Holistic dentistry seeks to heal the artificial divide between the mouth and the body, recognizing its profound influence on systemic health.
This approach is founded on the fact that:
Redefining Dentistry
- Chronic oral infections can exist even without pain.
- Hidden bone pathology can go undetected on traditional X-rays.
- Jaw misalignment contributes to headaches, neck, shoulder, and back pain.
- Untreated airway dysfunction not only affect sleep quality but has significant impact in overall health.
- Toxic dental materials like mercury containing fillings are contributing to chronic illnesses.
The Break Up
A little bit of History……In 1840, the first dental school was founded in Baltimore, Maryland, formally separating dentistry from medicine. From that point forward, dentistry evolved into a distinct profession. However, over time, the gap widened.
Today, the mouth is often treated as a separate entity from the rest of the body. This division is reflected not only in education and clinical practice, but even in the separation between dental and medical insurance systems. Furthermore, very rarely a General Medicine doctor will refer his patients that suffer from chronic disease to be evaluated by a dentist unless there is tooth pain, even though oral infections and jaw dysfunction may impact systemic health long before pain appears.
Holistic Dentistry
What Is Holistic Dentistry?
Reconnecting the Mouth to the Body
Before the 1840s, becoming a dentist required attending medical school and specializing in stomatology, the study of the mouth as part of the body. The mouth was understood as a complex anatomical and functional system, not an isolated structure, and that system is known as the stomatognathic system.
The Reality Of Today's Dental Care As We Know It
Today, conventional dentistry has largely become “one-tooth dentistry”—a model centered on fixing visible damage such as cavities, fractures, and localized disease, often within the limitations of what insurance companies deem necessary to treat. However, what is rarely examined is how dental treatment or untreated oral disease could be playing a roll in the systemic disease reflected on the Patient’s medical History..
At the same time, in the Medical field, most of chronic conditions are managed with medication without investigating whether an oral source may be contributing to ongoing inflammation or dysfunction. As a result, patients today are increasingly seeking answers, not just symptom management.
Hidden Infections, Whole-Body Impact
Chronic oral infections put a patient at a higher risk of various conditions, such as cardiovascular events and stroke, uncontrolled diabetes, dementia and Alzheimer’s, respiratory infections, autoimmune diseases, and cancer.
Video Source: Youtube
What Sets Dr. Perez Apart?
What makes Dr. Perez different from many holistic dentists is her advanced training as a neuromuscular dentist, with certification to treat TMJ disorders and airway concerns using oral appliances. This means jaw position, muscle balance, and breathing function are always part of how she diagnoses and treats; not an afterthought.
If you’ve been searching for a dentist who looks beyond the tooth, this is where that search ends.
See how Airway and TMJ are related
Video Source: Youtube
Ready to Learn More?
Schedule a consultation to experience dentistry approached as part of your total health, not separate from it.
