Natural dentistry is a scientific research-based discipline that includes the best elements of general dentistry. But we also look at how oral health affects your entire body (and vice versa).
Oceana Dental offers natural dentistry services and approaches to help you find—and maintain—your best health!
How is natural dentistry different?
Natural dentistry emphasizes prevention, wellness, reducing toxicity and improving the quality of substances used in practice and treatment.
Where possible, we do our best to save teeth and tooth structure with early detection. When necessary, procedures are minimally invasive and use biomimetic materials to prevent reactions and chronic inflammation. As well, we offer alternatives to root canals that can help prevent the ongoing compatibility issues that some people experience with traditional root canal fillers.
Approaches and technologies
The term “natural dentistry” may make you think that it’s low tech—but that’s definitely not the case! Some of the tools and techniques we use include:
- Dental cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is a special type of x-ray equipment used when regular dental or facial x-rays are not sufficient. Your dentist may use this technology to produce three dimensional (3-D) images of your teeth, soft tissues, nerve pathways and bone in a single scan.
- Platelet rich fibrin (PRF) and platelet rich plasma (PRP) can promote faster healing and tissue regeneration to provide you with better comfort and quicker results.
- Soft tissue lasers instead of scalpels (where possible). They not only offer a more comfortable experience, they seal nerve endings and blood vessels to promote faster healing.
- Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dental deprogrammers to help with jaw misalignments (see more on the importance of maintaining jaw structure below).
- Customized dental hygiene recommendations and regimens.
- Nutrition counselling. How you eat has a significant impact on your oral and total health.
SMART Mercury Amalgam Removal
We use the Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique (SMART) recommendations from the IAOMT for maximum safety to you and to our staff when removing this harmful material.
Airway
We all know we need to breathe to live, but not many of us know that even partial airway blockages can affect dental and overall health. For example, people who are mouth breathers can be at greater risk of cavities and gum disease (because their mouths are drier, and saliva helps prevent problems). Airway conditions can result in sleep disturbances, which means not getting the restorative deep sleep you need, which has many health impacts.
Oceana can help by finding airway blockages in the course of our examinations, and use a high resolution pulse oximeter and your sleep quality to learn how airway issues are affecting blood oxygen levels. If there are airway problems, we can work with you to expand the airway using the six-step Seattle protocol.
Nutrition
Nutrition affects your dental health in many ways. A high-carb diet, for example, can increase the likelihood of both cavities and gum disease. But even a healthy diet can have adverse effects if it’s acidic, and you’re not adapting your dental hygiene routine to compensate.
History repeats itself: if you have lots of cavities with your current diet and dental hygiene practices, you’ll continue to have them. There’s great value in wellness dentistry as preventive medicine to break this cycle.
Structure
The importance of the position of your jaw and teeth goes beyond having an attractive smile. Misalignment can cause discomfort when chewing or speaking, chipping or breaking of teeth, headaches, neck pain, and TMJ disorder. We assess things like wear and tear on the teeth, and wear and tear on the muscles and joint of the jaw. If there are any signs of instability we can recommend treatment to realign your bite and/or your jaw position.