Your Mouth Comes First: The Overlooked Key to Gut and Brain Health with Dr. Sanda Moldovan

Introduction to Oral Health and Whole-Body Wellness 0:00

Welcome back to Everyday Ancestral. Most people think oral health stops at brushing and flossing. But what if the mouth is actually the missing link in our modern health crisis? Today's guest, Dr. Sanda Moldovan, is a pioneer in regenerative dentistry, someone who believes the month isn't separate from the body. It's the gateway to everything that happens inside it. In a world where we're losing jaw structure, fighting chronic inflammation and living completely disconnected from our ancestral biology, your mouth is the earliest warning sign that something deeper is off.

This conversation isn't about teeth, it's about your microbiome, immunity, brain, nutrition and the way you breathe, eat and live. If you want to understand the future of health, you need to start where the health actually begins, the mouth. Dr. Sanda, it is a pleasure to be talking to you. I'm so excited to cover this topic. How are you today? Great, James. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. Let's, you know, let's cover right away a topic that's near and dear to my heart because I am an unprofessed, like a lot of people don't know this about me, but I'm a toothpaste fanatic.

I really do try every toothpaste out there to see what is going to give me that best clean. And I know you have an opinion on how people should be picking their toothpaste and maybe even what toothpaste you recommend. So let us start there. Yeah, for sure. And I'm curious, how do you choose whether or not you like a toothpaste? Is it by the flavor? Obviously you're a chef, so maybe you are looking at flavor, or is it just the clean that you were looking for? You know, I would say the ingredients would be first clean, that clean taste where I don't feel like my teeth weren't brushed five minutes later.

Yeah, I would say those are the two, and then I guess taste would be third. And I also tend to not gravitate towards like sweet flavors, like I like more minty.

Choosing Toothpaste and Hydroxyapatite 2:00

I find that even the really like clean, i'm saying clean with quotation marks, but like the ones that have all the natural ingredients, I find sometimes aren't doing what I want. And it's the more recent toothpaste that have the, and I don't remember the ingredient, but it is the ingredients that's like your teeth. Yes, the calcium hydroxyapatite. Thank you. So that the ones I'm finding work better than, than the Natural toothpaste, that don' have it. Yes, I agree with you 100% because I'm a big fan of calcium hydroxyapatite, mostly because it actually has been shown to strengthen the enamel.

And what's the enamels? That outer layer of the tooth, which is highly mineralized. in the nanopores of the tooth calcium hydroxy can actually go in there and repair especially after we have like an acidic diet for example even let's say eating an apple you know that acidity from the apple actually can start to weaken the enamel and then when especially when we have dry mouth, the saliva is not there to remineralize because that's what saliva does. So calcium hydroxyapatite is a treatment or in a toothpaste or tooth powder actually helps to fill in that damage that is done by acidic foods.

Nice. Is that kind of the ingredient that your go to or what are some other things people should be looking for when they're purchasing toothpaste? Yes. I think a lot of people use toothpaste because it's just out there. But personally, I prefer a tooth powder because less filler. Just like the food has fillers, so does toothpaste. So a of the toothpaste can stain glycerol or glycine. And glycirine is usually about 70 to 80 percent of a tube of toothpaste So glycerin is actually a little bit oily just by nature and it doesn't clean very well.

And I feel like that's why in a lot of the natural toothpaste out there, you know, I've used them and my teeth just don't feel clean. I'm sure you've experienced this. Oh yeah, it's got this and that and a lotta natural ingredients, but terrible at cleaning. What do you think of those tablets that you kind of like chew on and then they become powdery in your mouth? What about those? Yeah, you know, I've tried them and my biggest problem with them, is I can't get them to fully break down. And then I feel like I'm brushing my teeth with boulders, which is not a very good feeling.

So, and full disclosure, was actually working on a formulation of toothpaste myself. I have a company called Orasana for natural oral care. so I was looking a lot into this and the formulation and toothpaste and what, what do our teeth really mean? So I love the clean of a tooth powder and interestingly in the 1920s, 30s and 40s they actually had toothpowder on the market. They even had charcoal powder on their market and interesting you had a comeback just in a last few years to brush your teeth with charcoal.

Have you tried any of the charcoal toothpaste? I have. I mean, you know, it's hard for me to tell if they're really working that well, but I did. It seems to me like sometimes you have to do it consistently, right? With that specific toothpaste to really see a difference. But I've noticed a different with hydroxy... I'm not saying it right. Hydroxyapatite. Yes, like appetite. I have noticed a difference with that. Yeah, so I like hydroxyapatite because it's a treatment for your teeth. Studies have shown that it whitens the teeth as well.

I feel like I notice it whiter when I use that? Definitely, definitely. And you know, there's always this debate, is it micro or nano? And for whitening, either micro nano works, but actually to mineralize, we need it in the nano format. Oh, interesting. Okay. And now fluoride, a huge topic still to this day. We're starting to finally see, I think the federal government has said that they can pull it out of water, municipality water. It's finally getting more looked at under the microscope. But I, you know, when I was in culinary school, Tell me if this is at all consistent with what you know or maybe I was misinformed, but I remember learning that fluoride was actually a waste product from the paper industry.

Yes, actually, you're right. It is a wasted product and there's a great documentary called fluoridegate. in which people that worked in the government at that time were interviewed, how did fluoride get in water? They opposed the motion because it is a toxic substance.

Fluoride, Microbiome, and Oral Care Products 7:00

So they got let go of. And fluorine ended up in our water. Europeans have already banned fluorite. They don't have fluorate in their water because, it does crystallize the pituitary. gland, which is not a good thing. It lowers the IQ in kids. And we don't need it. We have something like calcium hydroxyapatite, we do not need fluoride or a higher level of fluorite. So the FDA actually pulled out all the tablets with fluorides for children from the market just recently, a few months ago. Because of the research, more and more research coming out saying that fluorine is toxic for us.

And I don't know if you know people that have maybe kids when you're growing up, they had this fluorosis on their teeth, meaning they have white or brown spots on the teeth from too much fluoride. Oh, wow. And what's interesting, if that actually happens, the tea become more brittle, not stronger. They become or brittle. So, uh, it is unfortunate that it's taken these, this many years to actually understand that fluoride is not good for us. Like we have two states already, Utah and Florida that banned fluorite from their water.

Unfortunately, the rest of the United States is still going through the motion and hopefully we're going to be fluorine free. It also affects something else that's not usually talked about with teeth, which is fluorides affects your microbiome, correct? Absolutely, fluoride affects your microbiome and not in a positive way. We see a growth of bad bacteria and a reduction of the good bacteria, which we need. And not just in the mouth, but mostly in gut health. Yeah, I think it's important, and this really brings us to why we're talking, because we can't just think of dental practices as an isolated bubble.

We have to look at it from a functional standpoint, which is the whole body, how the body works, right? Exactly. No, absolutely. And, you know, in our offices, we actually filter the water and then we ozonate the waters. So we don't even have fluoridated water in water lines. And we don't use fluoride at all. And this is a great way to tell whether or not a dentist is actually holistic or they are biological. If they still offer you fluorite treatments in their office, they obviously are still maybe just marketing as holistic, or biological, but they're not really that.

I've been a dentist where I felt shamed if I didn't use the fluoride for the cleaning. I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, it does happen. They automatically, after a cleaning, they said, oh, you need those fluorid trays. Do you remember those fluid trays with a bunch of foam in it? They put it in your mouth. You swallow half of it, in the process of treatment. But this is commonly given to kids here in this country. Why? Because it's a paid insurance benefit. So what about other products like mouthwash?

I feel like waxed floss or coated flosses. Are we being duped with a lot of those items as well or what should we be looking at if we are using any oral products? Yeah, that's a great question. I'm a big believer in three steps to optimum oral health and because why this works. Number one, brush with calcium hydroxyapatite. Step two, floss, either water floss or string floss. And step three, pop in a chewable probiotic. This is mostly to regulate the microbiome layer on the tongue and the cheeks, the back of the throat.

I am not a fan of mouth washes. Unless people have gum disease and they're just being used temporarily to control inflammation of the gums. Or let's say they had a surgery, people had surgery and need the mouthwash in order to also control the bacterial accumulation over the wound site. But generally speaking, mouthwashes are mostly for flavor for a lot of people. And unfortunately, because of the antibacterial properties, it actually, they end up destroying the good bacteria, again, back to the microbiome.

We see a decrease in something called nitric oxide production. Why is this important? Nitric is important to regulate blood pressure. So mouthwashes like Listerine actually can have a negative impact on the microbiome, which in turn may cause an elevated blood pressure in patients. Interesting. So as I mean, if that some people are getting misdiagnosed, you know, like, cause they're not the potentially the doctor is noticing the high blood pleasure, but then is not actually like talking to them about what products they are using.

They're just assuming it's salt or, something like that. Exactly. And, you know, a lot of times with traditional medicine, they don't even look and say, what kind of foods are you eating? Or, maybe this whole wheat bread has an effect on your blood pressure or whatever it is that's causing inflammation. So I think always going back to the root cause and reestablishing a normal microbiome makes a big difference in somebody's overall health. What about oil pulling? I'm sure you've heard about that, but maybe you can explain to people what it is in case they haven't.

I've been practicing oil-pulling almost every morning now for like a month and I find it really is making a difference. But can you talk about Oil Pulling specifically? Yes, I actually was asked to comment quite a few times on oil pulling. So I had to look into the studies of oil pooling and see what exactly is it that we know about oil oil-pulling. It comes from an Ayurvedic technique dated thousands of years ago, where they took sesame oil and they swish it back and forth between their teeth. Untoasted sesame.

I should say. Because toasted sesame will be a little strong. Yes. And my guess is they used sesame oil at that time in India because it was probably readily available. When you swish it back and forth in between the teeth for 20 minutes, it actually becomes a soap. That's one amazing thing. I remember actually my grandfather growing up in Romania, he used to make soap out of fats, like used melt fats and just make these amazing soaps with it. Same kind of idea, when you switch the oil back and forth, it has a soap-like effect, and it starts to wash away some of the microbiome.

It doesn't penetrate too deep under the gum, so, you know, for people that have gum disease, this is not a full solution, but it's definitely a good way to get the liquid, or the, oil in this case, in between the teeth, because that's the real problem. You know when I swish with it, also I could feel it going back-and-forth in-between my teeth. And that's the correct way to do it. Not just to swish normally, but to actually feel it going through. So then as it's staying in the microbiome, the gums get healthier.

We do see that. In our orasana line, we actually have an ozonated oil. And I'm a big fan of ozone because ozone helps to reduce the time that we have to oil pool. or swish. So essentially, ozonated oil, we just need to use it for one minute versus, you know, the 20 minutes that is really required to do that oil putting.

Oil Pulling and Ozonated Oral Care 15:00

Wow, that's a big difference, one-minute versus 20. It is. And so you're ozenating the oil. What kind of oil are you using? Coconut? Coconut oil, yes. And there's different oils being used, like olive oil and coconut. Coconut can get a little solid at room temperature, especially in the colder winter months. So that's why some of the companies are actually mixing it with some olive oils, so it's not plain coconut oil so you don't get that solidification. I don't mind the solidification because I find that it, you know, your mouth warms it up so quickly.

But I like that I, because, I can control how much of it I put in my mouth versus getting much. So I kind of, don´t personally mind it. That is interesting though that they're adding olive oil. Can you talk a little bit more about ozonation? I go to a functional dentist and I know that when they're doing any procedure, they are actually putting the ozone air into the mouth. They are doing a lot more than just using oil. So can you tell us how you use it and why? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'm a big fan of ozone.

And I think even when I travel, i have this little tumbler. It's like a little cup essentially with stainless steel in it. You can ozonate water on the go, which is awesome because ozone is a great disinfection tool. in the form of water. So essentially, on contact, it kills not only bacteria, but any kind of microbe, viruses even, and also parasites and fungus on-contact. That's why in-the-mouth, where we're dealing with trillions of microbes in a form a biofilm, It's so important. We use it in our water lines in forms of ozonated water, But as you are mentioning, we also bubble it.

at the gum level or a lot of times when we're doing a filling. And why? Again, because we want to sterilize the area that we are working in just to kind of give the immune system a chance to, you know, kind relax for the mouth and just reduce bleeding and it oxygenates the side. It does a lots of things for oral environment. So how do we use it in the form of gas? You know, dental offices typically require special training and machines and we titrate it with oxygen. We have like a little straw, essentially, and medical oxygen, So then when we do, let's say, a filling, once a cavity is removed, there's still microbes there.

Can't see them with the naked eye. So we take ozone and actually bubble it right on the surface of that tooth. And we see it turning white pretty much immediately, which is unbelievable. You know, especially when somebody has a stain, like a brown stain. We bubble ozone, and it just turns white. What do you think most people are misunderstanding about the mouth that completely changes how they should think about whole body health? What are we getting wrong here? Number one, we already spoke about is the oral microbiome.

A lot of people think, let me sterilize my mouth. And I see people using a lot a strong antibacterial. I wanna get my mouse sterile, but that's the wrong way of thinking. We need to nurture our positive bacteria, our good bacteria. If we have a good diet, a great amount of fiber, good oral hygiene habits, we don't need to use strong antibacterial because there's a symbiotic relationship between our good bacteria and our cells. We know there are 10 times more bacteria on and in our human body than actual cells.

So we need to treat them well. I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions. We need do just sterilize our mouth, but we really don't because that bacteria, that friendly. And we're doing it with our hands as well, right? Our environment as we just sterlizing everything. Yes. Like you said, it kills the good and the bad, Right? And actually when we kill everything in the mouth people will actually start developing irritation and sores in their mouth. I've seen it. I have people even like with natural products like tea tree oil, for example, tea, tree, oil is strong antibacterial.

So I had people put it straight on their gums and they came in with like burns with little burns because, you know, it's too much. We don't need that kind of level of disinfection. So what is good oral practice? Like, should people be doing it for a minute each time, the top, bottom, how often? What is it from your perspective that we should be on a daily basis? Yes, and I actually didn't learn about this till later on in life myself. Growing up in Romania, I didn' even know what floss was, so I did' know that cleaning in between the teeth is so important.

I ended up with a bunch of cavities at a young age. Super, super important to clean in between. Just like imagine like you're washing your hands, right, with your fingers stuck together. You're not gonna clean the dirt in-between. It's the same idea. we have to clean in between. So let's say you're in a rush, it is more important to cleaning between than on the outer parts. Why? The outer part of the teeth and the inner parts towards the tongue, they get cleaned easily with the foods we eat, especially if you are eating something fibrous.

But unfortunately in-between, the bacteria is free to grow unless we disturb it. So how do we clean in between? Many different ways. String floss, of course, has been around since the 1850s, so that's like the original thing. But I love water flossing because studies show that it works better than traditional floss. And people tend to have an easier time using the water floss versus a string floss A lot of people don't floss correctly, and that becomes also a problem. Right, because sometimes what they're doing is they are flossing the teeth, but then they keep using the same piece, right?

The same section of the floss. And then, they also sometimes pushing it up instead of curling it down and getting it out, Right? Exactly. You got to curve it like a C in order to floss it correctly. And I don't see, I even watch some people flossing, and I just go straight up and down exactly going all the way around. And it's not the correct way to floss. That's why I feel the water flosser is a much better. tool not only cleans in between, but it cleans all the way around 360 degrees. And it has what I like to call gum fitness, meaning that pulsation of the water jet as it's working on the gum, it actually helps to tighten the collagen fibers.

Daily Oral Hygiene: Flossing and Toothbrush Technique 22:00

So all my patients that are using a water floss regularly, they have much tighter gums. There's so many questions, but I want to stay a little bit on the practical side at the moment, because I feel like this is going to really immediately help people. Let's talk toothbrushes. So there's lots of different options. What matters to you with a toothbrush and why? I always like to go like, what does the research show? And then I'll talk to, you about the practice side, right? Because research sometimes only shows us so much.

Being a periodontist, I remember my residency, we had like, I think a couple of weeks where we have to read all the toothbrush studies that were done over a period of 50 years. But you know, it's good to know what is available. So what kind of brushes do we? We have the manual brushes, and then we all sorts of different electric brushes. The best technique that we have for a manual brush, and by the way, a Manual brush can work just as well, if not sometimes better than an electric brush. Manual Brush, the important thing is we want to use it in a small circular motion so that the bristle actually go and sweep underneath the gums.

Super important. People just brush up and down. vigorously can sometimes just push the gums up or lower here to create recession. So small circles, super important, and kind of about 45 degrees into the gum. Technique is super-important. Now we have, of course, electric brushes. Some people do really great with them and some people even need them, especially the people that don't have the manual dexterity. People that have arthritis, they do much better with an electric brush. And so we had sonic type brushes and we've rotational type of brushes, the ones that just spin side to side.

Sonic-type brushes clean better, generally, from the studies we have, than the rotational- type brushes. The rotational type of brushes tend to be a little bit too abrasive, and I don't recommend it for people with thin gums. Now, the sonic-type brushes do really well, but you have to still move them around. You know, if people just miss the gum line, then they're not going to clean at the gum line. So we got to make sure we take it also close to the gun line—super important. Isn't there a mistake that some people are making with the sonic ones where they're treating them like normal brushes, but where, because it's a sonic, you actually have to, as you said, kind of keep it in place for a moment and then move it and keep in it place.

It's not about just brush, brush brush. Moment, moment, all in the same tooth and in a different area. You're sorry. That's exactly right. It's technique sensitive as well. And I've actually seen people that tell me they have a sonic brush and I look at them. I'm like, are you brushing? Because number one, I think they're too gingerly about how much to touch the tooth and they are not putting it in the right place. Then they forget to change their brush head. And if the brush head is cut all kinds of gunk at the end of it, it's not going to vibrate as readily as a new brushhead.

So we got to make sure you change the brushes as the company recommends. What about bristle softness, medium hard? What do you typically recommend or are you basing that off of the gums? Yeah, now gums don't need hard toothbrushes. It's a little bit too much for the gum, so that's why we can get some gum erosion with brushing, especially if we do it twice a day, every day over the years, it can take a toll. And I know there were actually some boar bristle brushes. A few years ago that I found on the market, which are natural bristles, but those were so hard.

Those were too hard for the gum. So I prefer softer type of bristle,s but not soft to where the point they just not cleaning because a toothbrush should actually be able to clean without toothpaste. it should be able to do that. So when the bristles are way, way too soft, then that's not going to happen. On the soft to medium side, I would say that would be ideal. I like the toothbrush heads to be very, very fine at the end because when they're very they can actually sweep easier under the gum. So the toothbrush that I designed for Orasana actually has two millimeters of the tip of brushes super fine to sweep under gum and the rest is like a soft medium so that they don't lose their strength.

What foods actually build strong teeth, healthy gums, resilient bones, and how does that compare to what people are eating today? Yes. Well, I'm glad you're asking this question because I was just looking at Western Price. Western price wrote a book about the generation of the jaws. And this is back in the twenties and thirties when he was doing research in The Amazon for and they were looking And he actually has pictures of people's teeth. And they had beautiful straight teeth, all 32 of them, including the wisdom teeths, perfectly erupted.

Then he looked at our Western population and he noticed that we already had crowding and the teeth just weren't fitting and that teeth were more brittle. Another interesting thing is like the tribes, they don't have cavities. So he looked at the diet to see what people were eating and he actually noticed that people in the tribes eat actually more organ meats. when he actually found that the people's teeth and the tribes contain four times the minerals and water soluble vitamins than teeth over in a Western world.

And their diets also contain 10 times, the fat soluable vitamins A, D, and what he called activator X. Yeah, exactly. And he was looking at butter, organ meats, eggs, and animal fats. Super important to eat those. But unfortunately, with a low-fat diet fad that we had in the last few years, that really didn't help us with the teeth, as well as we're stepping away from eating organ meat more than ever. What I'm curious about though is like, did ancestral tribes, do they use things to brush their teeth with, you know, or was it purely just diet?

Like, and where did we go wrong? Yeah, they actually use sticks mostly to brush their teeth and chew on them. And their fiber in their diet is a lot higher than what we're getting. They get like 80 grams of fiber. In their diets, I think we are lucky here if the average American gets 10 to 15. So big difference. I think fibers really help to clean the teeth as well as the stomach walls. We also have a lot more gut issues today than we used to also. And the mouth is always a reflection of what's going on with the GI tract.

So with the introduction of processed foods, which does not exist in the tribes, processed food, especially sticky foods. Let's say crackers and cookies, they just stick to the teeth. And those become feed for bacteria, essentially for cavity causing bacteria. Interesting. Is it true that the earliest signs of chronic disease like heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline actually show up in the mouth first? Yes, we do see that. There's a lot of things or imbalances that first we notice in a mouth.

For example, bleeding gums. So bleeding gum can be actually a sign of low vitamin C. And In the past, it used to be scurvy. That was actually a severe deficiency. Just gums bleed spontaneously. But even today, sometimes I tell patients, what are you eating? I see gum inflammation. We're trying to treat it, but it's not going away. And sure enough, they're not getting enough fresh fruits and vegetables where vitamin C comes from, or organ meats for that matter. As soon as we increase their vitamin-C intake, we actually see everything healing.

including gum bleeding.

Nutrition for Strong Teeth and Gums 31:00

So I've heard before that if you have a minor cavity, you can actually heal it or repair it, or fill it just through changing the diet. Yes, I see it all the time. Really? Can you talk about that? Yeah, if we give the body the right environment, It wants to heal always. It want to achieve balance. And what do we do to create a better environment? Well, we have to look where do cavities come from, especially small cavites. Definitely diet is a big one. So processed foods, sugars, Chocolate is okay, by the way, a lot of people ask me about those.

You can still have chocolate, chocolate is not sticky on the teeth and it doesn't stay, but anything that's processed and sticky that grabs onto the tooth, that bad. And then also we have a decrease in minerals, so we're not intaking the right nutrients. So, and then people develop leaky gut. And now we have an absorption problem on top of everything. They're not getting the right nutrients. Because if we're absorbing the nutrients, then the teeth cannot heal. So once we adjust these things, so cavities are also a gut issue.

we change their diet, we work with a functional doctor to get their gut health under control, We actually see teeth that are starting to heal, but the cavity has to be small. So for example, it has be only in the enamel. Sometimes we see a little brown spot on the tooth. If we start to work on a diet on oral hygiene and then we apply some calcium hydroxyapatite in this area, we can actually see that tooth is healing and that hole is mineralizing. So we don't necessarily have to drill in the tooth.

Interesting. Can you share some of the foods that you have people remove from the diet? So obvious ones obviously are like probably sodas, anything overly sweet. You said things that are sticky, assuming like hard candies or chewy candy things obviously. Yeah, even crackers, like, you know, let's say, saltine crackers. You know how they stick to your teeth? Things like that. Breads, cookies, things that can stick, that have like a starchy carbohydrate in them. Okay. And then foods that you're inspiring people to replace, you know, or put it back or, put into the diet.

So I'm assuming bone broth, um, any, high nutrient dense food, organ meats, clearly if they, if, they're willing to do them. Um, yes. But is it. Yes. If not, bipluck. Yeah. We make it easy. Perfect, yes. Also, we want to do like fish liver oils. Those are important because of the vitamin A, the retinol. Butter, also important. So the fats are super important for the formation of teeth and the mineralization. And then of course, something like dark leafy greens. Why? Because dark, leaf-y, greens have minerals in them that help with their mineralisation.

If someone is listening, they feel like their mouth is a mess. Where do they start? I would say start with home care. If you feel your mouth as a must, start it with care, it depends which area of the country you're at. if you have a good, a holistic biological dentist that you like and trust, make a plan. Ask them, what's important? Do I have infections? They know how to guide you in creating a priority plan to start tackling cavities and the gum disease potentially and inflammation. That's one of the major difference between I would say traditional dentists and integrative dentist like our practice or biological.

We look to see, okay, what areas in the mouth are actually creating inflammation in Is there toxins there such as maybe an unhealthy microbiome or mercury fillings that are causing somebody to have brain fog, inflammation, joint pain, low energy? It can span from the mouth. If you could get the world to stop doing one thing that's destroying their oral microbiomes, what would it be? I would say stop putting mercury filings in the mouths. Removing the mercury filling. So that's important then. I hope.

Super important. I mean, you're banned mercury already. Starting January 1st of this year, there's no more mercury being placed. Why? Because it ends up not just in our mouth, but it ended up in the water. It ends in food supply. We're constantly circulating this toxin in nature. And mercury affects cardiovascular health. That affects neurological health, I know because I suffered myself from high mercury levels. When I grew up in Romania, I had 16 large mercury fillings in my mouth. You did? I did.

So when I actually opened my month, all you could see is silver. I was like, Oh my God, have all this metal. Yeah, hated it. Do you have what they called fake teeth at this point or something? Or did you literally have to fill every tooth? Pretty much, yeah, 16 of my back teeth. I had all the mercury taken out and replaced, but unfortunately for me, I didn't know anything about biological dentistry at the time. So I just knew I was in my residency and I told my friend, you know, like these fillings, just, remove them for may, and just want a white teeth, so he removed pretty much all of them in a short period of time and a few months.

And what did you notice in your health? Oh, I didn't feel at all. I was like lethargic, and I had headaches. And like, wow, what's going on with me? And I did not even relate it to the mercury fillings. So I thought, you know, that I'm just tired. It wasn't until I actually met this naturopath, uh, was telling her my symptoms. She said, You know you should come over to my office and we can do this urine challenge test and let's test you. Sure enough, my mercury was off the charts. And so when you removed it, how did your health improve?

It took me a while to remove the mercury, it took a couple of years. I tried IV chelation, I've tried oral chalation. Oral chellation is definitely easier. Basically it's done with cilantro, for example, is a great chelerator. During the chelation, especially IV chellation I did not feel well at all because the body doesn't like to keep mercury in the blood. It keeps it in fatty tissues because it's safer. You know, it doesn' want it circulating to the brain. So, that's one of the reasons why I decide, okay, there's got to be a better way to do dentistry because in school, I was never taught that mercury can make us toxic.

So even in dental school I, was drilling on teeth and placing mercury fillings with no protection at all. The mercury toxicity starts in Dental School for a lot of people. Well, it's a good point, because we talk about MDs, how they don't get a lot of nutrition, or if any nutritional education. So in dentistry, they're not teaching nutrition obviously either, correct? No, exactly. In my residency, I think I had one semester, one class of nutrition and it was all about, you know, what are vitamins, water, minerals and severe deficiencies, which we rarely see in this country to see, severe efficiencies.

But one thing that was not talked about is definitely, toxins that were surrounded and how do we get somebody healthy? How do you protect ourselves? Is there any truth, this is something I remember a long time ago, I've been going to the Weston A. Price conferences for too long, not too, you can't go too on, but I'd been for a time. I remembered there was this one speaker, she had a book called Radical Health and she talked about the meridians and how if your teeth are out of alignment, that there is a meridians or something that's connecting your teeth to your overall health.

And when they're out of alignment, then that can also affect your over all health, have you ever studied that or can you speak to that?

Cavities, Genetics, and Preventive Sealants 40:00

Yes, definitely. We actually have a Meridian tooth chart in our office. Oftentimes when people come and I see mirror image teeth on both sides that have root canals, I always ask them what's going on in that meridian. For example, one correlation we're seeing is women in breast cancer with the ruchinal treated teeth in the premolar sites. And typically, like let's say if there's one ruchen on the side, they ended up with breast counts around the same side of where the root canal is. And Dr. Tennant also talks about this.

He had a tumor on one side of the body related to a root canal tooth on the same side. And once he removed that, the tumor actually kind of resolved. So that's the interesting thing is that these meridians that start on top of our head, they go through our teeth, through out organs or maybe peripheries and then go out through the toes. When there's a blockage, let's say from an infected root canal or just a dead tooth or a cavitation site, meaning like an area on the jawbone that has inflammation, the meridian doesn't function as well.

I've had somebody that was linked, you know, she had a root canal treated tooth. She had an pituitary tumor. It was on the same meridian. So I see a lot of these meridians corresponding, to infected dead teeth, or root canals treated teeth. How, for those people that may not understand meridiens, how can we kind of talk about them, explain them in a different way? Are we talking about, is it an energy kind canal, or how would you describe that? What is a meridian exactly? Yes, so a Meridian is the energy flow.

And this has been documented from acupuncture. We know even there was a study at the NIH, National Institute of Health, Where they validated acupuncture. We didn't exactly, right? We can't see it, but we know that it's been validated and acupunture works. we have studies on this. For example, we treat meridians around the belly button, But then you feel it in your toes. I know because I get acu puncture and now I feel these differences. The energy flow, just think of it as a lymphatic channel, right?

Our lymphatics system, except that's physical, we can see that. But the energetic channels, they're the same, it's just the way our energy flows through the body. It's so interesting, because I want to say like, a year or two ago, I got this like I had some kind of, I want to say infection, but I don't even know what it was, something happened to one of my toes. I think I was on my feet too long, something was going on and I couldn't treat it. I didn't have the means to do anything about it for like three days.

And that little thing must have been on a meridian channel because it jumped up into my leg and i had this absolute like infection on part of my leg. And it, and it was the bizarre thing because it came out of nowhere. But the way that the doctor talked about it said, yeah, that can happen when it's connected to a meridian. Cause it went from, you know, one area to another completely, seemingly unrelated, but it. Part of that meridians channel. It was a real big eye opener to feeling and experiencing that Meridian Yes.

Yes, the human body is pretty amazing. It's nice that you have that experience so you can connect with it. Well, luckily I healed from it too, but yeah, I still have a scar though from that infection from where it was. Oh, wow. Yeah. Cause they had to actually open it up and clean it and all this stuff. It was pretty wild. Let's talk about root canals. So the way I'm hearing you talk it, it sounds like no one should ever do a root canal, but it's sounds they're being recommended all the time. Yes, so this is my root canal story.

I have my own personal story with this. After having all these large mercury fillings, of course I ended up with one root canals at a young age. And I didn't make anything of it. You know, I went through dental school, and I had a retreated, meaning going back in and cleaning it up. But what is a root channel exactly? It's a dead tooth. And in order for us to keep the tooth in the mouth, we clean out the nerve, and we plug it with actually a corkscrew type material. It's from a Cork tree called gattapurcha.

And then sometimes we put a crown on it, then we leave it alone. So I noticed that after learning about biological dentistry and root panels, my tooth was turning dark. On the x-ray, everything looked good. The bone was fine, but then I would floss around it and I will get the smell on my floss. And the dentists were like, oh, it's totally fine. You have no infection in the bone. Just leave it alone. But my intuition told me this is not good, I mean, this tooth smells, It's turning dark. So I decided to take it out.

and actually this tooth was connected to the meridian, the digestion. So for me, my digestion actually improved and I didn't even think at the time that there would be a correlation between this two. and my digestion. But not only that, I felt better after I had this tooth out. I have more energy than I did. Looking into the studies of aruchanelles, we know that aruchenel-treated tooth has up to 50 times more bacteria inside of it. than a healthy tooth. And if you ask the endodontic community or the root canal specialist, they say, well, yeah, but it's not clinically significant because not everybody, you know, so what if the tooth is turning dark?

It's still in your mouth and it is not causing an infection. But does that bacteria circulate in the bloodstream? Of course it does. Of course, it does. We know also from studies that people with root canal-treated teeth, in fact, the root can now treat the teeth. There are three times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, also, from bacteria. I am not a fan of root canals. I don't think we have the technology yet, looking at all the studies, to truly clean inside the tooth once it's dead.

Because that's the biggest problem. Once a tooth dies, bacteria takes over inside. And the methods that we had today are just not sufficient. Maybe in the future we'll find a way to fully sterilize a teeth on the inside and actually seal it properly. We just haven't gotten there. Interesting. So if you don't get the root canal or you have that dead tooth, then you get it removed, but you can't necessarily leave it empty because then the teeth will start to move. And then, you're in the same issue around the meridians, right?

So does that mean that you, like, what's the solution then? The best solution we have is dental implants and that's what I have. I decided to choose that because I didn't want to go with the missing tooth. You know, I want be able to chew my food and this is a huge part of health. If people have a lot of missing teeth, they'd end up not chewing their food well and now they develop digestive problems and they don't break down their nutrients. So it's important to have all the teeth. So dental implants replace missing teeth very conservatively.

Mercury Fillings, Root Canals, and Implants 48:00

We just put it right in the place where the tooth is missing and they can really last a lifetime if they're taken care of. What do you think though? So I have one dental implant because I didn't have an adult tooth under a baby tooth. And luckily the baby teeth was with me until I was about 20. Oh, I want to say like 21-ish or maybe it was even a little older 24 and it fell out and I chose to get an implant. But what shocked me, and this is sort of tied to what I believe is ancestral energy thoughts or practices, which is the jaw is sacred.

It's a sacred energy, it's sacred part of the body. And when they drilled into my jaw, what they have to do for an implant, I felt deep down into my bones that that was wrong. Like I didn't know it until they did it, but the minute they do it I thought, Oh my God, I just did something drastically wrong to my, you know, kind of my ancestral energy or whatever, my human, something just, did not feel right about it. And I did understand at the time and I technically still don't understand it . I don' t necessarily feel like anything's wrong now, 10 years later, But in that moment I felt like I had done something I dishonored something sacred.

Have you ever looked into that or studied that, or thought about that? I haven't, but it might have to do also with the fact that maybe the material of your implant might not be compatible with your body. It was the drilling specifically. Once the implant was in, it was fine. But it's the actual drilling into the jaw that felt just energetically wrong to me. Yeah, that's true. When you think about it, it is pretty crazy that some of the things we do in medicine today in order to replace not only teeth, but body parts.

We can replace shoulders, knees, this away when you... Yeah. And it's interesting you had that experience. when I had my implant, I didn't have that experienced. I was too busy looking in the mirror, telling my friend where to drill the implant. Oh, really? Go, because you had already understood meridians and you wanted to make sure it was correct. Yeah, well, for me, I actually had, it was a molar that was removed and an implant placed the same time. I didn't wait a period of time, you know, to, so the hole was already kind of there because I don't require that much drilling.

Oh, okay. When that happens, yeah. But yeah, like I guess you're in tune with your body and that's something that yeah your cells just were like, what's going on? Yeah. I think, I mean, think maybe what I felt if I were to try to put words to it is, you know, it felt invasive in a way that I don't think we're energetically designed to do these things. But to your point, sometimes, You know what? We're doing the best we can sometimes with modern medicine, and this is how we know to Do it right now.

And maybe in the future we won't. It's just sometimes it's very unorthodox. Sometimes it isn't in alignment with sort of sacred energies and stuff, but you're what is the alternative? And in that case, I thought I made the best decision I could, because I didn't want to bridge because then they're hurting, you know, they are ruining the two teeth on the outside of that one. So going from one hole to then having three, three parts of my mouth kind of have issues. I kind chose the, best of a situation that I though was limited, Yeah, for sure.

Our DNA, you know, hasn't caught up to our modern life and the modern solution, I think. There's still some things that I thing people tend to say around oral health. is they'll say, oh, well, I have just bad genetics because my teeth are the way they are. Is that true in your opinion? Are like, are cavities a sign of modern diets rather than genetics or is it genetics and modern? Like, what is your thought around the whole genetic, you know, excuse for why they have poor oral health? Yes, while I'm a big believer in epigenetics, right?

We know that, but also the oral microbiome tends to be inherited as well. but it does vary with diet. So there's a lot of things we can do from our lifestyle perspective and choices we make in order to reverse it and not get cavities. Like if my mom and dad had heart disease, it doesn't mean that I need to go there. because it's really their lifestyle choices that contributed to that. We know that it is preventable. Cavities are an infectious disease. So we can find a way to measure the cavity causing bacteria on someone's mouth, reverse it, get rid of it and maintain a healthy balance.

To some extent, genetics plays a role in the formation of enamel and teeth. But again, you need other factors in order to get cavities. Just because the teeth may be enamell is more porous, it doesn't mean you have to have cavites. So yes, I think when I hear people that say, oh, that's just my genetics, It's an easy way to say I don't want to do anything about this because there's nothing I can do. I want just continue my bad habits. And there's nothing I could do. You know, it's kind of like there is no power in that.

With what we know today, we now, yes, lifestyle change can be difficult, but it is not impossible and it can really be a difference between health and disease. That's a really good point. What about the The whole like coding that I remember they offered my daughter when she was younger, like there's a coding to help support the enamel or something like that. That's, what's your thought on that? Like sealers? Yes, sealer, yes. Yeah, so we actually put those in the back. Usually the molars on the top surface, they have grooves.

So when we look at the surface of the teeth, especially when the kids, the, teeth have just come in, They're very groovy. They've got all these little grooves there that bacteria can accumulate. And dentists typically, if the grooves are starting to stain, they recommend to seal them so they flow a little liquid in there that's actually hardened by UV light. So that way bacteria doesn't get inside these grooves and it prevents cavities. Did that help your daughter with the cavity situation? Yeah, but I mean, both of my daughters have been cavity free so far, you know, fingers crossed, knock on wood.

Great, yeah, so we find that the sealants definitely help. Okay, interesting. What are they made of though? We have BPA-free sealants, super important. Okay, not all dentists use BBA- free materials, but they are out there. So it's just a matter of, you know, people asking for those. A lot of them are made out of plastic and they contain BTA, which is not good, especially in the oral environment, because it leaches out slowly. But you haven't found other issues stemming from these sealants like gut issues or something from them that if it's BPA free that there's usually symptom free as well?

Yes. Well, that's good to know. It's a good thing to do. it is a prevention. What's the simplest daily action that protects the mouth and the brain that the person watching or listening to today can incorporate into their life?

Ancestral Practices, Resources, and Closing Thoughts 56:00

I think a simple daily action is flossing, because people don't do enough of it. And that can prevent heart disease. It can present brain fog. You can't prevent inflammation of the joints. Besides the fact that it'll prevent cavities. Flossing. There you go. So one thing that I have really worked hard on trying to get my kids to do, and I've scared them enough to finally do it, Excellent. It's, it's sad, but I have to actually scare them. Like, you know, know what cavities are like, and I, if you don't like needles, wait till you get a cavity.

He goes right into your gums and yada yata. But, um, I think, we're getting them in and we do have the water pick, which helps of course. Cause as you said, that makes it a little easier. Yes. I have a final question for you. It's when I ask all my guests nowadays. So if you could wave a magic wand and bring back one ancestral practice, what would it be? I would say eating organ meats because it's so important for just our development. And it is so high in nutrients. You already know this. But growing up in Romania, we actually did eat quite a few organ meat, especially right around December when usually an animal is sacrificed for the end of the year feast.

everything is used. Everything is use. And I remember my parents and my grandparents making actually all kinds of organ meats, sausages and patties and things. We even had blood sausages in Transylvania. So I think that aspect of it, that ancestral practice is important for our overall health and wellbeing. Now, if you were eating whole animal though, how did you get all those cavities? Is it because of what you didn't have, like because you did have the floss or you weren't brushing your teeth regularly or were you eating other things heavily?

Exactly. We had no idea what floss was. It was not something that it was even at the stores in Romania and I was a sugar addict. Ah, okay. the whole, all those cookies and pastries that my mom and grandma made. I was on it. All the sticky stuff you talked about earlier. Exactly. So it's never just one thing. It's always, because people tell me, oh yeah, I do this one things. Okay, brush twice a day, but what about everything else? Even if you have a processed food diet, if just brushing and flossing is not going to be enough.

Right. Well, this has been fantastic. Thank you for answering all my questions. I had a lot of them today. My pleasure. So A, you mentioned some products you have. Uh, I know you, have a practice in, uh, California and Beverly Hills, but where can people find you to kind of get more information to potentially work with you? Where's the general depot for people to get Dr. Sanda information? Yeah, so I also have a podcast called the Holistic Demonstry Show if anybody's interested and you're on there and learning more about oral health on Instagram.

My handle is DrSanda. And at orasana.com, O-R-A-S- A-N-E, I post research articles about the oral microbiome. We have our product line there. It's a line that nourishes the mouth. We don't have strong or harsh chemicals in there. And the goal is to heal the mouse and nurture the teeth and gums from the inside out. Excellent. Thank you so much, Dr. Sanda. It's been a pleasure. And thank you. thank You all for watching, for listening. I hope this has been enlightening. You probably noticed I really do geek out about toothpaste and just in general about teeth health.

Too many people I know had a lot of issues and as we mentioned in this episode, it can cause deeper, deeper chronic issues that show up in the rest of the body. So I hope this has helped. If it has, leave a comment, let us know what you think and that will fill our buckets. Thank you all for joining us today and we'll see you next time on Everyday Ancestral. Thank you so much for joining me on Everyday Ancestral. If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. You can find the show notes, links and resources mentioned at eatpluck.com.

That's E-A-T-P-L-U-C-K dot com. And hey, if you know someone who gets something out of this, share it with them too. Stay curious, live well, and keep it ancestral.