EP. 30: Biological Dentistry
I grew up being taught that my family has bad teeth (root canals, missing teeth). But through my education and training, I know that 80% of our health is lifestyle + environment and 20% is genetics. So, I don’t necessarily subscribe to the belief that we just have bad teeth…
Did you know that traditional fillings contain 50% mercury, silver, tin, and copper… The WHO has mercury on the list of toxic metals. Rather than affecting the nervous system, there are other safer materials we can use.
But not a lot of dentists know about this biological approach…
Dr. Suringer Arora is a certified biological dentist. She holds a master’s in public and mental health and eventually found purpose in learning and offering a holistic approach to her patients. She’s also a certified health coach and has holistic training in the art of reiki among other spiritual healings. Her passion is to help people heal themselves along their health journeys.
In this episode, we even talked about the impact of jaw formation due to the nutrient-deficient soils and foods we have today. Dr. Arora recommends maintaining healthy levels or supplementation of Calcium, K2, vitamin D3, vitamin C, probiotics, and phosphorous in our diets for optimum oral health. I loved hearing about the upcoming summit she's a part of in Singapore. She's certainly helping with the holistic health movement in Asia!
Show Notes
2
0:00:00
Well, thank you so much for doing this.
1
0:00:07
Thank you for having me. It's always lovely to be invited for podcasts and to speak and to share, and especially when you're so passionate about something that you really feel people don't know so much about. So it's always a great opportunity. So thank you, Heather.
15
0:00:20
Yes, yes.
2
0:00:21
Thank you so much. In our area, biological dentistry is not too common, so I just wanted to, of course, have you on as a guest since you are an expert in this field and you have practices and just share with our listeners what is out there from a holistic approach. So I'll go ahead and let you introduce yourself. I know, of course, you're a certified biological dentist.
2
0:00:45
You have a master's in public and mental health as well. So go ahead and take the stage for me.
1
0:00:53
Absolutely. So my name is Dr. Sarinda Arora. I am indeed a certified biological dentist. I am a general dentist who practices holistically, and I do indeed have a master's degree in public and mental health. So I kind of came into this mainly passion and purpose, in all honesty.
1
0:01:13
I came out of dental school going through dental school feeling there's something missing here, there's something not quite right with what we're doing. And it really set me on an exploration of various ways to look at things. I became a certified health coach.
1
0:01:26
I did kundalini yoga teacher training, Reiki training. And I feel like when you're on these kinds of journeys, it's like all the pieces of the jigsaw slowly start to come together. And then we have this picture of a holistic approach, which I took into the clinic.
1
0:01:40
And then I studied further in biological dentistry and holistic dentistry. And I have to say, I go to work now and I absolutely love what I do. And I feel like what I do is space holding for people to go through their health journeys
1
0:01:55
and heal themselves, which is a really privileged position to be in.
2
0:01:59
I love that. Now, did you get any alternative training while you were in dental school?
1
0:02:07
No. I was trying to think of a way to say that. Like, no, I don't recall. Maybe we had a lecture on diet, not so much nutrition, but I don't recall anything vaguely complementary complementary or alternative but then this stuff isn't really mainstream. Yeah, it's not something.
2
0:02:31
Yeah, things might have changed but I know so many of us that have gone through traditional medicine usually of course there's a calling for us to kind of put the, like you said, the pieces of the puzzle together more and explore that on our own.
15
0:02:46
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
2
0:02:48
So one thing that I know I grew up going to different dentists getting cavities filled with back then 30 years ago mercury filling what is the main difference between I know I had all the mercury out of my my body and They put the plastic fillings in so what is the difference between mercury versus the plastic fillings?
1
0:03:08
So there are totally different material altogether. So your amalgam fillings, or also known as mercury fillings or silver fillings, contain about 50% mercury, silver, tin, and copper.
3
0:03:25
And if you're familiar with Alice in Wonderland,
1
0:03:28
the Mad Hatter, that's a great example of mercury poisoning. So when you're looking at the Mad Hatter, there's like this tremor, there's this bouncing around scenario, so it's really affecting the nervous system. So there are several issues with mercury. The WHO has put it on a list of toxic materials, heavy metals, so it's a problem in the body. It's only been
1
0:03:50
used in dentistry for the last 200 years, as far as I recall, and it has been phased out in some countries as well. So the alternatives are actually a dental composite filling, which you're saying is a plastic filling, which is true. So they contain a resin, which are like synthetic bisphenol A, methacrylate, like bis-GMA, UDMAs, like all this kind of stuff. And then it's got a filler in there.
1
0:04:17
They've got fillers in there, silica quartz or glass. These little bits provide the strength to the composite, and then a coupling agent and pigments for color, so to get the correct shade that matches your tooth. So these are nose plastic fillings. However, you can get dental composite fillings that do not contain bisgma, the HMA, tegma, UDMA,
1
0:04:40
all of that once it's set into place. So there are different options for people. And then you've also got dental ceramics. So dental ceramics are the most biocompatible material we have in dentistry at present and that's like a lithium disilicate or zirconia.
2
0:04:57
Oh how neat I had not heard of that. That's great. Do many dentists offer that?
1
0:05:06
Absolutely so they're actually standard materials composite and ceramic are standard materials that are offered usually by all dentists. Dentists will usually offer you a metal, ceramic, composite, whatever. So it's available to all dentists. Ceramic is an option.
1
0:05:22
The thing with ceramic is the cavity, so once you've taken out mercury filling, the hole that's left behind has to be big enough and deep enough for ceramic to go in. Some teeth are not suitable for ceramic, but others are. And I have to say, what I usually see with the amalgams is that they're pretty
1
0:05:40
big, not always, but a lot of them are more sizable and they are suitable for ceramic onlays or inlays.
2
0:05:45
Oh, that's really neat. Now, with your vast background with understanding each individual's needs, is there a way to test to see, you know, if you'd use that plastic slash resin versus a ceramic?
1
0:05:59
As in what's going to be better for the system?
2
0:06:03
Correct, yes.
17
0:06:04
Absolutely.
1
0:06:05
So we can do biocompatibility testing, which is we draw blood and we send it off to a lab and they can test for pretty much, well, I don't think everything, but a broad and large area of materials that are used in dentistry to see if they resonate with you, if you're biocompatible or not. The other way to go about it is muscle testing and bioresonance therapy. So there are different ways to check for sure.
2
0:06:31
Wonderful. That's really neat. Very good. Now, I've seen a lot of studies with root canals possibly in the alternative world being linked to breast cancer and other health ailments.
1
0:06:44
What are some options for patients out there that are alternatives to root canals. So thinking about why you need a root canal, the reason is you've had a knock to the tooth, so some trauma, a crack or dental decay that has extended through the hard enamel. Enamel is the hardest substance in the body, it's harder than bone. It's gone through that, it's gone into the dentine, it's gone into the nerve and the nerve in the middle of the tooth has an infection and there's infection coming out the bottom or the top of the tooth where the roots are. So an infection in that area means that the
1
0:07:24
tooth can either be saved as is said in the dental profession by a root canal by taking out that nerve and putting a material inside the nerve or the other option is removing the tooth from the mouth. So if you are faced with a situation where you need to have a root canal for whatever reason and as I said there can be several reasons for this, it's either keep it in the mouth with a root canal or you remove it from the mouth. And the way that it's removed is very specific and important.
1
0:07:56
It's very important that all that infection, if the tooth is infected, all the infection is removed very well, it's cleaned out very well, and then we have very special biological techniques to rebuild the bone as well.
2
0:08:07
Interesting. How do you know how well the infection has been removed?
1
0:08:14
So we can visually see infection inside the mouth and also clearing the bone margin, so the edge of the bone, a little bit surgically technical, but clearing everything up around the bone area
16
0:08:30
to ensure it's been removed.
1
0:08:32
We can also send infections off to the lab to check what's in there as well, what kind of bugs you've got lurking in your mouth.
15
0:08:38
Oh, beautiful. Okay.
3
0:08:39
Mm, yeah.
2
0:08:41
That's good to know because I know, at least again, around here, that's not commonly done.
1
0:08:47
So, you can actually request, so not a lot of dentists know about a more holistic approach or a biological approach and I think a lot of them if they're listening to this might like say hey so but I do root canals and that's absolutely fine but when we're removing teeth it's really important that we clean everything up otherwise the bone simply just doesn't heal well. So it's quite, I think it's, you know, you can ask your dentist,
1
0:09:17
can you just scrape out all the periodontal ligament and make sure all the infection has been removed well? And it might not be like a biological protocol that they're using, but at least everything's being cleaned out mechanically.
8
0:09:29
That makes sense.
6
0:09:30
Now, I know I grew up,
2
0:09:32
my family, so to speak, has bad teeth, right? At least that's what I was taught. Being in nutrition, I know 80% of your health is the environment, for the most part lifestyle, 20% genetics. So, you know, I'm trying to do everything I can for good dental hygiene. I know my family has had multiple root canals, partials, missing teeth, all of that. So I don't necessarily subscribe to, it's
2
0:10:06
just genetics. So what can our listeners do to improve dental hygiene, dental health? What tips would you have for them?
1
0:10:17
This question is so huge, we could talk about it for days, but in summary, so your mouth is totally connected to the rest of your body. I think this is something that we overlook. Like I see a lot of people coming in, not a lot, but some come in, the last thing that they check is their teeth on a health journey. But some people come in as a first thing, it's like I've got mercury, I've got this infected tooth, I've had my wisdom tooth taken out and it hasn't healed very well. So depending where you're at with that. So the mouth-body connection, so your gut microbiome and your oral microbiome are very connected.
1
0:10:51
So what you're feeding yourself is very important. General tips, I would say a good vitamin D levels, D3, that's absolutely essential over 50, 60. So optimum is very different to like passable, like it's okay, it's like, you know, in an okay range. And I'm sure you appreciate this Dr. Heck,
1
0:11:11
like the difference between being optimum versus it's okay, it's in range, like it's a very big difference and the presentation is a difference. Avoiding chemicals in the mouth, so we have a range of products on the market which contain SLS, parabens, all of this. This is going to wipe out the microbiome and we need the microbiome to be balanced inside
1
0:11:31
the mouth instead of wiping out that bacteria. As I said, a well-balanced diet that's nutrient dense, brushing, interdental cleaning. Just to note that, you know, toothbrushes have not been around forever. And it really is the diet, the diet and the nutrient density and how much we're chewing, which is going to help our oral health, tongue scraping, nose breathing. And like I said, chewy foods.
1
0:11:58
These are all things that are going to help you with your oral health.
2
0:12:03
I'm glad you brought up nose breathing because of course that's a big thing, right? Nasal versus mouth breathing.
14
0:12:09
Yeah.
2
0:12:10
I've had some patients tape their mouth at night. Have you noticed a difference between your nasal breathers in your practice versus the mouth breathers?
1
0:12:19
A difference in what respect?
2
0:12:23
As far as just good hygiene, cavities.
8
0:12:26
Absolutely.
1
0:12:27
So if you are mouth breathing, you are more prone to dental decay and periodontal disease, meaning gum disease, bleeding gums. And the reason for that is if your mouth is open, your mouth is drier, it's also more acidic. If your mouth is drier, the saliva isn't washing away
1
0:12:44
all of the food particles and everything that's in your mouth as readily as it could be. So things are sticking to your teeth more, so you're more prone to dental decay.
4
0:12:53
And I see it.
1
0:12:54
I see it especially in children, especially in children.
2
0:12:58
That makes sense because of course their diet, depending on their parents and who's feeding them can be really good or really processed.
13
0:13:07
Yeah, yeah.
1
0:13:08
And I think that's a big thing with processed food, you know, and I'm sure you've heard of Western A. Price and the work that he did. So he was a dentist who went out in the 1930s and explored indigenous communities all around the world. And in these populations, there was like no dental decay, beautifully formed arches, like dental arches, all the teeth fitting into the mouth wonderfully. And the second you had like a train line built and processed food coming in, like your flours, your refined sugars, your oils.
1
0:13:38
We started to get this dental decay, the arches, dental arches, the top of the mouth, the bottom of the mouth, not developing as well as they used to, and then crooked teeth.
3
0:13:48
So yeah, it's a big problem.
12
0:13:49
Yeah, it is amazing.
2
0:13:50
I love seeing the pictures of just jaw formation. Comparing how diet impacts that, it's amazing. Yeah, it's really astonishing, isn't it?
1
0:14:00
I mean, the more I read and research, I'm like, wow, like, and even our food today is not as nutrient dense as it used to be. So what are we to do? It's like, then there are supplements and then how they affect your system.
1
0:14:12
And I don't know, it's hard. I think it's really challenging in this day and age to get what your body needs without supplementing. Exactly, yeah, as you said, even clean, good food
2
0:14:23
is still depleted in some regards.
3
0:14:27
Yeah.
11
0:14:28
And that's the quality of our soil.
1
0:14:29
Like, there are just so many layers and factors of pesticides or herbicides, this or that, how far our food has traveled. Like some of our food has traveled more than we have.
10
0:14:38
It's, yeah.
9
0:14:39
It's wild.
6
0:14:40
It is.
2
0:14:41
Now, what, are there any kind of like standard supplements that you recommend to your patients just for good dental health?
1
0:14:51
So there are a lot of supplements and nutrients that are really important for oral health. What I tend to do is refer to a practitioner who can do bloods and to have a look at where you're at. This is really important. I don't recommend that people just start supplementing,
1
0:15:08
because we don't know where you're at in the first place. And you might have enough of this, but it might not be absorbed well in the system. Everything you already know, Dr. Hex. So calcium, that's absolutely essential for maintaining strong teeth and bones and it obviously helps preventing tooth decay and gum disease. I've touched on vitamin D3. This is really important to help the body absorb the calcium because if you don't have
1
0:15:34
enough D3, the calcium is not going to the right places in the body. And the K2 as well. This is also working with the vitamin D to ensure the calcium goes to the hard tissues rather than the soft. So if you're coming in and you're getting a lot of dental
1
0:15:48
tartar, people call it, or calculus built up on your lower teeth, just behind the front lower teeth, you can take a peek in the mirror if you're listening to this. If you're getting that built up a lot, it is telling me that the calcium is not going to the right places in your body
1
0:16:04
because it's coming through the soft tissues in the saliva as opposed to going to the teeth and the bones. So it's a really good indicator. Vitamin C, also important for gum health. Then there's like phosphorus, magnesium, probiotics.
5
0:16:19
So just everything.
1
0:16:20
Yeah, yeah.
2
0:16:21
That's so important with the trace minerals, as you said, the good probiotics.
8
0:16:28
Yeah.
2
0:16:28
And I do love running blood tests. Just as you said, it's objective, you see where you're at, and then you can kind of dose, you know, in that functional range versus just keeping pathology away. Yeah, absolutely.
1
0:16:42
And I feel a lot of my patients don't know this. Even though they're more holistically minded, they're like, I had bloods done and if they haven't got a functional doctor or they're not working with a nutritionist, they say, it's in range, it's fine. And then I look at it and I'm thinking, we're about to do a surgery, we need to optimize. This is what we want to do because if we're taking something out of your body that's infected, we want to give your body the best opportunity to heal well. And what does it need?
1
0:17:12
It needs all of those nutrients.
8
0:17:14
Exactly.
2
0:17:15
Now, do you like a hydroxyapatite for calcium or what form do you like the best?
1
0:17:25
So from the various forms of calcium, so you could be supplementing with calcium, but for the teeth specifically, if you're looking at what's in your toothpaste, yeah, hydroxyapatite is great, nano hydroxyapatite. Now I have to say, there are a lot of products on the market and I think it's very difficult for consumers to know even what to select, what to choose.
1
0:17:47
You go onto like big websites and it's quite overwhelming. You need to find a reputable brand of toothpaste with Hydroxyapatite.
6
0:17:55
Yeah, I know I switched our family, gosh,
2
0:17:57
probably four or five years over to that. It just made such a difference. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Now, one more question, just kind of thinking outside the box, having your background with energy work and Reiki and yoga, do you notice any emotional connections to dental health? You know, I've seen some naturopathic and homeopathic diagrams where there's certain organs connected to the teeth or emotions that can be stored there. What are your thoughts on that?
1
0:18:33
Yes, yes, and I've had patients that have come in where I've been cleaning their gums from gum disease that is just not healing or resolving, just moving through with tears through the appointment and reporting back to me that it was so healing just to get stuff cleaned up and all of this. So emotional, yes. There is a tooth meridian chart that connects, that shows the connections between the teeth
1
0:19:03
and the organs in the body. So absolutely, absolutely. And this is something, again, that not many people know about. You just punch it into your search engine, tooth meridian chart, you can see all of those connections there. There are emotions, there's like a mother-father relationship. It's wild actually when you go into those metaphysical, those deeper layers of the connections
1
0:19:24
to the teeth as well, which isn't for everybody, I have to say, but for those that are interested, it's interesting when you point it out. This quarter of the mouth is related to this and they're like, oh wow, yeah, I have this thing going on or whatever. So it's very interesting.
2
0:19:40
Yeah, it definitely helps, I feel like, for optimal healing just to take everything into consideration.
1
0:19:46
Yeah, and it really is a holistic approach. You know, we are multi-dimensional beings, you know, spirit souls having a human experience. And with that in mind, we really need to go the mental, the emotional, the spiritual, like all of it, right? The environmental, the social, there are just so many factors that are playing out in our systems, particularly the way that we live in this day and age. It's, it is wild.
1
0:20:15
And it can be very overwhelming. I feel like when you start on these kind of health journeys, it's like, wow, there's so much, particularly healing journeys, going into childhood, maybe past lives, all of this. So, yeah, but it's wonderful.
7
0:20:31
It is.
2
0:20:32
And, you know, as you said, it truly is a journey. You have different steps you have to take, different members of your care team, different layers that you kind of dig into this holistic path.
6
0:20:45
Yeah.
3
0:20:46
Yeah, absolutely.
2
0:20:47
Well, thank you so much for taking the time. Is there anything else that you'd want our listeners to think about or know before you
6
0:20:58
sign off?
1
0:21:01
So what I've spoken about today is really the tip of the iceberg with regard to biological dentistry, a holistic approach to oral health care. I would just add that if, you know, people have children, the mouth breathing is a piece if you see your child mouth breathing in the day or at night, that is definitely something you want to get checked by a functional orthodontist or a dentist who is familiar with this kind of territory because oxygen is the number one nutrient and when we are breathing through our mouths, the air isn't being filtered and humidified.
1
0:21:39
We get deeper, more efficient breathing with nose breathing, and nitric oxide is produced with nose breathing to get the oxygen to the right places in the body. So it's really important that if you see that, particularly in childhood, it is a great time to see somebody who knows what they're doing to get help with it, because then we're setting our kids up developmentally for life.
2
0:22:02
That's a great point. How would, you know, say I notice that in my child, how would I go about finding somebody? Is there a good website that you recommend or?
1
0:22:12
You know, there's actually not a good website that I recommend. I mean, there's the IAOMT and the IABDM, which are toxicology and biological dentists. But not all biological dentists will do everything. So when you're looking for a practitioner, and there are some websites that I think you could use, but not every practitioner is on every website as well. So that's something to consider.
1
0:22:36
But you want to look for a practitioner that maybe does work with sleep and airway or myofunctional therapy. So you want to look for those kind of things. Functional appliances, tongue-tie release. So if somebody is advertising these kind of things or sharing that this is the work that they're doing, they may be a good fit.
2
0:22:57
Perfect. That's really important to know. Yeah, like you said, you're just setting
1
0:23:02
your kids up forever. You really are. Like I see it, I've seen it happen and I'm just like, wow, like these kids have got these beautiful, like broad, like they've grown to their epigenetic potential so they've gone through treatment and treatment is you know it's it takes time right burnout can be high with this kind of thing you kind of get one chance at doing this well particularly with kids compliance but if it is done well you have all
1
0:23:29
teeth fitting in the mouth nicely no teeth taken out beautiful smiles lips together oxygen around the body good night's sleep I mean sleep is such a massive topic. But if you're sleeping well, oh my goodness, like you're just set up. You just really are set up. So this nose breathing, although you might hear it,
1
0:23:47
you know, particularly on social media, mouth breathers, this, this, this, this, it is, the time to get it, if you can, is in childhood. If you can't get it in childhood, there are still things that can be done. But if you can get it at that point, wow,
1
0:24:00
you're really setting these kids up for life. For sure. Yeah, it's always easier to address
2
0:24:03
these when they're little. Yeah, yeah. Wonderful. Well, thank you again for taking the time. I appreciate it. And I'll be sure to share your information with our listeners. I have your website. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with them? No, I think that's everything. You know what, it did really well. My son
1
0:24:29
didn't even come into my room, so I think he must have reduced the altitude. So I'll turn my camera off. And I'm in my husband's office. Oh, no, that's lovely. So thank you for having me. No, name, website, that's great. I feel like what we covered today, I mean, it's just so vast. I'm just like, and for me, and I feel like maybe for yourself as well as a practitioner, it's just so much to learn all of the time, there's always something and it's just never ending.
3
0:24:56
I'm like, yeah. But what a, yeah, what a, like a privilege and a, it's really an honour to be in this space, right?
1
0:25:03
There's like, to be able to, and I love what you're doing with your podcast, I think it's great, like more people need to hear about it. We're running, we're hosting a summit, the Holistic Horizon Health Summit in Singapore. It's like the first of its kind. So we've got 14 practitioners, naturopaths, functional medical doctors, bioresonance therapists,
1
0:25:25
all speaking at an event on the 28th of September. And it's amazing the people that are signing up for it because people are interested. People want to know more, which is wonderful. And it's really niche but we were like we need to do it we need to start getting word out because all of these amazing therapies and support is here and
1
0:25:48
It's not being utilized and people are taking this they're taking that they're using this mouthwash they're doing that and I have no idea what it's doing to their system and There are people here that can help. So yeah, we're really trying to create some waves over here in Asia.
5
0:26:05
That's wonderful. I'm glad to hear that.
2
0:26:07
Yeah, there's a huge need just because, you know, I feel like society always has that agenda. Do this, don't question it, do that. But underlying, I think there's a huge energy shift from the masses that do want this approach. They really do. I don't know if you
1
0:26:27
Follow anything spiritual or like the frequency shift or anything like this, but do you do you feel yeah, yeah
4
0:26:33
Yeah, yeah
1
0:26:34
So like the 3d to 5d shift like the Pisces into a quarry and age shift like we're really moving from like me to we Like we're not like top-down anymore like key players and we're seeing it in society We're like seeing it very quickly like 10-15 years ago. It's like chakra what meditation what yeah I oh yeah like it's all that it's normal almost I don't know if it's my echo chambers but it is right so it's really amazing because the energy is there the planet is is turning 5d we're turning 5d and this is the first time this has ever happened on
1
0:27:08
planet earth so it's just like in the next 10 years I don't even know what the world's gonna look like it's you know yeah and then it's a really neat neat time to be
2
0:27:17
alive and to be doing what we're designed to do you know yeah totally alive and to be doing what we're designed to do you know yeah totally
1
0:27:23
absolutely okay ladies take care have a great day.
Transcribed with Cockatoo