Just like whole body health, oral health is all about daily habits and diet.

You probably agree that regular exercise and healthy foods are good for your body. They’re good for your teeth too!

But, it works both ways. Not taking care of your teeth and eating foods that damage them is not only bad for your teeth, but your overall health too.

This is why we constantly emphasize preventative care habits including brushing, flossing, and dental visits.

For example, we’ll often talk with patients about why processed sugar — why it’s bad for you, the difference between glucose and fructose, and how eliminating just a few problematic foods can improve your oral health and your whole health.

Not fillings and fluoride

If a child develops a mouthful of cavities, a dentist could just fix the cavities with fillings, apply fluoride and say “OK, you’re good.” It is too common.

That’s not whole health dentistry. Nutrition can solve many problems. We educate you about how diet and nutrition can improve oral health and help kids get comfortable with dentistry early on. We never apply fluoride or toxic chemicals.

Not everyone loves going to the dentist. (We know.)

Some people had bad experiences in the past that make them afraid to return. Others just don’t like the anxiety of being talked-down-to by the dentist about their bad habits.

All of these are good reasons. But, dentists can and should do better, because if you are too afraid or anxious to visit us, we aren’t doing our job.

Not fear and anxiety

Instead of making patients feel bad about their oral health, we first try to understand what they’ve experienced, who they are, and why they might have avoided dental care in the past.

For some, our low-stress approach and caring team are enough for them to start trusting a dentist again.

For very anxious patients, we can still help them control their anxiety, build confidence, and get the care they need with free oral conscious sedation.

Finally, we educate all of our patients about their oral health and how to maintain it with great preventative care habits.

Sometimes dental problems are actually symptoms of other health issues, which may not be related to the teeth or mouth at all. Finding and treating the root cause is a core principle of whole health.

When we perform comprehensive examinations, we take a patient’s whole health into account to find the source of the problems they are experiencing.

For example, a patient with a cracked tooth reports jaw pain and sleep apnea. It’s a case of temporomandibular joint disorder, but the root cause is stress-related. We’d recommend a mouth guard for sleeping but also yoga or gentle exercise to lower stress levels.

Not unnecessary surgeries or medications

If you have a dental problem of any kind, you are trusting the dentist to recommend a solution that treats the root cause. Not a cosmetic fix that you don’t need or a medication that only treats the symptoms.

In all cases we attempt to identify and treat root causes and avoid unnecessary treatments or medications.

Your body is an integrated natural system, and the dangers of toxic chemicals to biological organisms are well known.

Not toxic chemicals

When we’re providing treatment or prescribing medications, we promote natural and organic ingredients and avoid toxic chemicals.

For example, yeast infections in the mouth are a common dental problem. Dentists typically prescribe a chemical-based anti-fungal medicine — we recommend tea tree oil instead.

We never apply topical fluoride and offer mercury amalgam filling replacement.

Whole health dentistry is not a recognized specialty, for us, it is a philosophy and treatment approach to your health.

Proven treatments and methods like root canal therapy solve dental problems, resulting in real improvements to your whole health.

You may hear about other “holistic dentistry” methods, but be careful. If you find out about a miracle treatment that sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Some alternative or integrative treatments for dental problems are unsafe and unapproved. The following are some procedures we don’t do:

• Vitamin C intravenous drip – is out of the scope of dental care and illegal for a dentist in Alberta to offer.

• Ozone therapy – ozone gas is a dangerous oxidizing agent that harms the lungs even in small amounts.

• Zirconia dental implants – are the latest in biocompatible materials research, but haven’t been used long enough to verify long-term biocompatibility. Titanium is proven to be biocompatible.

• Dental materials testing – Although we do our best to avoid reactive dental materials, we do NOT offer Clifford materials serum testing for biocompatibility, because this test is not based on scientifically-accepted principles of immunology.
  All of our dental materials are the safest we can find. We are BPA-free (Bis-Phenol A), mercury-free, and fluoride-free. We avoid nickel use wherever possible. We only use genuine, top-tier dental material suppliers to ensure your safety.