If you have been diagnosed with bone loss you are probably worried about the future of your teeth. You may have been told that bone loss is irreversible and there’s nothing you can do to stop it except a bone graft or other invasive treatments with uncertain outcomes.
However, a holistic approach which includes working with the metaphysical themes of the alveolar bone can help you to respond in a more positive and empowered way. My work as a natural oral health coach has shown me that bone loss doesn’t have to mean an inevitable decline.
First, let’s look at your jaw bone in the context of other kinds of gum tissue.
How to interpret gum symptoms
There are four main types of gum tissue, gingiva, periodontal ligaments, cementum, and alveolar bone. Each type of tissue can present particular symptoms and are open to specific interpretations.
This is the last article in a four-part series about metaphysical interpretations for gum problems based on the approach to interpreting gum symptoms that I originally described in my book, The Secret Lives of Teeth: Understanding emotional influences on oral health.
The first article in the series focuses on gingiva and symptoms on the surface of the gums such as bleeding and inflammation. The second article is about periodontal ligament and thinning gums. The third article is about cementum and gum pockets, This article focuses on the alveolar bone and bone loss.
What causes bone loss
Bone loss is a thinning of jaw bone density or mass. Bone loss can make tooth roots loose, causing teeth to move around in the mouth or even fall out. It’s a fairly common problem for older people, but sometimes it can start early in young adults.
Bone can be lost to the most advanced stages of periodontitis, a form of gum disease. Bone mass and density can also be reduced by mineral deficiencies or osteoporosis.
Bone loss sometimes follow a tooth extraction although in such cases it might takes years to develop. The bone loss can eventually spread out from an extraction gap to undermine adjacent teeth.
Advanced bone loss can eventually lead to a hollow cheeked, thin lipped appearance associated with multiple missing teeth, once there is no longer enough jaw bone to support the face’s soft tissues.
What is the alveolar bone
The part of your jaw bone first, and worst, affected by periodontal disease and bone loss is called the alveolar bone. Alveolar bone is a thin ridge of jawbone that surrounds each tooth with a delicate yet strong bony socket.
The physical purpose of the alveolar bone is to be a foundation that supports tooth roots to stand firm and straight.
Metaphysical meaning of bone loss
Metaphysically, bone loss may be an embodiment of feeling unsupported by family, friends or institutions in your life, perhaps even an existential sense that the Universe or God isn’t really supporting you.
This can look like loneliness, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed or struggling with financial insecurity.
It can feel like being unable to trust significant people (or anyone) to have your best interests at heart.
It might be a sense that your society doesn’t support your wellbeing or even existence, because of economic injustice, systemic racism, homophobia or other prejudice.
Sudden bone loss
When acute bone loss comes on suddenly, your gums may be responding to a current or recent job loss, relationship break-up or social isolation. From this perspective it’s not surprising that I’ve heard of many people reporting bone loss that was diagnosed since 2020, a year which was in some ways defined by social isolation.
Early onset bone loss
On the other hand, chronic or early onset bone loss may indicate that you didn’t feel well supported by your parents when you were a kid. It’s really common for my oral health coaching clients who had bone loss starting in their 20s to have grown up with some degree of neglect or abuse.
One woman described growing up as a middle child in a big immigrant family where both her parents worked long hours in multiple businesses.
She was more or less raised by not-much-older siblings. Although they had enough financial stability to always be fed, clothed and educated, she didn’t receive much attention or nurturing in the hurley burley of her family.
She became estranged from her parents and siblings as a teen. As a young mother in her 20s of two young children left her feeling isolated, overwhelmed and anxious. That’s when she was first diagnosed with periodontal disease and bone loss which progressed for many years before she started working with me.
Reversing bone loss
The most obvious cause of bone loss might be losing one or more teeth. Whether and how that gap is filled (e.g. an implant) can have a very direct affect on alveolar bone.
Mineral deficiencies, hormones and oesteoporosis can play a role too. However, bone loss is also influenced by what you eat or drink, your oral posture, bite and jaw tension.
Underlying all of those physical causes are the energetic, emotional, psychological, ancestral and environmental influences which play a huge role in your vulnerability to the physical resaons for bone loss.
Make a note of where in your mouth the bone loss begins and where it spreads to next. If it starts with a single tooth, cross reference bone loss interpretations with the archetype of the tooth which is missing.
For more generalized bone loss, look up the meaning of the quadrant which is first or most affected to help you fine tune the bone loss interpretation by
Often the diagnosis of bone loss can feel like (and be presented as) an inevitable, irreversible choice between surgery or losing the rest of your teeth. However, many of my gum-healing coaching clients have succeeded in stopping the advancement of bone loss at home without surgery.
Some have been able to increase their bone density, stabilize loose teeth and even see slight increases in alveolar bone mass by applying intensive regenerative protocols which combine physical and metaphysical healing strategies.
Further reading
Meaning of Gums Part 2: What thinning gums mean
Meaning of Gums Part 3: The truth about gum pockets
Meaning of Gums Part 4: What bleeding gums mean
The Secret Lives of Teeth: Understanding emotional influences on oral health
Three foods you can eat for gum health
Toothbrushing tips for gum health
The Secret Lives of Teeth
Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!
The Secret Lives of Teeth is a clear and comprehensive guide teaches you a unique, complementary self-help approach to easing toothaches, enhancing enamel and gum remineralization and getting better results with necessary dental treatments.
Available as a paperback or ebook.
Listen to your teeth
Listen to your teeth: Mapping the metaphysical messages from your mouth is a FREE online masterclass (all value, no fluff) that will teach you how to make sense of what your teeth and gums want you to know.
In this FREE Masterclass you’ll get:
- metaphysical maps of your mouth
- a manifesto for metaphysical healing
- a guided visualisation to listen to your teeth
- healing with metaphysical messages
Has a dentist told you that your cavities or receding gums are your fault because you are drinking too much Coke, you don’t floss enough or you need to stop breastfeeding your baby? And you know that isn’t true!
I’m a natural oral health coach and I’m not going to blame you or shame you.
The underlying causes of your oral health issues are not your fault!
Nature or nurture, ancestry or environment, free will or systemic oppression, unconscious emotions or the degraded food system are the factors that make your teeth and gums vulnerable to disease.
Even though your tooth decay and gum disease is not your fault, it is within your power to change.
I can help you to turn your oral health around with natural strategies, healthy habits and intuitive insights.