Armed to the Teeth

An effective approach to your good health that starts in your mouth, and with biological dentistry

A periodic series designed to spotlight cutting edge providers, what they do, and why it matters to your health.

Let’s start here. Have you ever heard of biological dentistry?

Biological dentistry is not exactly a new term nor is it a new type of dentistry. It is “new” in the way that we look at dentistry beyond just your mouth and how we can utilize it to (re)create your entire health picture.

Your mouth and the rest of your body are linked! For example, if you are someone who suffers from halitosis (bad breath), you might be treating your bad breath by masking it with breath mints or mouth wash. Maybe you’ve had a bad tooth pulled, hoping it would help, but it hasn’t. You might even be thinking that it’s solely a symptom of your mouth.

Don’t beat yourself up; as consumers, we all find ourselves treating symptoms because without symptoms, how else would we know something is wrong?

So what if I told you there was a way to investigate your symptoms, whatever they may be, by looking at the bacteria in your mouth?

Spotlight: Bryce Eagar, DDS

Bryce Eager, DDS, at Gateway Oral Health Center in St. George, Utah, is a dentist who provides all the services of care you might expect from a general dentist but with one special twist: biological dentistry.

Here’s why biological dentistry matters.

Your oral health is directly linked to your internal health. Studies have shown that your oral health can be linked to heart disease, respiratory disease, Alztheimer’s disease, kidney disease, diabetes, sleep disturbances, and more.

Your mouth is naturally loaded with bacteria, some are vital and aid in breaking down food and aid in digestion, while some bacteria are harmful and can proliferate and cause harm to your teeth, gums, and even your internal organs.

Dr. Eager can literally study the bacteria in your mouth with a simple test by using a non-invasive, pain-free swab to collect bacteria between your teeth. Essentially, this test looks at the DNA of your oral microbiome. By looking at your oral microbiome, you can also glean what might be happening with your gut microbiome.

From there, he can determine a course of action that could help you take care of the symptoms you may be having and help you utilize this valuable information to combat or manage the root cause of your condition and share it with your other providers.

Special Formulations

If you should require help with balancing your oral bacteria, you are then given a personalized and proprietary compound prescription for a medicated mouth rinse. Now you may wonder why a medicated mouth rinse might be more beneficial over a tablet or pill. The answer is simply that if your oral bacteria is out of balance, a pill that you swallow will have to go through your digestive processes before reaching your mouth and may render the medication useless. The other side of the coin is that by combating the bacteria “on site.” you aren’t swallowing it into your digestive tract and allowing it to collect in the gut.

Being Your Own Advocate

I hope you found this information useful, either for you or a loved one that just can’t seem to get to the root cause of their illness. With the help of the internet, you are able to research, collect your own data, and advocate for alternative approaches. Having access to Dr. Eager and his practice could help “arm you to the teeth” with information and help you integrate your other providers with your health care.