“It really boils down to this: That all life is interrelated.
We are caught in an inescapable garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967

While Dr. King was describing the interconnectedness that exists in the world, this comparison also describes the interrelationship between the mouth and the rest of the body. It is essential that dentists, chiropractors, physicians and other health practitioners recognize this connection and are aware that a situation in the mouth may generate seemingly unrelated conditions in other parts of the body.

The human body is not just a physical entity; it simultaneously operates through a series of electrical impulses that have been shown to follow certain pathways. The body consists of an energetic “web” of relationships. Understanding these relationships can aid a dentist (or any health practitioner) in choosing the correct treatment to help heal her patients.

The book Whole-Body Dentistry: A Complete Guide to Understanding the Impact of Dentistry on Total Health explains the importance of making informed dental-care decisions. One of the many topics covered is the mouth-body energetic connection: “Since every major organ and, in fact, nearly everything in the human body, is linked via meridians to a specific tooth, the implications for dentistry are tremendous.”

Because of these energetic connections, procedures and/or problems in the mouth can have a profound effect on the rest of the body. For this reason, a whole-body dental approach is very important. It is not enough to just fill or extract a tooth or do a root canal. The dentist must be aware of the patient’s health problems and how everything fits together. For example, a female patient whose mother and maternal grandmother died of breast cancer complained of an ache in a tooth that lies along the breast meridian. Awareness of both the family history and the associated tooth/organ meridian systems enabled the dentist and the patient to make a fully informed decision about whether to have a root canal or to extract the affected tooth.

This “link” is apparent in many patient’s stories.

“Lisa” complained of a toothache in her upper right eyetooth. She felt this tooth was also the cause of her terrible right-sided headache. The tooth had no fillings and no decay, and there was nothing abnormal on her x-rays, but Lisa insisted that her head pain was coming from this tooth. She felt that a root canal should be performed. Every tooth is on an acupuncture meridian, and a problem with a tooth can cause a problem in an associated organ.

This is true in reverse as well: A problem along a specific meridian can manifest itself in the related tooth. Lisa was correct that the head pain was connected to that tooth. Energetic testing showed that there was a problem with her gallbladder; in fact, her eyetooth was on the liver/gallbladder meridian, as was the area of her head pain. Homeopathic treatment of her gallbladder resolved both her tooth pain and head pain. No root canal was needed.

“Melanie”, a young college student, was hit in the mouth during an accident, necessitating a root canal in her upper front tooth. Shortly thereafter, she developed a bladder infection that resisted all medical treatment for a year and a half. Sometimes a dead tooth will interfere with the associated meridian organs. Melanie’s front tooth was on the bladder meridian and the root-canaled tooth proved to be the underlying cause of her problem. Extraction of the root-canaled tooth cleared up the infection.

Another important example of this interconnectedness is wisdom teeth, which are located on the heart meridian and from which heart problems may emanate. The wisdom tooth may not have enough room or may be partially or fully impacted in the bone. Alternatively, there may be a cavitation—a hidden infection where a tooth has been extracted—in the wisdom tooth site.

Armed with this depth of knowledge, the 21^st-century dentist will be positioned to play an integral role in overall health care.

Mark A. Breiner, DDS, FAGD, FIAOMT, is an expert in biological and holistic dentistry and the author of Whole-Body Dentistry: A Complete Guide to Understanding the Impact of Dentistry on Total Health. He is also a contributing author for the Nutritional and Integrative Strategies in Cardiovascular Medicine medical textbook. Breiner maintains a private practice in Fairfield. For more information, visit WholeBodyDentistry.com. See ad, page 2.