How Our Dental Health Reflects Our Body Health
Just like oxygen and water, the body uses electricity to function. In fact, we couldn’t live without it. The entire nervous system works via a series of billions of electrical impulses, and every cellular function generates an electrical charge. The energy generated by these electrical impulses was called Qi, or life force energy, by ancient practitioners of Chinese medicine. It’s still referred to by that term today by acupuncturists, massage therapists, naturopaths, osteopaths, and holistic physicians. This vital life energy travels throughout the body along twelve pathways or meridians that intersect with every organ, tissue, and organ system, maintaining its vitality and proper function. This includes the teeth.
As the energy meridians run through the teeth and various other organs, it’s possible that a problem in a particular tooth could be creating a secondary health issue elsewhere in the body or vice versa.
With a proper understanding of how meridians work, the mouth should always be a place to look for clues with regard to unexplained health problems in the body.
Meridians, Emotions, and Our Teeth
There are twelve energy meridians that run through the body, and each is named for the major organ or organ system along its route. These include the lung, large intestine, spleen, stomach, heart, small intestine, bladder, kidney, pericardium (circulation/sex), triple warmer (head, also assists the pericardium meridian), liver, and gall bladder meridians. All 32 teeth are also intersected by one of these meridians. The bicuspids will share one meridian, while the molars share another, the anterior or front teeth are intersected by yet a different meridian, and so on. Because of this unique association between teeth and different meridians, it is possible to use the teeth to diagnose and treat health problems elsewhere in the body.
In fact, the energetic association between the teeth and the rest of the body is so specific, that astute practitioners can even pinpoint specific diseases in particular organs based on symptoms in a single tooth.
To give another example, pain in the first incisor could point to infection in either the prostate or tonsils. It is also important to remember that the organs which share an energetic connection with our teeth are connected to our emotions, as well. Problems with our kidneys and bladder are associated with fear; the liver, anger; lungs, grief; the stomach, anxiety or non-acceptance of a chronic issue; and the heart and small intestine, sadness.
The Impact of Invasive Dental Work
Teeth are intimately connected to the rest of the body through energy meridians meaning highly invasive dental work such as root canals, crowns, implants, and amalgam fillings could result in serious health problems throughout the body if the body is already compromised or highly inflamed. What’s more, the patient usually never suspects that the seemingly unrelated problems could be due to previous dental work. A root canal in a six-year molar could relate to a stomach problem; performed in a second bicuspid, it could be related to breast or lung tissue.Certain metal used in these oral fixtures also holds the potential to interrupt the flow of energy from one body part to another as it passes through the teeth, again depending on the vulnerability of certain patients’ bodies “sensory organs”.
Finding A Holistic Dental Practitioner
Fortunately these days, dental care and healthcare are collaborating more and viewing teeth in the context of full-body health. To be sure your dentist or orthodontist can read the clues your teeth may be giving to your overall health, seek out a practitioner who understands “biological dentistry,” as defined by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology.
A holistic approach that views the teeth not in isolation, but as an interconnected and essential part of a balanced body, is the best way to ensure whole body health.
Dr. Shahrzad (Sherry) Sami is a dual specialized doctor in pediatric dentistry and orthodontics. Dr. Sami obtained her dental degree from Columbia University in New York, then finished her dual specialty residency in pediatric dentistry and orthodontics at UCLA. She has been a clinical instructor and professor at UCLA, teaching both residents and students in dentistry and medicine.
