What’s the best remineralizing toothpaste?

by Meliors Simms | Oral hygiene, Reverse Tooth Decay, Toothache Remedy

What is Hydroxyapatite toothpaste?

There’s a (relatively) new active ingredient in toothpaste town.

It’s called hydroxyapatite which is actually the main mineral component of teeth. More than 90% of tooth enamel (the hard surface layer) and 70% of dentine (the layer underneath the enamel) consists of hydroxyapatite.

Nano-hydroxyapatite is synthetically manufactured to be bioidentical to the hydroxyapatite found in our teeth. This is the most common form used in toothpaste, toothpowder or tooth tablets.

Microcrystalline hydroxyapatite is derived from animal bones, usually, cattle but sometimes fish (so it is not vegan). It is a slightly coarser powder than the nano form. Microcrystalline Hydroxyapatite is more commonly found in supplements for bone support.

How remineralization works

Your body naturally keeps your teeth remineralized, mostly from the inside out.

Teeth are made up of tiny tubules running from the root to the enamel surface.

The tubules carry a solution of mineral molecules extracted from nutrients in your food.

The teeth nourishing solution is pushed through the tubes by dentinal flow which is highly responsive to stress and blood sugar levels.

When your nervous system is stressed or your blood sugar is high the dentinal flow gets switched off, the teeth can start to demineralize and those tiny tubules on the surface of your enamel start absorbing molecules inwards instead of pushing them outwards.

How hydroxyapatite toothpaste remineralizes tooth enamel

As a toothpaste ingredient, hydroxyapatite can remineralize decay and small cavities in enamel.

When nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste is brushed onto your teeth, and left to sit (not rinsed off) it can penetrate and seal the enamel’s tiny tubules with almost exactly the same minerals that have been lost through demineralization.

By blocking up your teeth’s tubules, hydroxyapatite toothpaste can help stop the inflow of bacteria from your oral microbiome into teeth.

How does hydroxyapatite compare to fluoride and Xylitol?

Hydroxyapatite toothpaste’s outside-inwards remineralization helps to protect the nerve in the centre of your tooth. Sensitivity is reduced, along with sensations of pain stimulated from the surface of the tooth.

Hydroxyapatite is particularly effective in reducing tooth sensitivity, so it’s a great alternative to Sensodyne toothpaste, in which the active ingredients are analgesics that minimise the discomfort without actually strengthening teeth.

Scientific tests have found hydroxyapatite is better at reducing sensitivity than fluoride. Hydroxyapatite works to help to protect teeth against caries and dental erosion making it a great alternative to fluoride, without any neurotoxin risks.

Hydroxyapatite is biocompatible and safe enough to swallow, making it a much safer alternative to Xylitol (which can damage your gut).

It’s encouraging to see that there’s increasing research evidence that hydroxyapatite offers low-risk protection and repair.

You might still have to go out of your way to find a toothpaste brand that include a therapeutic proportion of Hydroxyapatite as an active ingredient, but I think it’s worth it!

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.

Buy The Secret Lives of Teeth

References here, here, here and here

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 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

These 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.

You can turn your oral health around with natural strategies and healthy habits.

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Political Teeth

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How to heal decaying baby teeth

As a parent you want to do whatever is right to keep your baby healthy. You can feel so guilty to see brown spots or cavities developing on your baby's teeth. Yet, discoloration and dental decay can start very young, sometimes within hours of a new tooth erupting!...

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A simple guide to online coaching

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As soon as you start searching for information about oral health on the internet you can quickly become overwhelmed by thousands of choices, most of them fronting small dental practices or large toothpaste manufacturers. Almost all offer the same tired mainstream...

Root Cause Netflix Documentary Review

Root Cause is the Netflix documentary stirring up root canal concerns I had to write this Root Cause review because root canals loom big in my life. I’ve had six root canals in five teeth, I still have three in situ. Their origins are, without exception, memorably...

Metaphysical meanings of molars and premolars

by Meliors Simms | Cure Gum Disease, Metaphysical Teeth, Reverse Tooth Decay, Root Canals, Toothache Remedy

Metaphysical Meanings of Molars and Premolars

The metaphysical meanings of molar and premolar teeth are different for every individual. However, there are some common themes and widely accepted frameworks for interpretation.

Molars and premolars are your most powerful teeth, the grinders and chewers.

Energetically, these big back teeth help you to process the challenges in your life.

Meridian meaning of molars

The meridian system of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treats molars and premolars differently from the rest of your teeth. The meridians for each pair vary according to whether they are in the upper or lower jaw and the right or left side.

Upper molars and lower pre molars are on the Stomach and Spleen meridians on the left side or Pancreas on the right side. These meridians are associated with emotions including anxiety, self-punishment, hate and low self worth.

Lower molars and upper premolars are on the Lung (associated with grief and sadness) and Large Intestine meridians (associated with feeling compulsive, trapped, controlling or overcritical).

When you are trying to understand what is going on metaphysically with a molar or premolar, it’s helpful to take into whether it’s on the top or bottom jaw, and right or left side.

Learn more about the meanings of each quadrant of your mouth, and some important general advice for working with metaphysical meanings for oral health here.

Metaphysical meanings of molars and premolar teeth

Psychosocial meanings of molars and premolars

Dr Michele Caffin’s psychosocial framework relates each type of tooth to a particular aspect of your life. You can explore each of these interpretations in more detail by cross-referencing with the meanings of right and left, upper and lower quadrants of the mouth explained here.

The first premolars (teeth numbers 5, 12, 21, 28) relate to your ego, your identity and your desires.

It’s common practice for orthodontists to extract the first premolars of young teenagers with crowded teeth. But metaphysically, missing these teeth can weaken your sense of self and may result in submitting to authority figures even if you don’t want to.

The second premolars (4,13,20,29) relate to your creativity, hobbies and children.

These teeth can start to experience problems when the responsibilities of adult life, particularly parenting start to crowd out your own interest.

The first molars (3,14,19,30) relate to status and expression.

These teeth can be affected by how you speak up for yourself at work or at home.

The second molars (2,15,18,31) relate to relationships and daily life.

There is a close relationship between these back molars and wisdom teeth (which I’ll focus on in the next video and blog in this series).

——————————

But these two frameworks (TCM and psychosocial) are just starting points for understanding and healing your teeth and gums, they are not sufficient by themselves. You need to be a detective, investigating the unique personal influences on your own teeth and gum symptoms.

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Buy The Secret Lives of Teeth

Are mouth infections and abscesses influenced by anger?

Making sense of symptoms

Chronic oral health symptoms can be the embodiment of an emotional or psychosocial pattern. It’s common to be able to trace your adult teeth and gums problems back to patterns that emerged in childhood or adolescence as a survival strategy.

You may have spend years consciously try to change the emotional pattern with therapy, trauma healing or emotional expression, yet the physical pattern can persist in your mouth.

Angry Abscesses

Abscesses and infections in your mouth may indicate a pattern of suppressed frustration or anger.

The abscess may flare up if you are triggered into anger in your current circumstances, or it can be a long low simmer from earlier in your life.

Look at the particular teeth adjacent to the infection to help you make sense of it.

For example, on your left side molars or premolars an abscess may be in response to a toxic intimate relationship or unhealthy family dynamic.

Infected molars or premolars on your right side are more likely to be assocated with work related frustration or injustice in the public sphere.

Is gum health influenced by security and stability?

Gum insecurity

Gum problems around molars and premolars may indicate a lack of stability or security in relation to the particular issues governing those teeth.

Gum issues adjacent to premolar #5 could relate to insecure employment, unemployment or underemployment.

Gum issues around molar #19 may relate to insecurity in a romantic relationship, such as feeling jealous or betrayed.

Misaligned molars

When your upper and lower molars aren’t vertically aligned enough to chew properly, it may represent a resistance or block to deeply engaging with life challenges, either in the past or as an ongoing pattern.

For example, if your lower jaw skews to your right indicate that you have avoided emotions, or not been processing issues, around family and intimate relationships.

Or if your lower jaw is skewing left perhaps you have avoided career or economic responsibilities or had difficulty with pursuing your professional or academic ambitions.

Could your crossbite be influenced by emotional avoidance?

What’s next?

Please don’t take these suggestions about how to interpret your molar and premolar issues too literally.

They should be considered as prompts for self examination, and not acted on as a reliable diagnosis for yourself and especially not for anyone else.

Explore your own unique personal symptoms by journalling, in safe, therapeutic conversations with a counsellor or coach (like me!) or read my book, The Secret Lives of Teeth: Understanding emotional influences on oral health.

This blog is part of a series which explores ways to work with the metaphysical meanings of specific teeth such as wisdoms, canines and incisors and how to interpret different kinds of symptoms in your teeth or adjacent gums.

To help speed up the process you can watch my free Listen to your Teeth masterclass where I take you through a guided meditation for listening to your teeth.

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Buy The Secret Lives of Teeth

Hello! I'm Meliors Simms, the Holistic Tooth Fairy.

As a natural oral health coach I have worked with hundreds of clients worldwide to avoid unnecessary dental procedures and have better experiences with the necessary ones. (Find out about my coaching services here).

After a diverse career (from research to counselling to arts) and a lifetime of terrible teeth, I stumbled on an Alt Oral approach which prevented what would have been my 7th root canal.

That inspired years of independent research and experimentation, eventually resulting in my uniquely holistic approach to oral health.

My new book The Secret Lives of Teeth is a comprehensive guide to healing teeth and gums with metaphysical perspective. Read a sample here for free.

Is there a Spiritual Meaning to Your Toothache?

Metaphysical teeth: Self-help strategies for oral health

Political Teeth

How to heal decaying baby teeth

Natural solutions for gingivitis or gum disease

How to get rid of cavities naturally, for FREE

Spiritual Reasons for Gum Disease

A simple guide to online coaching

My 5 Best Websites for Natural Oral Health

Root Cause Netflix Documentary Review

Metaphysical healing guidelines for oral health

by Meliors Simms | Cure Gum Disease, Metaphysical Teeth, Reverse Tooth Decay, Root Canals, Toothache Remedy

Metaphysical Healing for Teeth and Gums

Metaphysical healing teeth and gums can help boost the effectiveness and sustainability of dental procedures as well as natural approaches to oral such as health herbs or diet, anatomical adjustments to your breath or jaw muscles, optimising your oral hygiene rituals… or a necessary dental procedure.

In this video I lay out some guidelines for applying spiritual healing concepts to teeth and gums. There are strengths and limitations of using existing frameworks of metaphysical meanings to symptoms, which I explain in relation to the four quadrants of your mouth: the upper and lower jaws and the right and left sides. Finally I’ll provide some practical examples of how to work with metaphysical meanings to help with healing your own symptoms.

This video series is all about the metaphysical or non-physical, influences on your oral health, but its important to remember to provide physical support for your teeth. If you have intense or constant pain, or other serious symptoms please visit a dental professional.

Interpreting the quadrants of your mouth

Metaphysically and dentally, you can divide your mouth horizontally into upper jaw (maxilla) and lower jaw (mandible); and vertically into right and left sides.

Upper Jaw

Your upper jaw is about dreams and intentions, it represents what you want and wish for, the upper jaw is where you set goals and visualise the future. Having symptoms concentrated in your upper jaw can indicate a problem with knowing or accepting your dreams or desires.

Lower Jaw

Your lower jaw is about action, speaking your truth, and qualities of courage, authenticity, decisiveness. Symptoms in your lower jaw can suggest you have held back from speaking out or taking action.

TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint)

Your TMJ joint, the hinge between upper and lower jaw, represents the connection between your desires and your actions. It can embody your fears, your impulsiveness or your hesitation. Symptoms such as TMJ disorder, a clicking jaw or teeth grinding can indicate resentment or anger.

In many healing traditions the Right side of the body is associated with masculine energies or your relationship with your father while the Left side is associated with feminine energies or your relationship with your mother.

However, I find it’s not usually helpful to take such a gender-essentialist interpretation of these associations with the sides of your mouth.

Instead, the ancient Chinese concept of yin and yang can be more meaningful.

Right side of your mouth

The energy of the right side of your mouth may tend to be more yang: active, outward, professional, career, logical thinking.

Left side of your mouth

The energy of the left side of your mouth may tend to be more yin: inner world, intuitive, family, children, hobbies, creativity.

But knowing the traditional associations with different parts of your mouth is just a starting point for spiritual healing, not a solution or cure in itself .

Metaphysical meanings of the quadrants of your mouth

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Buy The Secret Lives of Teeth

Guidelines for spiritual healing

As a holistic oral health coach, I may refer to existing metaphysical frameworks such as Traditional Chinese Medicine’s meridian system, Dr Michele Caffin’s psychosocial system and correlations identified by Louise Hay, Evette Rose and others as starting points for understanding the metaphysical influences on your oral health. These frameworks are most helpful when inspiring what questions to explore, rather being relied on for answers.

Think of these existing associations as story prompts that can help you explore your own childhood and adult experiences, your family patterns and ancestral lineage.

Parts of your unique story might come to you in a dream, or as a memory from a past life.

Your story can emerge from your visioning, or be picked up from the wider culture.

Finding your healing story this way can give you a delicate, imaginative tool for healing.

For the purposes of healing, it doesn’t necessarily matter whether your healing story is true or accurate in order to transform your relationship with your oral health.

However, it can feel intoxicating to finally make sense of your symptoms with a compelling metaphysical interpretation.

That intoxication can lead you to give your healing story more weight than it can hold.

It may not be wise to use your healing story to determine your identity, and you should certainly be very careful before going public with blame or claims.

Before you take your healing story out of the safe space of your healing work, (ie before you share it anywhere beyond your journal or a confidential therapeutic conversation) ensure you have receipts.

Without corroboration, or evidence, going public with your healing story could potentially cause further harm, if not to you, then to others.

Find your unique oral health healing story

Your unique metaphysical meanings

Journalling can be one way to help you develop traditional associations into a healing story that can help you to relieve your symptoms and transform your oral health.

Think of your symptoms as metaphors you can apply to the associations. Make a list of words that describe your symptoms:

eg blocking or eroding or aggravating, deep or shallow, nagging, intermittent, subtle, overwhelming, irritating, invasive, unbalanced, stuck etc…

Once you’ve written down the words that describe your symptoms, reread each word and think about the non-symptom experiences in your life that those words could also be metaphors for. A thesaurus or synonym search might be helpful.

Understanding the metaphysical meaning of your teeth issues can be like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with a picture that is mostly blue sky. You have to test many possibilities to find the right fit.

With relaxed curiosity and a playful spirit you can test your symptom’s metaphors against the associations of their placement in your mouth.

A throbbing toothache in your upper left jaw

For example: if you have a throbbing toothache in your left upper jaw… think about anything in your personal life that feels overwhelming, or a nagging desire that remains unfulfilled. Have you had any relationships that feel like this, or felt like this in the past, especially within your family or intimate circle?

A throbbing toothache in your lower right jaw

If the throbbing toothache is taking over your lower right side consider whether your work life is demanding or whether you’ve made a career move you regret. Are you uncomfortable now or in the past with anyone in a position of authority, or anyone in a fatherly role or acting in domineering way?

Keep brainstorming metaphors and experimenting with associations. Don’t be afraid to extend your pool of possible healing stories by drawing on memories, dreams, insights from other people, even song lyrics that catch your ear!

Spiritual Healing Guidelines for teeth and gums

Recognising your own healing story

You won’t always recognise your story right away.

Sometimes you will think: not this old trauma, surely my 20 years of therapy and healing resolved this by now.

Sometimes you will think: that’s too trivial, I don’t have enough emotional attachment for this to explain my symptoms.

Sometimes it can take weeks of chewing on these ideas before you get clarity.

To help speed up the process you can watch my free Listen to your Teeth masterclass where I take you through a guided meditation for listening to your teeth.

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Buy The Secret Lives of Teeth

Hello! I'm Meliors Simms, the Holistic Tooth Fairy.

After a diverse career (from research to counselling to arts) and a lifetime of terrible teeth, I stumbled on an Alt Oral approach which prevented what would have been my 7th root canal.

That inspired years of independent research and experimentation, eventually resulting in my uniquely holistic approach to oral health.

My new book The Secret Lives of Teeth is a comprehensive guide to healing teeth and gums with metaphysical perspective. Read a sample here for free.

Is there a Spiritual Meaning to Your Toothache?

Metaphysical teeth: Self-help strategies for oral health

Political Teeth

How to heal decaying baby teeth

Natural solutions for gingivitis or gum disease

How to get rid of cavities naturally, for FREE

Spiritual Reasons for Gum Disease

A simple guide to online coaching

My 5 Best Websites for Natural Oral Health

Root Cause Netflix Documentary Review

Is your jaw clenched right now?

by Meliors Simms | Cure Gum Disease, Holistic Dentists, Metaphysical Teeth, Reverse Tooth Decay, Root Canals, Toothache Remedy

If you had to stop to evaluate whether or not it was clenched, noticed that it was, and then had to manually un-clench it – this article is for you!

We are in an unprecedented moment.

Not only are we adapting to a complete change in daily life, but we are in a time where taking care of normal, routine things like oral health may just have fallen to the wayside.

Many dental associations around the world are advising their region or their country to suspend regular dental services and only provide emergency dental care.

There will likely not be any non-emergency dental treatment available in most places for quite some time.

And so, in some ways, we really are on our own.

That makes this a great time to bring natural oral health into the mainstream conversation about how we care for our teeth.

Your mouth is a vulnerable place.

The mouth is very vulnerable to infection, and it is part of our immune system.

The complex system of our mouth – the saliva, gums, mucous membranes, teeth and jaw – all of that is within itself an immune system, which is connected to the bigger immune system of our body. It’s very close to our nose.

Our mouths are one of the vectors where we can potentially inhale little droplets of virus that might stay in the air for up to three hours, so we really do need to be taking good care of our mouth.

This means being extra careful with brushing and flossing. It means not causing bleeding if you can avoid it.

It helps if you can keep the jaw relaxed so that you’re not risking cracking or chipping a tooth, or even losing a filling because of tension.

Stress and tension is markedly high.

On top of the limitations for professional dental care, stress may be at an all-time high for us.

We may be taking on the stress of others as well as our own. Did you know that we sometimes actually store stress in our jaws and teeth?!

All of this fear around the pandemic may lead to people clenching their jaw even more than usual, which can cause cracks, chips, and toothache nerve pressure.

Jaw tension is then being exacerbated. With conventional dental care unavailable to handle non-emergency situations, it becomes even more important to do some jaw self-care.

You’re not powerless in this.

Fortunately, there are some simple, basic things we can do on our own at home to reduce the need for dental intervention.

A fabulous way of mitigating both our oral health needs, as well as the intensified stress we may be under, is to practice jaw massage and relaxation.

You can relax your jaw every evening with jaw massage.

I recommend that you go slowly, mindfully and gently. Pay attention to your breath.

Notice how your jaw, and your psyche, are feeling as you go. Think of this as a loving act of self-care, as well as prime support for your oral health and well-being.

As you proceed through the steps below, imagine that there’s a healing light coming out through your fingertips like a spotlight shining through the tissue of your cheeks, into your jaw and into your gums.

Here are the steps involved:

1. Massage the TMJ joint (the hinge between your upper and lower jaw, in front of your ear)

2. Massage along the upper jaw line

3. Massage along the lower jaw line

4. Massage underneath the lower jaw line

5. Massage around the eye sockets and temples

6. Massage over the ears, and follow base of skull to the occipital bone where the spine enters the skull, and extend the massage to your scalp, neck and shoulders as desired.

(For full step-by-step instructions on jaw relaxation, have a peek at my video on this)

This is truly self-care at its best.

If you practice this jaw relaxation daily, you can greatly reduce the likelihood of clenching and grinding. You can avoid the potential risk of unnecessary damage to your teeth and jaw.

And this practice helps to center you. When you add in your own healing intentions, it connects you more deeply to your body and overall sense of well-being.

Not only does this help stop the clenching and grinding, but can even support cracks in the teeth to heal whilst avoiding chipping in general.

It’s so lovely to do just before you go to sleep at night. You can relax the jaw for the night so that you don’t clench or grind in your sleep. It allows you to release the tension of the day.

Jaw relaxation another tool for you in your dental health self help regimen. Combine this with a dental nutritional protocol and overall dental hygiene, and you can reap the benefits afforded by better oral health.

You can physically reduce stress and tension to help foster greater relaxation, which we all need a bit more of at the moment, don’t we!

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

These 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.

You can turn your oral health around with natural strategies and healthy habits.

Is there a Spiritual Meaning to Your Toothache?

Metaphysical teeth: Self-help strategies for oral health

Political Teeth

How to heal decaying baby teeth

Natural solutions for gingivitis or gum disease

How to get rid of cavities naturally, for FREE

Spiritual Reasons for Gum Disease

A simple guide to online coaching

My 5 Best Websites for Natural Oral Health

Root Cause Netflix Documentary Review

by Meliors Simms | Holistic Dentists, Metaphysical Teeth, Reverse Tooth Decay, Root Canals, Toothache Remedy

Root Cause is the Netflix documentary stirring up root canal concerns

I had to write this Root Cause review because root canals loom big in my life. I’ve had six root canals in five teeth, I still have three in situ. Their origins are, without exception, memorably traumatic, but their current status in my body is relatively benign.

Avoiding what would have been my 7th root canal by changing my diet seemed like a miracle that opened my eyes to the wonderful and wacky world of alternative oral health (or alt-oral as I like to call it).

In the seven years since healing that root naturally, I have become very familiar with the experts and arguments presented in the recently released Netflix documentary Root Cause.

Books by several Root Cause featured experts are on my shelves, but I don’t agree with everything they say. Particularly when their tone veers into fear-mongering, exaggerated extremes and conspiracy theories. Theories which aren’t part of the documentary, but are easy to find in most alt-oral discussions of root canals.

On one hand, it’s exciting to see the root canal debate enter mainstream awareness. Root canals are problematic and the dental profession’s excessive use of the procedure needs to be challenged, particularly when cavities or abscesses are not present.

The flip side to this is the manipulative way that director, Frazier Bailey, presents a mixture of facts, opinion and distortions lacks nuance. These very qualities are what make Root Cause so slick and watchable actually undermine the credibility of its central argument, that root canals can cause harm. And don’t even get me started on the film’s objectification of women – I’ll save that discussion until the end of this review.

Watch ‘Root Cause’ until the end

The best part of Root Cause is the second half, where some of the more sensible and balanced information and practical advice is presented. Although the ‘sexy dental hygienist’ trope was quite unnecessary.

My highlight was Dawn Ewing and Mark Briener‘s explanations of how every tooth sits on two or more meridians, which is the main mechanism for the whole body health impacts of root canals. This is incredibly useful information to apply to any oral health problem, not just root canals. I was thrilled to see it explained clearly in a mainstream context.

Almost as an aside towards the end, the Netflix documentary mentioned that everyone processes root canals differently. Some people are much more susceptible than others to being affected by toxic root canals.

Let me repeat that, because it wasn’t emphasized enough in Root Cause: not everyone gets sick from root canals.

The dangers of root canals which are explored in such great depth were eventually put into the context of the toxic overload that everyone of us is subjected to. Sustained, cumulative and insidious exposure to environmental toxins, toxic emotions, EMF (electro-magnetic frequencies including wifi), pathogens and of course junk food, overload the body which is already burdened with a root canal.

Recoiling in fear

By half way through the Root Cause documentary, my cortisol was so elevated by the graphic, gruesome root canal footage paired with a barrage of cancer statistics. So much so that it was hard to actually hear those quiet voices of reason at the end.

Root Cause uses horror genre film-making techniques (e.g. structure, filters and music) to manipulate our emotions.The sunshine and humour of the first act, contrasted with the dark intensity of main act, are all very effectively scary and disempowering.

Unfortunately fear and powerlessness, along with anger and grief, are toxic emotions which may actually exacerbate the impact of root canals on our health.

Many Netflix viewers are urgently seeking ways to remove their root canals safely because it’s almost impossible to watch and not feel scared. Unless you reject everything Root Cause says.

There’s plenty of dental professionals (a majority) who are using Root Cause’s dodgy statistics and misquotes to dismiss the whole argument about root canal risks. Mainstream dentists are publishing mocking reviews and associations of dental professionals worldwide are lobbying Netflix to take it down on the basis of poor science. Update: it appears that Netflix has now taken down Root Cause*, though it’s still available on Amazon.

And that’s the real problem, because important information is half-hidden in amongst the dramatic license of Root Cause. Root canals are to frequently recommended with little regard to the risks they may carry for some people.

Balance and tolerance

The Root Cause documentary didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know from seven years of research into root canals. I was already familiar with many of the experts that were selectively quoted. Having read widely and in-depth enabled me to put the documentary’s messages in context that many viewers lacking background knowledge would miss.

Root canals can contribute to serious health problems for some people. Most root canals contain bacteria, and along with cavitations, may be a contributing factor with some cases of chronic degenerative and/or autoimmune conditions.

However, everybody is different. We all have a different ability to tolerate a root canal.

Most people will not develop heart disease, cancer or chronic fatigue from their root canal. But for some people, removing the root canal may help you to recover your health.

Many people are able to tolerate a root canal without health problems for many years. Comparing a root canaled tooth to a toe with gangrene that must be amputated is inaccurate and unhelpful.

Not every case of breast cancer can be blamed on a root canal. The commonly quoted statistic that 90-something percent of breast cancer patients have a root canal on the same side cannot be traced to any published research. Even where a cancer patient does have an infected root canal, it not necessarily the cause.

Review of Netflix Documentary Root Cause

A broader holistic context

I’m a holistic oral health coach. When clients come to me with concerns about their root canal we also take into consideration the non-physical and energetic impacts of getting, removing or keeping it.

In addition to oral and whole body health impacts, we may explore:

family history
emotional issues
dental trauma,
social/professional consequences of extracting a tooth
the cost and accessibility of the procedure.

Root Cause follows the story of the director, Frazier Bailey. A white Australian man with the privilege of trying dozens of alternative therapies in his search for a cure to his mysterious malaise (the film includes a montage which seems to cover every new age modality- in mocking rhyme).

Once convinced that his root canal is behind his symptoms there seems to be no practical obstacles to getting it removed. Bailey never mentions the cost, or any difficulty in finding a co-operative dentist.

A safe removal and replacement of a single root canal can cost $10,000 and it’s common to need multiple appointments over 3-6 months. The removal process can also include:

the preliminary scan
tooth extraction
ozone cleaning of the jaw
rebuilding the jaw bone (if needed), and
installing an implant 3-6 months later.

That’s if you can find a dentist who will do it!

Not many dentists are willing to do this kind of procedure without evidence the the root canal has failed, so it’s not unusual to have to travel, sometimes internationally, if you are determined to have your root canal tooth extracted.

Removing a root canal safely is not an easily accessible option for many people, and this documentary has left them feeling scared for the root canals they have little choice but to keep.

There are holistic strategies, including herbs, homeopathics and energy healing that can help to mitigate the physical and metaphyscial impacts of root canals, so that the body can tolerate them well.

In conclusion

Admittedly, Root Cause set my teeth on edge from the very beginning with its sexist montage of women in bikinis. I tried to put aside my objections to the objectification of women’s bodies that cropped up all too often throughout the film… because what does the gratuitous male gaze have to do with root canals?

I squirmed to see another condescending montage, as the main character rhymed his way through alternative therapies with no regard to the cultural context from which many of modalities have been extracted… because all those therapies weren’t the point of the documentary either.

Nonetheless, I kept watching, despite my discomfort with Root Canal‘s tone, because I want to know why so many people have suddenly started requesting my Root Canal Decision Checklist. This checklist is a free resource available on my website that didn’t get much attention until Root Cause was released on Netflix.

But in fact, the casual sexism and cultural insensitivity of Root Cause are completely aligned with its fear-mongering central message presented through a lens of privilege.

Mainstream dentist’s patronising and negative Root Cause reviews find plenty of material in the film that is deserving of valid criticism. So by itself the documentary is unlikely to sway any dental professionals currently committed to root canals.

The only way that the dental industry is ever going to look critically at the consequences of root canals is if a sufficient mass of their customers expect their concerns to be taken seriously.

Thanks to Netflix, mainstream dental practices are experiencing an increased number of patients refusing root canals, requesting removals and ultimately seeking more sympathetic providers.

Root Cause, for all it’s many flaws, is provoking a new wave of consumer demand that dentistry continues to dismiss at its own peril.

___________________________________

*Update: On the day I published this post, Root Cause was suddenly removed from Netflix. It was unexpected; Root Cause was not included in Vulture’s list of 42 movies planned to be removed from Netflix in February 2019. As yet, there is no explanation for this removal. Why did Netflix take down Root Cause? Was it responding to pressure from dental associations?

Hello! I'm Meliors Simms, the Holistic Tooth Fairy.

After a diverse career (from research to counselling to arts) and a lifetime of terrible teeth, I stumbled on an Alt Oral approach which prevented what would have been my 7th root canal.

That inspired years of independent research and experimentation, eventually resulting in my uniquely holistic approach to oral health.

My new book The Secret Lives of Teeth is a comprehensive guide to healing teeth and gums with metaphysical perspective. Read a sample here for free.

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Stop tooth decay naturally

Healing tooth decay A holistic approach to remineralize tooth decay is probably quite different from almost all the mainstream dental advice you've ever received. It starts from the principle that the health of our teeth and gums is tied to the health of the rest of...

Relax your jaw for teeth relief

Why relax your jaw There's almost no teeth or gum problems that can't be helped when you relax your jaw! Carrying tension in the jaw is so common that it's almost universal. Are you one of the millions of people who use a night guard to try and prevent jaw tension...

Raw milk alternatives

by Meliors Simms | Cure Gum Disease, Reverse Tooth Decay, Teeth Healing Diet, Toothache Remedy

Raw milk and Vitamin K2

This article offers some effective raw milk alternatives for integrating the essential teeth healing nutrient Vitamin K2 into your diet.

It doesn’t take very long when looking into nutritional teeth healing advice before you find out that raw milk is one of the most common and valuable recommendations for healing teeth and gums.

However, raw milk isn’t an option for people can’t, or choose not to, eat any dairy products and even many people who are willing to consume dairy have difficulty accessing raw milk because of strict laws banning its sale.

My first raw milk alternative suggestions are for people who are willing to eat dairy but can’t access raw milk reliably.

The rest of my raw milk alternatives are completely vegan, for people who can’t or won’t eat any dairy products, whether raw or not.

Vitamin K2

All good quality dairy milks contain teeth-nourishing calcium but only unpasturized, raw, milk contains Vitamin K2 (aka Activator X) because K2 is destroying in the pasteurization process. Vitamin K2’s presence in milk helps your body to utilize milk’s calcium content.

Vitamin K2 is found only in some animal products and a few fermented foods, all of which are rare in Western diets today.

One of it’s functions is to activate proteins that regulate calcium deposits in your body to build strong teeth and bones and prevent calcification in blood vessels and your kidneys. It also helps to prevent heart disease and osteoporosis.

Young bodies are much better than older bodies at generating Vitamin K2 in the gut, or converting it from Vitamin K1 plant foods. I think this is probably because young bones and teeth are growing so fast that they need more Vitamin K2, so growing bodies are programmed to prioritise the nutrient.

Broad spectrum antibiotics are believed to contribute to Vitamin K2 deficiency which I think explains why exposure to antibiotics in the womb or after birth is sometimes associated with severe decay in babies’ teeth.

Raw milk alternatives: dairy

Raw milk is very inaccessible, and even illegal, in many countries including most of the United States and Australia. For example in New Zealand, where I live raw milk can only be sold directly from the ‘farm gate’ so it’s expensive and complicated for urban dwellers to buy. Even in countries where raw milk is not legally restricted, it’s usually rare and expensive because it is a bespoke product with a short shelf life and low demand.

If you are willing to eat dairy but you don’t have access to raw milk, I recommend milk kefir.

Milk kefir mimics raw milk

Milk kefir is a tangy, fermented milk product similar to yogurt but with a unique SCOBY* that mimics the nutritional profile of raw milk, essentially reintroducing the Vitamin K2 lost in pastueurization.

*A SCOBY is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast that causes fermentation

If you buy ready-made kefir, make sure that it’s organic, free from additives and unpasturized after fermentation.

Try making your own milk kefir using milk kefir grains (the SCOBY) with the best quality, full cream, grass fed, pasturized milk you can find, (preferably organic).

I don’t recommend using the powdered starter culture for milk kefir which contains fewer probiotics.

Milk kefir grains produce more Vitamin K2 and can be reused indefinitely, unlike the powder. You can find milk kefir grains through whole foods communities, buy it online, or in your local health food store, where hopefully you can buy good quality milk as well.

More Vitamin K2!

If you have access to raw milk, you can turn it into milk kefir and boost the intrinsic level of Vitamin K2 even more.
For meat eaters: other sources of Vitamin K2 are liver (especially cod liver oil) and other organ meats; and shellfish.
Genuinely free-range, grass-fed, poultry produce egg yolks are high in Vitamin K2.

But what if you don’t eat any animal products?

Raw milk alternatives: plant-based

Teeth nourishing Vitamin K2 can be a challenge to integrate into a plant-based diet.

Vitamin K1 is found in dark leafy green vegetables such as parsley, collards and kale. Vitamin K1 is not known to support teeth health in the same way as Vitamin K2.

When we are young, our bodies easily converts Vitamin K1 into some of the Vitamin K2 we need but conversion becomes less efficient as we age. But our body’s demand for Vitamin K2 is much greater while we are still growing.

Growing bodies, and older bodies, on a plant-based diet need to eat additional sources of Vtiamin K2 found in some fermented foods.

Teeth healing natto

Natto has the highest levels of Vitamin K2 in a plant based food. Natto is a Japanese fermented vegetable that has a very strong flavor which challenges many Western palates. Some people describe it as a combination of marmite and old socks, while other people compare it to Camembert or Brie cheese. It should be eaten in small quantities and tastes best when seasoned, for example with salt, sesame oil, soy sauce or mustard.

Many Vitamin K2 supplements (aff) are made from natto so if you can’t access natto (or can’t stand the flavor) then supplements are a good idea.

Coconut Milk Kefir for teeth

Many people find a more palatable source of plant based Vitamin K2 is coconut milk kefir. The coconut milk should be unpasturized and of high quality, the SCOBY must be milk kefir grains.

Coconut milk kefir doesn’t have as much Vitamin K2 as dairy milk kefir, but it’s the second best plant-based source after natto. Every little bit will help to nourish your teeth towards better health.

Other plant based sources of Vitamin K2

There are small proportions of Vitamin K2 in other kinds of fermented foods like miso, kimchi and sauerkraut. I recommend eating fermented foods every day.

There is a tiny amount of Vitamin K2 in unpasturized kombucha. However, the phosphorus in kombucha bubbles binds to the calcium in your teeth and weakens the enamel. It’s a poor tradeoff for the small quantity of K2 it contains. (All bubbly drinks contain phosphorus and can damage teeth in this way).

Hello! I'm Meliors Simms, the Holistic Tooth Fairy.

After a diverse career (from research to counselling to arts) and a lifetime of terrible teeth, I stumbled on an Alt Oral approach which prevented what would have been my 7th root canal.

That inspired years of independent research and experimentation, eventually resulting in my uniquely holistic approach to oral health.

My new book The Secret Lives of Teeth is a comprehensive guide to healing teeth and gums with metaphysical perspective. Read a sample here for free.

What is Hydroxyapatite toothpaste?

How remineralization works

How hydroxyapatite toothpaste remineralizes tooth enamel

How does hydroxyapatite compare to fluoride and Xylitol?

Metaphysical Meanings of Molars and Premolars

Energetically, these big back teeth help you to process the challenges in your life.

Meridian meaning of molars

Psychosocial meanings of molars and premolars

The first premolars (teeth numbers 5, 12, 21, 28) relate to your ego, your identity and your desires.

The second premolars (4,13,20,29) relate to your creativity, hobbies and children.

The first molars (3,14,19,30) relate to status and expression.

The second molars (2,15,18,31) relate to relationships and daily life.

Making sense of symptoms

Angry Abscesses

Look at the particular teeth adjacent to the infection to help you make sense of it.

Gum insecurity

Gum issues adjacent to premolar #5 could relate to insecure employment, unemployment or underemployment.

Gum issues around molar #19 may relate to insecurity in a romantic relationship, such as feeling jealous or betrayed.

Misaligned molars

When your upper and lower molars aren’t vertically aligned enough to chew properly, it may represent a resistance or block to deeply engaging with life challenges, either in the past or as an ongoing pattern.

What’s next?

Please don’t take these suggestions about how to interpret your molar and premolar issues too literally.

They should be considered as prompts for self examination, and not acted on as a reliable diagnosis for yourself and especially not for anyone else.

Hello! I'm Meliors Simms, the Holistic Tooth Fairy.

Metaphysical Healing for Teeth and Gums

Interpreting the quadrants of your mouth

Upper Jaw

Lower Jaw

TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint)

Right side of your mouth

Left side of your mouth

Guidelines for spiritual healing

Finding your healing story this way can give you a delicate, imaginative tool for healing.

It may not be wise to use your healing story to determine your identity, and you should certainly be very careful before going public with blame or claims.

Without corroboration, or evidence, going public with your healing story could potentially cause further harm, if not to you, then to others.

Your unique metaphysical meanings

With relaxed curiosity and a playful spirit you can test your symptom’s metaphors against the associations of their placement in your mouth.

A throbbing toothache in your upper left jaw

A throbbing toothache in your lower right jaw

Recognising your own healing story

Sometimes you will think: not this old trauma, surely my 20 years of therapy and healing resolved this by now.

Sometimes you will think: that’s too trivial, I don’t have enough emotional attachment for this to explain my symptoms.

Sometimes it can take weeks of chewing on these ideas before you get clarity.

Hello! I'm Meliors Simms, the Holistic Tooth Fairy.

We are in an unprecedented moment.

Your mouth is a vulnerable place.

Stress and tension is markedly high.

You’re not powerless in this.

You can relax your jaw every evening with jaw massage.

This is truly self-care at its best.

Root Cause is the Netflix documentary stirring up root canal concerns

Watch ‘Root Cause’ until the end

Let me repeat that, because it wasn’t emphasized enough in Root Cause: not everyone gets sick from root canals.

Recoiling in fear

Balance and tolerance

However, everybody is different. We all have a different ability to tolerate a root canal.

A broader holistic context

Once convinced that his root canal is behind his symptoms there seems to be no practical obstacles to getting it removed. Bailey never mentions the cost, or any difficulty in finding a co-operative dentist.

Removing a root canal safely is not an easily accessible option for many people, and this documentary has left them feeling scared for the root canals they have little choice but to keep.

In conclusion

But in fact, the casual sexism and cultural insensitivity of Root Cause are completely aligned with its fear-mongering central message presented through a lens of privilege.

Hello! I'm Meliors Simms, the Holistic Tooth Fairy.

Raw milk and Vitamin K2

Vitamin K2

Raw milk alternatives: dairy

Milk kefir mimics raw milk

More Vitamin K2!

But what if you don’t eat any animal products?

Raw milk alternatives: plant-based

Teeth healing natto

Coconut Milk Kefir for teeth

Other plant based sources of Vitamin K2

Hello! I'm Meliors Simms, the Holistic Tooth Fairy.

About The Holistic Tooth Fairy

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