN, in fact hurt us. It just may not be right away.

Where am I going with this? Well, most dentists use materials and chemicals that are not biocompatible (i.e. working with the body’s natural chemistry) or can be harmful if overused. Even when something claims to be “safe in small amounts,” those small amounts used multiple times throughout your life build up, and the resulting degeneration of your health is the same. This slower degeneration is difficult to reverse, and takes an extremely long time to recover from — a problem that those in their later years of age may never get to solve. Metals, chemicals, cleaners, sterilizers, plastic, drugs, commercially-produced oral care products, etc., can all wreak havoc on your oral health and, therefore, your overall health.

Holistic dentistry, in essence, is always seeking out ways to achieve the highest equilibrium of health, beauty, and functionality of your mouth through the most natural, biocompatible, health-promoting ways possible. Being a holistic dentist myself, keeping up on the latest science and technology and filtering out false or inaccurate information concerning oral health is crucial for bringing genuinely effective and health-sustaining care to my patients.

More and more of the population is suffering from poor tooth health nowadays. Gum disease, injury to the mouth, poor diet, oral infections, and countless other causes are affecting millions around the world, providing a steadily growing need for strong implants. Dental implants are for replacing teeth that have fallen out or been removed due to trauma or disease. Zirconium, as mentioned in this post here, is a ceramic material with similar chemical and structural build as a human tooth, making it a superb substitute. Zirconium has been shown to integrate into surrounding facial bones very well, unlike previously tested ceramics and other materials, especially metals. Zirconium implants also share a similar appearance to human teeth, providing a naturally beautiful smile. Generic dental implants are made with metal, and, like amalgam fillings, sometimes it shows through and doesn’t match your other teeth.

So here you have it — zirconium dental implants are strong, biocompatible, and pretty-looking. It seems we have reached that equilibrium, eh?

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com

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Zirconium Dental Implants Overview

In years past, and actually still most commonly today, dental implants were composed of several different pieces to fit together in the restoration area, and they were made out of titanium. Titanium is a metal, and, therefore, BAD (in a holistic sense, of course) inside a human body. The titanium implants also presented other drawbacks, such as aesthetics (metallic coloring would show through the crown) and complications with assimilation into the maxilla or mandible — the facial bones that shape your mouth/jaw and anchor your teeth down.

Zirconium implants are made entirely from a special ceramic that has a chemistry similar to our bones and, specifically, teeth. Not unlike what the CEREC machine spits out, this material is entirely biocompatible and ideal for its similar strength, durability, and beauty of a natural tooth. There has been great success with its conforming to surrounding facial bones as well. Because of its biocompatibility, our bones do not reject its chemical makeup, therefore preventing infection and weak implants.

Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles

www.dentalwellnessarts.com