Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark - Your Root Canal Could Be Contributing To Chronic Health Issues | Dr. Kelly Blodgett, DMD

Episode Date: September 2, 2025

Could root canals, crowns, and extractions be secretly making you sick? 🦷Dr. Kelly Blodgett, one of the nation’s top holistic dentists, is back to expose the truth about jawbone cavitations, why a root canal should be an absolute last resort, the real deal on crowns, and how flossing daily can literally change your health.Thank you to our sponsors!ZEBRA: Use code ALEX for 10% off any orderGEVITI: Use code ALEX to get 20% off your first purchaseMASA CHIPS: Use code REALALEXCLARK for 25% OFFCALIFORNIA MOBILE ACUPUNCTUREArizona LocationJOOVV: Get an exclusive discount on your first red light therapy orderCOZY EARTH: Use code ALEX for 40% offOur Guest:Dr. Kelly Blodgett, DMDFor ONE WEEK ONLY, Dr. Blodgett’s book “Feel Whole Again: Your Humanistic Guide to Healthcare” will be selling for only $0.99 to Alex’s supporters! This special offer ends 9/8.Dr. Kelly's Links:Blodgett Dental WebsiteFacebookInstagramYouTube👗 Get Alex’s freshest fashion picks and exclusive guest recommendations—delivered straight to your inbox!Sign up for the newsletter HERE:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WEEKLY NEWSLETTER SIGNUP⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FOLLOW ALEX:Instagram |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @realalexclark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @cultureapothecary⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @realalexclark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @yoalexrapz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @RealAlexClark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the Cuteservatives Facebook group to connect with likeminded friends who love America and all things health and wellness!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the CUTEservative Facebook Group!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to ‘Culture Apothecary’ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. New episodes drop 6pm PST/ 9pm EST every Monday and Thursday.

Root canals are never necessary ever? We've normalized killing teeth, leaving a dead organ attached to living jawbone. My mother, who is currently 81 years old, we take this tooth out that had been root canaled when she was 14 years old. That dead tooth had been in her jawbone for 67 years, and I have literally never seen blacker roots. One of the most common dental procedures in the world, tooth extractions, is making people sick by the millions. One of the top holistic dentists in the country and my friend Dr. Kelly Blodgett is back to discuss jawbone cavitations why he says most people don't need a root canal, at least not at the

frequency, we're handing them out, the deal with crowns, how flossing daily really will transform your health, it did mine, and I'll tell you why I'm not a fan of hydroxyapatite in my toothpaste. Visit his practice Blodgett Dental in Portland, Oregon and enjoy the airport because the Portland Airport is my absolute favorite. Dr. Blodgett's new book, Feel Whole Again, Your Humanistic Guide to Healthcare comes out this September.

Watch this episode on the real Alex Clark YouTube channel or Culture Apothecary on Spotify, which also has video. Things you may have noticed look a little different for this episode because we are filming in the Wirefai Studio. My studio is out of commission at the TPSA offices at the moment

because they found ancient bones in the walls. Crazy stuff. Might send them to the local children's museum to use in one of those archaeology sand pits. That's actually where the bones are from that they use at those museums, you know, people's walls. So anyway, big things to wireify. They really helped us in a pinch. Anyways, if you tolerate me, even in the slightest, it would mean a lot for you to leave a five-star review saying so. This show is free and your reviews help keep the lights on in more ways than one.

If you wish that you had more conservative, non-toxic friends, join the Kut Servatives' Facebook group. Please welcome holistic dentist Dr. Kelly Blodgett to culture apothecary. So root canals are never necessary ever? Well, no, I wouldn't say that. Okay. So if a tooth's in pain, you know, like let's say somebody had a big, big cavity in a tooth, maybe they had a filling, and now the tooth hurts. And they're not ready to take the tooth out, something like that.

Then it would be, in my opinion, a wiser choice to get the person out of pain and do a root canal and hold on until they can afford to do something else that might be more definitive and better for health long term. The idea, however, that doing a root canal, once it's done, that, oh, the tooth's good for the rest of your life, I think is misinformation. And sadly, I find that most people who go in and invest a couple thousand dollars, let's say, to have a tooth, quote unquote, saved with a root canal, you know, they walk away thinking like, geez, I just invested all this time and money and now it's not going to be good in five years, 10 years, 20 years, something like that. I wish more people were informed when they were choosing a root canal. Unfortunately, oftentimes they don't feel like they're

choosing it because the dentist will say you need a root canal. How often does somebody really need a root canal when their dentist is insisting that? Well, that's, you know, a person by person situation, but, you know, I would say that a situation I hear frequently is somebody who has, let's say they have some mercury fillings in their mouth. And they're thinking, you know, I understand mercury is not great for me. I want to do things to help benefit my health. I'm going to get these mercury fillings out and replaced with something else. And so they might go in. They might even have really good safety precautions practiced. They get the mercury fillings taken out. Then the teeth are restored with something, usually like a composite filling, you know, some sort of dental restorative material.

And after they have that done, let's say, the tooth hurts. And they go back to the dentist, and it could be the bites off or, you know, something like that. It could be that the bonding didn't work well. But it's interesting. So many times what we see dentists saying is, oh, your tooth hurts after we did this procedure. You need a root canal, which is like a lobotomy for your tooth, right? Take out the nerve. Take away your ability to sense that you're having pain.

Does that really address what was causing the pain? Because the tooth had no symptoms prior to removing the mercury filling. Right. So in my mind, I think, well, probably something went off, you know, during the procedure. Maybe the bonding didn't work well. Maybe you go back and you retreat it, you know, take the filling out, see what happened with that or whatever. But it's just such a blanket statement given in the dental industry that if something hurts, and oftentimes it is after they have dental work. You know, like somebody goes in, again, maybe the situation they want their mercury fillings out. And the dentist says, I'd recommend a crown. So the dentist grinds off. all the enamel takes out the mercury filling. Let's hope. You know, let's hope they take it all out. And then they put the crown on. And, of course, you've stripped all the enamel off the tooth now.

The tooth is sensitive afterwards. And the patient might complain, oh, you know, my tooth sore or it's hurting or it's sensitive to cold or hot. You need a root canal is what they'll hear frequently. And then they go in and they just, you know, they aren't given any other options. At least that's what I hear frequently. And, you know, before I own my own business for about a year, I was an associate and a couple of other practices where I had the opportunity to hear, you know, how people speak.

And I'm huge on communication and I want to communicate as accurately as possible. And so this idea that you need a root canal, it's like, well, what is there another option here, you know, are we going to ask questions about why? You know, why is the tooth inflamed? Sometimes you can resolve the issues that are causing the inflammation. Might be that they're sensitive to the material that the dentist used. Is the idea that there is such a thing as a healthy root canal a lie? I would almost go so far as to say yes.

I actually had a text this last weekend from a young man that I'm mentoring. He was at a class and has a really good teacher there teaching. And she was there speaking about this like biological root canal. And in my opinion, that is the most ridiculous thing to say to a person that you're doing a biological root canal. The reason I say that is that it doesn't, I mean, it improves things, certainly if you want to have a tooth with a root canal last as long as it possibly can in the best state of health that it possibly can. It helps to use lasers. It helps to use ozone. But is it going to make the tooth not dead?

Is it going to make the tooth not porous? No. It's still dead. It still becomes an energetic issue along that meridian. The dentin of the tooth, which is like 80% of your tooth, is. is porous like a sponge. So how can treating it with ozone or using a laser make it not spongy? You know, it's still going to be a sponge sitting in your jawbone.

And so the microbes that crawl their way inside the tooth through those pores, they're just as happy whether it's done, quote, unquote, biologically or not. So if overnight conventional dentists were told you are not allowed to perform root canals any longer, what would they have to do? I would imagine they might be a lot more considerate of how they're treating teeth when they're drilling on them or using a laser or anything else. But most dentists are using drills, of course. So, you know, you can imagine that this nerve inside the tooth, this tiny little precious nerve, it does not like heat. You can imagine when you're spending a bur at, you know, 2 to 400,000 RPM's.

Hopefully you're using air and water copiously on that tooth. but, you know, it's easy for the nerve inside the tooth to get overheated, which then can either make it reversibly or irreversibly unhappy. So if you're light with your hands and you're kind with your drills and light pressure and do your best not to heat up a tooth and really take your time in doing bonding processes, you know, the dental materials that we use like composite fillings, they're beautiful. We can bond them to teeth. That's wonderful technology.

However, the material shrinks by about 3% by volume. So the bigger the filling becomes, the more shrinkage stress you're putting in the tooth. You can imagine that these, you know, if you're trying to Velcro, basically, in my mind, I look at it like little Velcro pieces locking it onto the tooth. If that then shrinks and puts stress on the tooth surface, it's going to be sensitive. So I would imagine if you told dentists, they couldn't do root canals tomorrow, they would have to start. thinking more creatively, which I would love. Right.

You know, I think that, as it is probably in a lot of professions, you know, it's easy to fall into dogma and lose creativity and curiosity. There are some of us who are total nerds and want to continuously keep learning and see, how do we help people experience the best health? If somebody's had a root canal and they're like, man, I wonder if there is some stuff going on under there. And so they go to their dentist and the dentist says, okay, let's do an x-ray. And they look on the x-ray and they say, well, I'm looking at your x-ray.

and it looks totally fine. What is wrong with that picture? You know, I was thinking about that on the flight down today. I was thinking about the things that we have normalized in our modern society. You know, if we went back, say, 200 years ago, when root canals didn't exist, let's say it's like the dawn of dental x-rays, which was, you know, a little over 100 years ago. And you'd never see, like, there wasn't such a thing as a root canal at the time. If you were used, you. You were used, used to looking at x-rays of teeth that never had white stripes down the center, which is what a root canal looks like on an x-ray, it would suddenly look so weird to you. You're like, wait, wait, what's going on with this tooth? But we've normalized it. Kind of like we have normalized the idea of,

hey, you're 18, Alex, let's take out your wisdom teeth. You know, like, well, why would we do? Well, you're due for it. You're 18 years old. You're still on your parents' insurance. You know what I mean? It's this odd thought process that like we've normalized killing teeth, leaving a dead organ attached to living jawbone. We totally normalized it. So the things that we're taught to look for as dentists in training is, you know, do we see an abscess at the tip of the root? Something like that.

You know, do we see a black area on an x-ray? I've trained my eye to look and see. If I see white stripes and teeth on an x-ray, it's like, we've got a massive problem here. It's a dead organ in living bone. your immune system is aware of it the day that it's done. So do you think that conventional dentists just don't know what they're looking at when they're looking at an x-ray of a root canal? Is that the issue when they say, well, I see nothing wrong? Well, what they're seeing is they're saying, I see a root canal.

Yeah. That's normal. You know what I mean? Like, that's how we're trained. We're trained to do them. I mean, heck, I had to do one in my board exam to get a license to practice, you know. And I performed them on patients for about 15 years. It's a totally, quote, unquote, normal part of dental practice currently.

And again, there are times where that's appropriate and helpful to the patient's health and comfort. But to the tune of at least 15 million root canals being done in America alone per year, like something's off here. Is that more than normal? I don't know what would be considered normal. I haven't compared it to other countries. Because, you know, like our C-section rate. in America is way higher than everyone else. So I wonder if our root canal rate is also higher.

I don't know. I mean, we do have, you know, recognized specialists in root canals. You know what I mean? We've normalized it to that extent. So you might be, maybe they now have like OBGYNs that are C-section specialists. You know, like we've normalized some very interesting things. Kind of like in the dental world, we've normalized looking at x-rays for, dark spots for cavities as a reason to drill and fill, not a reason to ask questions about

nutrition and gut function. I mean, healthy teeth don't lose mineral. So, you know, years ago, thankfully, I had great mentors who were helping me to look outside the box of the drill and fill model and start asking questions. You know, like, tell me about your diet. How is your gut function? And once we start looking at that, we can actually then have conversations around managing what's causing the loss of mineral so then people's bodies can remineralize. What sorts of things will a dentist gaslight a patient with when they're trying to convince them that they need a root canal? I'm going to bring it to the point we were just talking about before the show about time allowed for visits, for most providers. So let's say you're the dentist, you've got, you know, this schedule where you're seeing 20 to 30 patients in a day. Maybe it's even 10.

I don't know, you know, but it's packed with a lot of people. Somebody comes in, they're scheduled for, let's say, 20 to 30 minutes, you know, your dental assistant's gathering the x-rays and some information for you. And you come in and you have five minutes to take in the information the patient's shared, taking the information that the assistance has gathered. and then you're trying to come up with a diagnosis, you know. So you're pressed for time. So your ability to sit there and actually consider every potential, you know, possible reason for which the tooth hurts is minimal. So it's, you can, I can appreciate why people who are pressed for time are going to just say, well, tooth hurts. Go get a root canal.

That'll solve the problem. Right. Today. But is it going to solve the problem of then what's going to be kicked off? in terms of the body's immune system and what happens inside of jawbone when it now has a dead organ sitting inside of it. So what is the connection between root canals and hidden jawbone infections? 10 years ago, although there were, I would say there were people doing studies to look at jawbone diseases,

but it's not until just recently and it's occurring today where dentists and researchers at what I would consider the highest level. A gentleman, for instance, named Dr. Sharam Ganadi out of Germany, doing studies looking at the health of bone around root canals when you, let's say when you remove this tooth, let's say it's been dead in the mouth for 20 years, you know, just been sitting in there festering. And your body's immune system has to change its health quality

around that dead tooth in order, you know, for it to not abscess and all this. So you take it out, imagine then taking the bone out that's around that dead tooth, sending that to a histology lab so that they can start looking at what cellular differences are occurring around that tooth relative to, let's say, let's say somebody's having a couple premolars taken out for orthodontics, relative to that bone. What inflammatory cells do we see that are in that bone around a root canal that we probably won't see around an otherwise healthy tooth? And truthfully, the language of biochemistry, which is not my background. You know, I came to dentistry through the world of psychology of all things.

But, you know, when I was in dental school in the 1990s, we didn't have the language and the understanding of the biochemistry of what's happening in bone that we do today. So it's fascinating what we're starting to understand about the health of bone that when root canals became in fashion, you know, like 1920s, 30s, 40s, and certainly since then has just grown. We didn't know what was going on in the bones. Just a way to help people save teeth, which, again, that has benefits, certainly. I mean, to keep a tooth, especially if it's in the smile zone, I appreciate what a person would want to keep that tooth. You know, it's the alternative of walking around with a black hole in the front doesn't really, you know, convey confidence. Pirate aesthetic. Yeah, yeah.

Pirate aesthetic for sure. But we're just starting to understand so much more today. And, you know, hopefully within five to 10 years, we'll start seeing this crop up in dental school training. But my experience, you know, I've been doing this now, geez, 26 years. I've been out of dental school. Some of the technologies that I started with like a year or two out of dental school that I thought, wow, in 10 years, everybody will be doing this stuff. No, nothing's changed. Like there's so little progression.

So I'm on a Tinder date, candlelit dinner, very classy, inside an abandoned Hollister. I'm emotionally dead inside. We're eating cold liver and onions on a display table and suddenly it hits me. The air. Still reeks of that weaponized body spray we used to drown ourselves in. teens. Remember that? You'd walk into the store and instantly lose three years off your life and part of your thyroid. That must be where mine went. That smell? Still there. Still fighting for its life. I don't mess with toxic fragrance anymore. And that is why I use zebra deodorant, clean ingredients,

zero artificial or synthetic fragrance, but somehow still smells amazing. It goes on clear, not like that chalky paste from the drugstore that looks like you're prepping for war. No aluminum, no paraben, paraben in two formulas with or without baking soda. Because some of us have sensitive fits and So while the early 2000's Ghost of Christmas Pass is trying to give me a hormone disorder, my armpits are thriving. Go to yayzeeber.com and use code Alex for 10% off. That's yayzeeber.com with code Alex for 10% off because smelling good shouldn't trigger a medical event. I took an ill-advised trip to find myself in Louisiana once and somehow I ended up in a styrofoam cooler-turned-boat

being pushed through the bayou by a dragonfly with a tiny toothpick oar, muttering things in my ear like, that mouse got memories, Miss Alex. I'm dehydrated, a mosquito bitten, and mentally unraveling when this dragonfly opens a snack basket, and boom. Masa chips, I nearly cried. Most chips are fried in cheap seed oils that wreck your metabolism and leave you bloated like a gas station hot dog. Mossa said absolutely not, just three ingredients, organic, niximalized corn, sea salt, and 100% grass-fed beef tallow. They're crunchy, they're sturdy and wildly satisfying. No crash, no weird, greasy film, just clean, classic flavor that hits. Mossa chips are loved by tens of thousands and backed by guys who,

know health like Ben Greenfield and Gary Breka. Go to masahitchips.com and use code real Alex Clark for 25% off your first order. It's moss atchips.com code real Alex Clark for 25% off your first order. What jaw bone diseases are dentists totally missing? Well, I would say by and large, it's the quality of bone health around root canals. And what we commonly refer to as cavitations. So again, considering the idea that how many people that you and I know have had their wisdom teeth out. And they may have had no issues with their wisdom teeth at all. They just happen to be 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, somewhere in there. And, you know, the dentist's like, oh, you know, you're 20, you're going on. Hey, you're going to be home for winter break. Let's get those

wisdom teeth out. It's literally, it's the social perception is such that it's like, oh, I'm 20. I'm due to have my wisdom teeth out. You know, it's kind of odd because some people literally have perfectly healthy wisdom teeth. They're in good alignment. There's space for them in their jaws. Like, why on earth would we take out those teeth? Conversely, there are certainly people whose wisdom teeth are in weird positions and are creating more disease risk by having them there. But the challenge is that when you're taking out any tooth, you're exposing bone to the oral environment. You know, if we think about an orthopedist going in to work on, let's say an orthopedist is replacing a knee,

you know, a kind of a surgery where you actually have to open up the tissues to expose the bone. You know, I mean, they're going to do everything in their power to make sure, one, you wash all the skin down and beta dine and minimize microbial exposure and such, and then it's all going to get stitched back up. we consider in the mouth you're exposing living bone oftentimes you can't close with their natural gum tissue you can't close the space and they just have gauze thrown in their mouth cross your fingers that you form a good blood clot and maybe some bone heels what we're finding is that almost all of those extraction sites form these cavitation lesions cavitations have been described for over 160 years there are so many acronyms that have been used over that time to describe what the dentists and researchers are observing. It's kind of interesting, actually, the IAOMT, the International Academy for Oral Medicine and Toxicology, just went through a reshuffling of data. They came up with yet a new acronym last year, trying to create some continuity.

in the dental profession, the problem is when you've got like 20 acronyms for the same thing. Yeah. And, you know, like NICO was, neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis was a popular term in the 90s and early 2000s. The problem is that that phrase, neuralgia-inducing, doesn't then include the people who have cavitations but have no neuralgia or, you know, pain in the nerves. Right. So, and they're finding that the majority of people who have cavitations don't have any pain or symptoms in the mouth, but they may have systemic issues. You know, it's connected to the heart meridian, wisdom teeth, that is. If you're having a tooth extracted.

Yes. And your jawbone ends up being exposed. Yeah. Maybe there's no pain, no issues that you notice inside your mouth so you don't think anything's wrong, but actually something could really be going wrong internally. Absolutely. Yes. And the science, like for those people who are listening who really want to dive deep, because I meet some people who, you know, patients who come in and they've read so much stuff on PubMed.

I mean, they've done the deep dive. If they start looking at Dr. Lechner's information out of Germany, it's incredible. This guy's been studying the microbiological and biochemical properties of these cavitations for decades. And it's fascinating. they're seeing in connection to, I'm cautious to use the word autoimmune. You know, I prefer the immune mediated because your body doesn't dislike itself, right? It's going to, it's going to develop a state of inflammation for a reason. What we're finding is that these areas of jawbone cavitation have chemical properties that, of course, you know, get dropped into the cardiovascular system,

lymphatic system and go throughout your body and can impact people negatively in all sorts of places, joint spaces, kidneys, prostate, breast, you know, it's quite interesting to see where these biochemical markers are showing up in elevated states. And, you know, it's, they don't get kicked off without a good reason, right? Our bodies are designed so incredibly well. But, when we do things that are kind of odd, frankly, you know, I was thinking about like, can you imagine if you had an accident, God forbid, and you know, a big stick went through your leg and into your jaw, or into your leg bone, so you've got this hole in your leg bone. Any orthopedist would look at that and be like, wow, one, we have to clean the daylights out of this thing.

You're going to probably be on antibiotics for a while. We have to close it. We have to ensure that everything is closed so that the body can heal itself. The jaw bone, when we're taking teeth out, presents a very risky situation if it's not intentionally treated by cleaning and grafting in a way that the body can then heal. What chronic illnesses are connected to jawbone decay? Take your pick. Really? Yeah, it's, and a good resource currently is that new IAOMT position paper on cavitations,

where they're looking at Professor Gannotti's studies, they're looking at Jerry Buccoe's studies, they're looking at Dr. Lechner studies, where they're showing connections to breast cancer. They're showing connections to kidney disease, to immune-mediated function, to neurological conditions like Alzheimer's. Can your jawbone be exposed when you're getting your wisdom teeth out?

Absolutely. And so these are all the types of surgeries that could then end you up in this situation where you're experiencing jawbone, What, necroses? Is that how you say it? Yeah, that's exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And it's funny, you know, like the acronyms, it's so hard because you want to, wouldn't it be nice if every acronym made up a cute word that you could remember? And it made sense. Like it was very accurate. That's the challenge I have with the new IOMT acronym. It's like, nobody's going to remember this. You know, it's just too, but it's, it's accurate. It's chronic. ischemic medullary diseases of jaws. CIMDJ. Like, who's going to remember that?

Yeah. You know, but it's totally accurate. You know, it's a chronic condition. It's eschemic, meaning there's no blood flow to it. It's in the medullary part of the bone, meaning the center, the spongy part. I mean, we've probably all seen a beef bone cut in half where it's really dense on the outside and, you know, marrowy on the inside. Yep.

So it's the marrowy space that becomes diseased. Why is cavitation such a controversial diagnosis? One, I think that up until probably about 20 years ago, almost all dental radiography, or put in late terms, x-rays, they were all two-dimensional. So when I was a kid, I'd go in and get x-rays, you know, it's all just two-dimensional little films, maybe a pan or X, you know, where they kind of spread your face out on a flat, you know, the pano. But how do you appreciate density values in a three-dimensional structure using a two-dimensional x-ray? Right?

It's very challenging. So it was probably the mid-2000s, 2005, six, somewhere in there, that 3D cone beam computed tomography came out. So when I got into my new building back in 2006, we started looking at one, bought our first one in 2008. So for 17 years now, I've been able to see three-dimensional human beings in three-dimensional human beings in three. three dimensions using CT radiography. And looking through that lens, now you can slide through sections of bone and start to appreciate, wow,

there's some real changes in density here that it's invisible to your eye to the greater part when you're using two-dimensional radiography. So it's a huge shift in thinking. And as I was mentioning earlier, back then when 3D cone beam CTs came out, we also didn't have the biochemical language that we have today. You know, it just continues to evolve. Our understanding of these chemokines or cytokines, these chemical messengers that get developed and released within these spaces, like, that's all relatively new information.

So what scans should a patient ask their dentist for to see if they have jaw bone disease? In my opinion, for somebody who wants the highest standard of care, it would start with a three-dimensional cone beam CT scan. That would just be, I mean, in my practice, you know, you've been there. It's if someone says, you know, I don't want an x-ray here. Well, then that's totally fine. I'm not going to force you into that, but you can't be a patient because I'm not going to be limited in my ability to see that. So then, you know, hopefully you'd want a dentist who's familiar with utilizing their software well so that they can understand what they're looking at. There are also different means of assessing energy in those spaces, which we do in our practice.

We use a system called EAV, electroacupuncture, according to Vol, where we're literally measuring the energy flow through these spaces. We have a practitioner in our office who's amazing at it. That's not a very common thing. So I don't think a lot of people are going to find that. But some people will do muscle testing. and I think one of the most important things that people can convey when they go to a dentist is their experience. What was it like when you went in and had your wisdom teeth out?

Now, again, we've already talked about it's absolutely possible to have teeth taken out and then not have symptoms later. But let's say a common scenario I see is if somebody's telling me that their history of having wisdom teeth out looked like, well, I would. went in, you know, it was pretty rough. I was awake for it. I was highly stressed out, as anybody probably would be, you know, the teeth came out, and then I got dry sockets a week later, meaning they literally lost the clot within the jawbone or it died or got infected or something, and it was horribly painful for a week or two, and then they did whatever they did, and then,

I, you know, I don't have any pain now. When I hear that, the flashing red light in my brain starts going off like, man, we've really got to assess this. Really? Why? Because of the, if they, well, one, we know that if it was open, first of all, all they had there was this blood clot that it has no structural integrity to it. It either got infected and or fell out. So that was one of those instances where jawbone was exposed. Yep. Yep, absolutely. So it's been exposed. The clot that was, the body was trying to form to protect you came out or got in fact.

I mean, you can imagine 18-year-olds, 20-year-olds being asked to not eat garbage and drink carbonated beverages and all the stuff that they do, you know, for them to follow all the post-surgery recommendations isn't always the greatest. So anyways, point being that when this thing falls out or dies and your gum tissue is closing over the top of this hole at a much faster rate than bone can heal. whatever's inside that thing is going to get closed off. I mean, the number of times I've opened the particularly wisdom two spaces

and found black, like a bag of black material that's kind of waxy. I'm going to throw up. Maybe this is what happened to me. Well, if you had wisdom teeth out, and we've had some conversations about it, and they weren't grafting,

which, I mean, we have ways today, which are relatively, newer to help prevent this from happening. How can you tell the difference between normal post-extraction healing and a hidden bone infection? If you've grafted it. So to clarify, and I want to be really clear to all listeners, that the field of helping jaw bones to heal well is evolving. So even what I'm doing today is different than what I was doing a year ago based on.

the continuous learning that I'm doing with Professor Gannotti. And let's pray that some dentists are listening to this. I would encourage them highly to look him up and all listeners to ask their dentist to look him up. Dennis, we ride at dawn. Absolutely. I mean, it's... There are a lot of hygienists that listen. They would be wonderful people to share this.

I started in his maxi residency at Tufts University in January this year because I'm of the mindset that I never want to quit learning. I always want to be ever evolving my understanding and skill set, as long as I'm doing it anyways, you know. But anyways, to get back to your question in terms of healing quality, so what we know is that if a tooth's taken out, the vast majority will not have the socket cleaned out effectively. For those who are unfamiliar, which I'm sure is most people, there's some very dense bone that holds all. onto your root through a ligament. There's a ligament that attaches the two.

It's called the lamina dura. It's a very dense bone, probably a half a millimeter thick or so. Beyond that is the bone where you have this like incredible blood supply. What I found in, you know, 26 years of doing this, the number of times that I've seen this lamina dura, particularly at the tip of the root where teeth are root canaled, being filled with black stuff in the pores of the bone is incredible. You have to remove that in order for bone to then heal appropriately.

Once you've cleaned the bone, which is like dental orthopedic surgery, you know, I mean, that's what you're doing is bone surgery. You then have to graft that space with some bone grafting material. Our choice, our preferred choice currently is synthetic. there are a couple different kinds of synthetic products that we would use. But the reason that we have leaned away from using allographic material, which is like human cadaver materials, is that studies are showing that almost half of those bone products from cadavers still have portions of that human in them. Even though the marketing says, oh, it's all pure, whatever, you know, the studies are showing in actuality that there can be human, cellular debris remaining, which is probably not what we want, you know, because if you have

somebody else's cells going into your jawbone, that's also going to kick off an immune response. We would expect that. So that's where, you know, the synthetics are becoming more of the preferred choice. How do you know if you have a toxic filling in your mouth? In my opinion, and I think the science supports this wholeheartedly, anything mercury-based is constantly off-gassing mercury. So you're going to be swallowing that every time you chew. You're going to be inhaling it every time you breathe.

Every time you heat it up with a hot cup of coffee or hot piece of pizza, you know, it's off-gassing mercury vapor. So those are so obvious, you know. I mean, they've been put in teeth now for about 200 years. I would say we're seeing a phasing out. In the European Union, it's been banned. So why isn't it banned in America? Call your congressman. I don't know.

It's banned in Europe? You're kidding. Yeah, I mean, recently. Wait, we need a Maha arm for dentistry. I think they're working on that. Oh, good. Yeah. Has anyone called you yet?

Nobody's called me, but I would happy to pitch into that for sure. I mean, it's such a simple thing, right? Because we've had dental composite materials now for well over 40 years, the technologies and the protocols for doing them predictably in people's teeth. And now, to be clear, any filling in a tooth isn't as good as natural teeth. structure. So there is a risk that any person could be sensitive to any filling depending on their own immune states, you know, the state of their immune health. In our practice, we frequently use a system called biocomp where we'll do a blood draw and send it to a lab in Colorado called

biocomp. They will send us back a 250-page report that tells us of all the dental products on the market from crown material, ceramic materials, filling materials, Denture materials, you know, anything you can think of practically. Implant materials. What materials that person is least sensitive to and what they are most sensitive to. So there is a test that people can take and it'll tell you out of all of the dental products on the market, which products would be sensitive to you in your mouth so that you can present that to your dentist and say, do not under any circumstance. Put this anywhere near me. Absolutely.

And how many dentists are offering this test to people? Very few. How do you get it? You know what's awesome about this biocomp is that you can call biocomp. They will send you a test kit. You could go to like Quest Labs and get a blood draw, have those phlebotomists do the blood draw and send it back to them. And you can get the report yourself so that you can go in and ask your dentist, hey, if you're going to do fillings, would you please use any one of these materials in the least reactive category? It's a heck of a lot easier, frankly, if the practice is already utilized.

It's not utilizing it because who, I mean, who wants to spend time going through a 250-page report? That's a lot. What they've done for my practice is I sent them a list of here are the materials that we use most commonly. I mean, we're talking like on the daily, you know, ceramics, composites, bonding agents, things like that. They'll send it back to me a single page report along with the 250-page reports. It's like a cheat sheet. Yeah. For all of Dr. Blodgett's materials that he uses frequently, you know, which are compatible with

you. What's kind of funny is that, you know, the materials that we use tend to be of the highest quality, as you might imagine. They tend to be the more expensive materials, but, you know, there's only one on the list of products that I have that shows up frequently, and by frequently, I mean, always, for people that they're always sensitive to that one material. But everything else we use, it's always green, meaning like it's least reactive for people. Because there isn't such a thing is a non-reactive material that's foreign. Someday soon, you're going to walk into what you think is brunch. But no, it's an intervention.

Your friends are like, you look tired. You're defensive. You say, I'm not tired. I'm just dying in little silent, unmeasurable ways. But then someone says, try Jevity. And for once, it's not a pyramid scheme. It's actually brilliant. Jevity is a complete biomarker testing company

that will send a phlebotomist to your house like you're about to go on tour with you too, and then scan your blood for over 90s. Biodomarkers, not the 12-questioned BuzzFeed quiz your doctor runs once a year. They build you a custom health plan with supplements based solely on your blood work, hormone therapies, peptides, the kind of stuff that Jeff Bezos injects before sunrise. If you want to test for MTHFR mutations, do a gut microbiome test for parasites, or get your hormones tested, you can do that too.

It's delivered to your door like you're a Kardashian, but on a reasonable budget. You get an app that tracks everything. Your care team is on call, and the entire thing is $129 a month. cheaper than the IV drip I got in Vegas that may or may not have been saline and vibes. Go to gogevity.com. Use code Alex for 20% off your entire first purchase. That's go, g-e-v-I-tI-com, code Alex. Take control of your health without leaving your house. Gogevity.com, code Alex.

You've got a gym routine, a supplement stack, maybe a protein powder. But if you're not using red light therapy, you're missing a massive piece of the puzzle. That's why I use J-O-O-V-V, the medical-grade red light therapy device that helps support cellular energy, muscle recovery, skin health, and inflammation reduction. I use mine every morning and night for about 10 minutes. Standers sit in front of it look like a Marvel villain charging up and boom, my body's soaking up clinically proven wavelengths that stimulate ATP production and help my cells function at their best. It's not hype. Juve is independently safety tested, delivers a safe and effective dosage, and they've got multiple device options depending

on your setup. So there's travel sizes or massive panels that could cover an entire wall. Whether you're looking to optimize recovery, reverse hair loss, reduce joint pain or support collagen production, juve red light therapy works. Go to juve.com slash Alex and grab your own device. That's J-O-O-O-V-V-com slash Alex. You're going to get an exclusive discount on your first order that'll pop up in your cart if you use that link. J-O-Ovv.com slash Alex. Better light equals better cells, which equals better results. There's all these dentists that are like, I'm holistic, I'm biomimetic, I'm biological. How do you know? who is really walking the walk.

And I want to give a shout out to my friend, Dr. Dominic Nishwitz. Where's he? He is in tubing in Germany. And he has been a champion of the biological dental movement for years. I mean, well over a decade. And what he did last year, and I'm sure he was spending probably a year or two prior to that developing it, he saw or has seen throughout his career like this. trend of people starting to use terms that are popular, like holistic, biological, functional,

integrative, right? I mean, it's just they're out there. It's greenwashing. It's everywhere. What he decided to do is to create a standard. And he came out last fall with a program he called biodentistry 3.0. It's slowly growing. We probably have right now 60 to 70 dentists from around the world who have gone through.

his biodendistry 3.0 standardization. Now within that group, you know, every dentist has their own unique skill sets, but it's elevating everybody to a standard of not just the dental stuff, like two stuff, but the nutritional awareness, the detoxification awareness, things like that. So I have to really, you know, my hat is off to him for doing that. I mean, I went through it. It was like 30 hours of study, you know, I did it over Christmas break because it's only time I would have that much time to focus. But it's wonderful. It's a very important topic right now. I mean, when I decided to shift my practice in more of a holistic and biological direction a decade ago, it formed from the fact that I had patients asking me questions about things that I had no understanding.

You know, cavitations being one, it's having people asking me about ceramic implants. I'd never heard of that. The other thing that people were asking me about was root canals, you know. And so as I started to listen more or have an more open awareness of what people were asking for and hearing what they were experiencing from symptoms, it just my mind started becoming blown. You know, like when we would help people take out root canals where they're telling me, keeping in mind, my background is psychology, I trust that what people are telling me about their own life experience is accurate. So if they say, you know, I had these two teeth root canals and I've noticed all these shifts in my health, I think I'm wise to pay attention to that.

To me, that has value. Unfortunately, we do not see in dental education, in dental practice that the aspect of what a person tells you, that subjective part of their experience, has any significant weight in how we diagnose what's going on. for them. So you had brought up the scenario earlier of you go in, something's not feeling right with this root canal tooth, but the dentist, you know, might be two dentists, three dentists, four dentists. That looks fine. X-ray looks fine. But they're telling you it doesn't feel right. Something's clearly not right. It's a dead tooth and living jawbone, you know? I mean, from that perspective, obviously something's different than health. When their body's own immune system is speaking to them or their neurological system or whatever it is, is saying,

this doesn't feel right, in my opinion, we are so wise to listen and lend credence to what they're saying. Let it have value in what we're deciding to do. Because I mean, and I may have shared the story with you before, but the first woman who called my office and said she had had two root canals and that she had seen three dentists and none of them would take them out. And, and I mean, I may have shared the She wanted these teeth out. She's like, I know in my soul they are killing me. I'm like, those are strong words, you know, for somebody to say. She did come in.

We did have a conversation. We ultimately did take those two teeth out. What did you find? What was so interesting was, you know, the roots that I took out, I'm like, well, you know, it wasn't that exciting. However, we did send the roots, just the part of the tooth that was in the jawbone. We sent those roots to DNA connections in Colorado. We had them run it through their tests to tell us, hey, are there any, microbes living in here, teeming with microbes. The most important thing about her story and the

experience that my team and I had with her was that two weeks later when she came in for her post-surgical visit, get her stitches out. I mean, she was previously a woman who looked like she was dying and felt like she was dying. And she came back in the office, like bounding with energy and joy. And we're like, what happened here? So total transformation after getting those root canal teeth taken out. Total transformation. And I'm we've now seen this over the last decade. It's become, I'm not going to say normalized. We're just accustomed to experiencing. It is still awe-inspiring every time I see it. Because I see people on the front end when they are suffering, I mean, most of the people who are choosing to come to me

and other highly qualified biological dentists like Dr. Nishwitz, they're people who are suffering. I mean, we're the last stop usually on their train. It would be awesome if we were the first stop, you know, where they could say, hey, I want to make sure I optimize my whole body health for the rest of my life, and they're 25. You know, that would be amazing. Unfortunately, most of the people I'm seeing are in their mid-30s to much later in life, and their symptoms might be immune-mediated. They're, you know, like their joints always hurt or their gut can't function, you know. They haven't had a normal poop in years, you know. That could be from a root canal? Oh, yeah. Constipation? Constipation and or chronic diarrhea. So if somebody that's had a root canal,

let's say, you know, in the last 10 years, what sorts of signs? And they are like, well, I mean, I feel pretty relatively normal. I don't feel like I've had anything go wrong, which is great. But what sorts of signs should they be looking for now as the years go on that you're like, that could be connected to that root canal you had? This explains it. My mother, who is currently 81 years old, She's lived a very vital, vibrant life. She had, for years, six root canals. Due to this reason and that, I had been taking them out, replacing them with ceramic implants. She had one root canal left.

Same meridian as her left knee. Now, my mom's an avid gardener, loves to be outside, you know. And, you know, it's becoming a life, you know, just a pain in her side, I didn't painted her knee, literally, where she's like, ah, you know, I'm out there and my knees killing me. We take this tooth out that had been root canaled. This is just last January when she was 14 years old. That dead tooth had been in her jawbone for 67 years. And I have literally never seen blacker roots.

Like when I took the roots out, they looked exactly like when you see pictures of a gangrenous toe or thumb that's like kind of that deep black color, that was. the color of her roots. Now imagine, again, keep in mind, the roots are porous like a sponge. Those things have been sitting in her jawbone for 67 years. When I took the roots out, the bone around it was black. Oh my gosh. Yes. So then what do you have to do? A huge jaw surgery to remove part of it? We had to section all of it out. She gets it calmed from her son. That's a dentist, right? What happens? Yeah, I figure it's a trade trade for all the good things she did for me. Growing up. Because, oh my gosh, how much would a surgery like that normally be for somebody?

I mean, are we talking about like 80 grand? Oh, no, no. For one tooth, probably between $5,000 to $10,000. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, probably more and closer to the five range for a single tooth. What's interesting, and I think my mom's a good example where, you know, she grew up in the 50s and 60s,

definitely was going through a sweets phase as a teenager, got cavities, grill and fill, mercury fillings everywhere. And then, you know, those, as teeth often do that have big mercury fillings, they start breaking, you know, after 20 to 30 years of use, she had, you know, metal-based crowns put in her mouth. Somewhere, you know, after that all happened, then I become her dentist, you know, almost 30 years ago now when I started dental school. So I've been watching her care over the years. I had no idea, you know, when I was first helping her with her dentistry that root canals were bad. I mean, I did two root canals in her mouth. When those teeth, you know, 15 years later, then snapped off the gum line because teeth with root canals,

remember that like the collagen that makes up the tooth, has its, gains its flexibility from the moisture inside the tooth from the blood supply. When you do a root canal, it becomes brittle. You know, over, and the longer it's dead, the more brittle it becomes and they're prone to fracture. So, you know, she's now had all those removed and replaced with ceramic implants. But my goodness, like, had I known 25 years ago what I would have seen this past January, I would have been a heck of a lot more proactive in recommending to her that she get these things out. But now she gets to garden again, pain free. That was the craziest thing is, you know, and of course it's mom.

You know, I'm texting her the next day. How are you feeling, mom? You know, she's like, it's so weird, but my knee doesn't hurt, you know. Wow. Like, oh, wow. So let me tell you a little something. So I do this volunteer work with kids in the foster care system. And so you work with like one particular kid and you're dealing with their case and you're getting to know them in their life and you're advocating for them in court.

Okay. It's an unpaid volunteer thing. So right now the kid on my case is a teenage girl. And she was hit by a car walking down the street a year ago. And I don't know, loosen teeth or something. She was told she had to get multiple root canals. Now, this is right before I'm put on her case. So of course, she gets put on my case.

I'm like, no. So I'm telling her, I'm like, listen, I know this is going to be really over your head because you're 17. But later on in your life, if you ever start noticing, like, major pain or things going wrong or anything, God forbid, I just need you to remember this moment. And I need you to remember that your CASA volunteer told you it might be the root canals and that you need to look into them. And it's like, I'm trying to explain this to a teenager that I'm not going to be in her life forever. Yeah. But, oh my gosh. So, yeah, I just felt like, why was that the first thing they told?

told you need to do is get, because she had like five done and multiple crowns and all of this. Well, and I think that, and that's a good situation as a kind of a test case scenario, because for a 17-year-old, she's not finished growing. Oh, I know. Yeah, so what's the deal with, and your mom was a teenager, what's the deal with teenagers being told you need root canals, you need crowns? Is that really a good idea? Well, I think if you get hit by a car or, I mean, golly, I've seen so many scenarios, you know,

kids wiping out on surfboards or skis or they slip on black ice and land on stairs. I mean, you know, weird stuff happens. As a teenager, in my opinion, I think that's a safe time to like, okay, let's do the root canals as well as we possibly can if the bone can be brought back to health so that their body can continue its growth process. But I put it out there. Like, you know, be aware when your body stops growing, you know, like let's say their early 20s. Or maybe everything's looking well and you feel great. And let's say your, testing them with energy meridian testing. And they're testing reasonably well. Well, okay, you know, maybe you can tolerate those for a while. But understand that the time will come when your body is

going to say, I can't do this anymore. And that's going to vary from person to person. So some people might tolerate a root canal, not even a day for whatever reason. It's just like, no. I mean, when my dad was diagnosed with cancer and all of this, that was one of the first things I started asking, how many root canals has he had? Where are they? What's going on? and, you know, trying to figure all that stuff out. Like when things aren't really going wrong, I think the teeth, that should be one of the main areas you look at. What's been the history there? What have I done in my mouth?

And everybody seems to ignore that area of the body. Can't even begin to tell you the number of people that pop into my mind just in the last year because it's so fresh. People who came into me and said, you know, I don't know if I'm going to make it to my next birthday. Like, I feel so sick. I went to see you because I really wanted to experience what you do. And they're testing my vitamin D. I'm doing this meridian thing where they're checking like the energetics of each tooth. I can't even explain what all that is.

I have a vlog you can watch on real Alex Clark YouTube. Yeah, you're having me do a full body red light bed and all these fancy things. Why is that necessary at a dentist office? Whether it's necessary or not, I don't know. Do I find it to be highly advantageous to help people heal? Absolutely. So, you know, we know that people who are in fight or flight are not going to heal well. And I think most people's experience, even if you're totally comfortable at the dental office,

the minute somebody comes at you with, you know, topical anesthetic and a needle to get you numb, your heart rate's going to go up. I mean, that's just normal, right? So why do we have the pimp bed, the post-electromagnetic field bed and a full body red and infrared light bed? it's to help people either before or after their care to get their body at a subcellular level at a state like engaging their parasympathetic energy so that their body can focus on healing. And that's a requirement. If you get surgery with Dr. Blodgett's office,

you have to come in a couple days before to Portland and stay a couple days after so that you can keep doing the red light bed and the and the pymph mat and all these different things, which I think is very neat. It is. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say that I would force anybody to do it. But if somebody were... Oh, no, you chain them to the red light back. Absolutely.

But, well, what I do say is that if somebody says, hey, you know, I'm really busy, which I can appreciate. I mean, you and I are like, we're on the go all the time. I get it. Like, I understand busy. But if they're like, I just want to fly in, get this stuff done to fly out, then I'm going to recommend that they find somebody closer to them. Because in my opinion, the value is equal in the... the preparation and the follow-up care that it is to what I'm doing surgically. It all matters.

Are ceramic implants actually safer than titanium? Yes. Now, to be really clear, are there some titanium implants that can work for some people? Yes. I mean, I've tested that using biocom tests. Do I use them? No, because I prefer using ceramic implants because of, one, the quality of not just bone healing to the implant, but the quality of gum tissue healing to ceramic implants,

when we started using them, geez, eight years ago now, I was blown away. I mean, I'd been doing implant dentistry for 15 years before we started using ceramics. You get accustomed to seeing some state of mild inflammation when you have a metal implant with a metal abutment and a metal screw, three different metals all connected. That's a battery, by the way,

all connected at the bone level. The gum tissue around, that's going to be kind of like, eh. You know, I'm doing my best here, but it's always going to have like a mild grade inflammation. Whereas we don't see that with ceramic implants, like the quality of tissue healing around them. When it's done properly, of course, is just beautiful. One of the misnomer's, it's so crazy to me. The science shows ceramic implants at the same width as titanium implants are stronger.

They are more fracture resistant than metal implants. The number of people who've come to me and said, well, Dr. Bajan, I talked to my dentist and he says, you know, I mean, ceramic's going to break its glass. It's like it's out of ignorance. If you actually look at the science, which has been performed numerous times, ceramic implants are stronger. It's a lot like looking at composite fillings versus mercury fillings. If you have something that is less risky and bondable to the tooth as opposed to, you know, just packing this metal thing of mercury, silver, tendon copper, you know, why wouldn't you use the stuff that's less risky? Right, of course. So if you're somebody that has a titanium implant, should you be asking your

dentist, can I get this taken out and then switch to ceramic? Not necessarily. I would certainly look into, if it was a concern for you, look into a biocompt test and call the dental office who put the implant in. So you can find out who made it, what model was it? Because you might find out like, oh, what do you know? Like, that's, that model is immunologically compatible with my body. Okay, great. You know, if that's the case, keep it. All right, let me paint a picture for you. You're sitting in traffic 20 minutes late for your acupuncture appointment, and you're already feeling more stressed than when you walked out of the house. Sound familiar? Here's where California mobile acupuncture comes in. They bring healing right to your doorstep. That's right. No traffic,

no waiting rooms, no cold, sterile clinics, just personalized in-home care that focuses on what really matters, your comfort, your schedule, and your wellness, duh. This isn't your typical acupuncture visit. This is whole-body treatment. So you get acupuncture with California mobile acupuncture. You get cupping, medical massage, and even customized nutritional advice all in one session. And it's not some random person off the street either. These are hand-picked licensed experience practitioners. They meet you right where you are at your home, at your page. your workplace, wherever, and what sets them apart even more, they're built on faith, family, and freedom. These folks aren't just here for your body. They're here for your soul, too, in like the best way possible. I was talking to a listener at a recent pro-life event, and she shared her fertility struggles with me. She started treatments with California mobile acupuncture after she heard about them from me in Orange County, and now she is finally pregnant with a healthy baby. That is the kind of life-changing impact that these folks are having with acupuncture. This is for anyone facing fertility challenges, recovering from social.

surgery, managing pain, stress, anxiety, or just trying to age naturally and beautifully and don't want to use Botox. Women's health, pain relief, stress management, even cosmetic acupuncture. It's all covered, men, women, children. They're serving Southern California, San Diego, Orange County, L.A., the Bay Area, and now Phoenix, Arizona, all across the valley. And guess what? Crystal, the founder, who's been on this show, will be in Scottsdale this October for a handful of in-home sessions. These spots fill up fast, so don't wait. Booking easy, just call or text their clinical concierge team at 949-228-9-58-8. Or go to California mobileacu.com or ArizonaMobileacu.com. Tell them Alex Clark sent you, California

mobile acupuncture, because your values in your healing deserve to come home. Text 949-228-9588 or head to California mobileacu.com or Arizona-Mobileacu.com. I briefly thought I was being haunted by the ghost of a Scandinavian sleep specialist. I woke up one morning in these temperature regulating sheets made from viscos from bamboo and I was like, why do I feel rested? Who touched my soul with a feather? Turns out it was just cozy earth, quietly wicking away heat and moisture like a tiny invisible spa team. Not even joking, I used to wake up every night sweating like I owed someone money. But now I sleep like someone who's never seen a utility bill. These sheets are so cool and soft.

It's like sleeping inside a well-adjusted person's boundaries. They offer a 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty, which is insane because no other relationship in my life has ever lasted that long, including my old sheets. Go to cozyearth.com. Use code Alex for 40% off your order, sheets, loungeware, and more. That's cozy.com. Code Alex for 40% off the comfiest sheets and pajamas. Sleep cooler, lounge lighter, stay cozy, and maybe get used to being haunted by comfort. When does somebody really need a crown? My standard for that is if the nerve of the tooth is healthy, I'm not going to put a crown on an infected root canal tooth,

which in my opinion is almost all of them. Now, that being said, every person who gets a root canal is usually told, all right, your root canal is done, go get your crown from the dentist. To me, that's just like, what's the point, you know? There are situations, particularly for people who've had mercury fillings placed in their teeth. because of what you have to do to lock a mercury filling into a tooth, you're literally doing, like if you were to compare it to woodworking, you're doing dovetail joinery,

whereas you cut into the tooth, you're cutting it wider at the base than it is at the top because you cannot bond mercury fillings to two starts. You have to physically lock it into the tooth. So as you cut in, you're cutting it wider at the base than at the top. So when you chew on those teeth then, you know, for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, whatever, crack start to develop. So let's say I'm taking mercury fillings out of a tooth and I see,

geez, there's not a lot of integrity to the top part of the tooth that remains after the mercury filling is taken out. Or there's fractures underneath the cusp of the teeth. In that case, I might start looking at either a partial coverage crown or a full crown, meaning just because you're doing a quote-unquote crown, you don't have to grind it all the way down to the gum line. You know, that practice and that habit was developed during the days when I was in dental school and before when all we had was metal-based crowns. So you're always trying to, you know, tuck the edge of the crown just underneath the gum line so that you didn't see the black line. Well, now we have these materials that are beautiful, biocompatible, bondable to teeth. If one cusp is broken on a tooth, you know, let's say I take the mercury filling out, and I only see a fracture under one cusp.

why would I grind the whole tooth down to a nub to put a crown on it? I'll just replace the one broken cusp because we can bond either composite or ceramic materials to teeth and improve their strength. And you don't have to obliterate all the enamel off the tooth. How do you reverse your kids cavity naturally? Number one, start looking at the diet. That's the root of it. Look at frequency. Look at not just the quality of what they're eating, but how frequently.

I have observed, you know, my girls are in their early 20s now. And what I've observed from their day on is like the amount of squeasy tube food that I see moms having in the center console because, you know, the kids like back there and hungry and it's just, you know, sucking on this squeasy tube food or or bottled beverages that are acidic or sweet or your Starbucks or whatever, you know, that. constant exposure where you sip, sip, sip or eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, the grazing, your teeth never get out of the acid pool. So when we eat, for clarity, when we eat anything, but particularly sugary and acidic foods and beverages, it's going to take at least 30 minutes for your own saliva to bring the pH of your mouth up out of the acid pool so you stop losing mineral from your teeth. So the loss of mineral and regaining it is a natural thing that happens.

every time we eat. The challenge is if you're constantly sipping or eating things all day long, you know, your teeth are going to just continually lose, lose, lose, lose, lose. They never get a chance to remineralize themselves. So for parents, you know, who are trying to encourage their kids to have healthy teeth for life, I think, you know, looking at the frequency with which they have exposure to anything besides water is really important. Throughout my career, I've never, I've never seen kids for the most part. I bought a practice that was next to a pediatric dentist. So I learned a lot by his stories. I could just recall his stories of like, you know, mom coming in. She's like, I don't get it. I don't understand why my kids are getting all these cavities while the kids sitting there eating a chewy

granola bar, you know, and it's like, well, it might have something to do with the quality and frequency of their diet. So there's no mouthwash, there's no toothpaste, there's no any product out there that is going to outpace a diet that is creating massive risk for decay. But if somebody has a cavity, like, is there any special herbs or things to do that can reverse it? I will say there there are some good products on the market that these days, because, you know, over my career, I've seen all these trends, you know, like from recaldeant, which was a product of like, calcium and phosphate ions that we're hoping would go into teeth structures, which didn't. These days, the big thing is about nano-hydroxy appetite, which I think is pretty cool.

I mean, it's for the products that are using quality sources, which I think are coming out of Portugal, not China, those toothpaste will be helpful in helping your teeth mineralize. But most people aren't like eating and then going to brush. And then the next meal, eating and then going to brush. So really what we're leaning into throughout our life is quality saliva flow. So if anybody out there is, you know, they just got put on medication, let's say. What are some common ones you hear about that, you know, medications people are on these days? You know, SSRIs.

I was going to say Lexapro or whatever. Take your pick. Cardiovascular medication, anticholesterol medication. I mean, things that are just literally prescribed every single day because like the pharmaceutical industry is so massive, most pharmaceutical prescriptions are going to reduce saliva flow. So if we're shutting off the valve of the flow of the things that we were natively intended to have to protect our teeth, you're going to see risk increase for sure. Are you saying that it's common for people that are on SSRIs to struggle with chronic cavities?

It's certainly going to increase the risk for cavities because you have less saliva flow. What sorts of health benefits are we going to see if we are tongue? scraping every single morning. Probably the primary thing is breath. Think of it like mowing the lawn, you know, doing your daily mowing of the lawn. And I've seen people who do effective tongue cleansing, because it's not like if you don't have a scraper, you know, use your toothbrush, brush lawn, you know. But people that I see who are eating a relatively soft food diet, you know, like burgers,

mashed potatoes, things that are just softer inherently, not crunchy things, nuts, vegetables, tougher things to chew. Naturally, foods that are harder and crunchier are going to do their own cleaning, you know, kind of trimming of the lawn, so to speak. They're almost self-cleansing to teeth, you know, like, I think of a carrot. It's such a great example of something. As you're crunching it, it's literally cleaning your teeth in your tongue. And apples. Yeah, apples, right? It's great. not so much with a Snickers bar. You know, like that's not going to do much. Actually, it'll probably increase the risk of problems with teeth.

But tongue scrapers are great. I use a toothbrush myself. My wife uses their tongue scraper every day. You know, there's lots of ways to go about, like, how you do your daily maintenance. I've never been personally a fan of oil pulling, but I've had some patients come in where, like, they are daily coconut oil swishers. You know, they take a table. spoon of coconut oil, let it melt in their mouth and swish with it for five to ten minutes,

spinning it out in the garbage, of course, because it'll solidify in your pipes. And my gosh, their gums look amazing. Are you noticing an increase of patients coming into your dental practice who are using hydroxyapatite toothpaste, and they're like, I am developing black spots on my teeth? What I have seen is that because there's like one of my favorite products out there, Dr. Jerry Kuratola makes it, Revitin. I mean, I love it. It tastes great, wonderful, but my teeth will become more stained as I use it because it doesn't have all the harsh abrasives that other toothpaste do. So I'm like, well, okay, you know, from time to time, then I'm going to use a toothpaste that has some abrasive to keep my teeth looking white and shiny because I like the look, you know, I like the feel. But a person could

easily choose to not ever do that because they're like just opposed to it or whatever. And that's fine. But a lot of the, quote unquote, safer brands, because they have fewer products like that in them, you know, abrasives and such, the teeth will look a little more darker. I see these moms on the internet and they're like, okay, I would not let my child drink tap water because of the fluoride. I understand that wouldn't be good. But we are not giving up fluoride in our dental products because I don't want my kid to get cavities. What do you say to that parent? Ask them how they think that, you know, the human race. managed to not have cavities for millennia before we had fluoride in our water supply.

You know, you saw people buy into this hook line and sinker back in the 50s like, oh, it's going to, you know, because we want to eat our processed food garbage diet, you know, so therefore we are going to have tooth symptoms. We're going to develop decay. Well, let's put, you know, fluoride in the water. And one, you know, science has never shown that ingested fluoride decreased decay risk. So why would you be drinking it? You know, the effect of fluoride is topical only if you want to reduce risk for decay.

So then does it work for preventing tooth cavities? To drink water with fluoride? No, just to use fluoride in your toothpaste. Yes. I mean, it's going to, what it does is when the fluoride attaches to the tooth structure, it improves its acid resistance. Let's say that if you had no fluoride at all, you're going to start losing. using mineral at a pH of about 5.5.

When you incorporate fluoride onto enamel, now it won't start losing mineral until a pH of about 4.5. And that was the whole benefit that everything about water fluoridation was sold on, except that you're drinking this, you know? However, understand that you cannot put a dentifress or a toothpaste or a mouthwash or anything else in your mouth and have it only touch your teeth. And what we're seeing and what we know, and it was an Obama appointed judge who released all this information and announced this,

is that fluoride is lowering children's IQ. Yes. And so maybe it does help a little bit with cavities. But what you're saying, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that there are other options to help fight cavities. It doesn't have to be the fluoride, which also then you have this huge risk of, you know, affecting your child's IQ. Yeah, it's the science is clear, which is why.

we are starting to see now communities, states even, who are taking the fluoride out of their water supply. Why? Because they looked at the science long enough and intelligently enough to understand the risks. If our diets were sticking to naturally raised and grown whole foods, which I do appreciate. Like when I think about if I'm living on, you know, 55th and 5th and in New York City, like, where are you going to go to your farmer's market? I mean, I'm sure there are some, but it's not as easy if you live someplace like, well, like where I live, you know, in Portland, Oregon. We've got farms everywhere. You know, you can go get your naturally going food.

It's much easier. So there are places and probably economic situations where it's going to be easier access to people for processed foods, unfortunately. But if we're looking at we want root cause solutions to our issues, then we don't need a band-aid like fluoride. What is the most shocking health improvement that people are going to notice if they are actually flossing daily? Probably improved breath. Bad breath isn't just like a social stigma thing like, ooh, their breath stinks. It says something's dying and not healthy in your body. In the body, if you're actually keeping your gums clean and you know again you could be flossing you could be water picking you could be oil pulling they're all effective means of cleaning around the gum areas you're going to notice decreased risk

for a whole body inflammation i mean we're talking about neurodegenerative conditions we're talking about heart disease the science is so deep on that i mean for 20 years we've been reading stuff in the dental literature saying like man if you've got gum inflammations you know you're you're you're Your risk for cardiovascular disease complications is going to be way higher. And now we're saying it's, you know, connected to neurodegenerative issues as well. Why do you think that is? Because it's not like cave people we're flossing. So it's like, why is flossing so important for us now in modern day?

Is it because of the food? For the vast majority of those of us living in modern societies, like cave people where people living literally like you're picking it out of the ground and eating it, maybe they developed a ton of tartar on their teeth, but for a lot of those people, their overall oral microbiome didn't have the same risk profile that we have today. I mean, they wouldn't have been drinking out of a tap that's fed by a water system that came to your house from who knows where. You know, I mean, I think about like the difference between a person who literally goes to a stream that comes off the mountain and, you know, fills their bucket and they drink that.

Maybe they boil it first. It was just so weird, like you look back before we industrialized our food system. I mean, everyone had these big, beautiful, wide smiles. Yeah. We didn't, everybody didn't need braces, right? Yeah. And didn't have all these issues. I'm like, well, something changed.

It was the food. Shocker. Yeah. And having soft food. Right. And not chewing. And then having babies not breastfeed. And then babies were having formula, being formula fed all of a sudden.

Yeah. You know, all those changes, I feel like changed our mouths and our powers. and how our teeth would grow in and everything. That was Weston Price's, you know, that was his whole area. Well, he actually studied a ton of cool things like Rue Canals. Yep. But you're so spot on, like for listeners who want to go look at some incredibly powerful information that has been around well over 100 years, go to the Weston A Price Foundation,

and look at all the studies and information that they have that, going back to the stuff he collected, looking at those photos of, for those people who don't know, he was going around to areas of the world where certain parts of their societies were still living on the native diet. And it could be, you know, anywhere. It could be up in Alaska. It could be in South America. Comparing their dental arch forms and their teeth health and their airways to those who had transitioned to a process. westernized, you know, source of food.

And they notice within one to two generations, the size of the arches, the bone structures would decrease. Therefore, those same width of teeth don't have the same room. Like, it's your garage shrunk for the car, the big car that you were driving, you know? We love the Western A Price Foundation on this show.

And we love Hilda Labrata Gore on the Wise Traditions podcast. It's like, I mean, everyone knows that I'm super close with her. And I've been promoting her show forever. and obsessed with Sally Falamorell and like the whole shebang over there. It's a cult that I'm happy to be a part of. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's accurate information.

Yeah. Yeah, I heard Sally speak. I think it was in April this year at the International Academy of Biological and Dental Medicine meeting. And it was powerful to see. So good. Over 100-year-old photos of this stuff and videos of Dr. Price. Like, this is not new information.

I think the, the deep. deeper question to get into is like, why? Because as I was looking at the IOMT's position paper on cavitations that we were talking about earlier, why is it that, you know, the scientific literature started in the 1860s and it was consistently presented and written about up until the 1920s. And then it went off a cliff for, you know, almost 50 years until people like Jerry Buccoe started picking up the lantern or the torch of, you know, re-learning about this stuff. I mean, it's so coincidental with like the rise of pharmaceuticals, the rise of when we're doing root canals.

I mean, maybe there's no connection here, but it sure seems weird to me that... My tinfoil hat is on. My tinfoil hat is on for dentistry in America. Let me tell you. That's very wise, I think. So that being said, are pallet expanders in little kids a great. great way to avoid braces and having to remove wisdom teeth later. Yeah, I mean, they certainly can be. I have some friends. Matter of fact, one of them is down here in Scottsdale, a great guy, like the

guy's really gotten into helping kids develop optimal airways. Ooh. Dr. Cameron Fataa. Okay. Great guy. One of his classmates who's up in Portland with me, similarly super into it. I mean, you know, I don't think any one dentist is going to be super passionate about all things. I mean, my thing is like helping people get their jaw bones healthy, so they stop experiencing all these systemic illnesses. They're really passionate about helping young people, you know, kids develop jaw structures and airways and tongue movement and such that is optimized so they can breathe well. They can function in school better. They can literally chew their food better so their gut system works better. Permanent retainers, a sci-op?

If you have to wear a retainer in order for your teeth to not move back, you didn't resolve the actual issue that was creating the crowding in the first place. If a jaw was grown to its optimal size, then your teeth would become as straight as they're going to be. You know, because not every person's teeth are perfectly straight and closed. You know what I mean? like I have friends who have spaces between their teeth and you look at mom or dad and they have spaces between their teeth and grandma and grandpa. Like that's how their body is designed to be formed. When people go through braces and I think this is what you're getting to is, first of all, how common is that, right? Like eight-year-olds, 10-year-olds, like, oh, time to get into braces.

And I'm not saying that that's inappropriate for everybody. It certainly can be quite appropriate for a lot of people. But everybody, I mean, it's- Because they're doing that. They're putting the braces on. and they're not talking about myofunctional therapy and expanding the palate and all of that stuff to make room. Well, and like the issue of, let's just take a scenario,

a scenario like the kid has a very narrow upper arch. They're a constant thumb sucker. They were bottle fed. So the arch form of their upper jaw in its developmental phases was following the things to which, it was exposed, which was a thumb and a, you know, plastic or rubberized nipple, you know. So it takes on this kind of like tightened shape for which your, your tongue can't get up and fit into that space and it challenges the arts.

So to then try to straighten that without helping the jaw reform itself into whatever shape that, you know, was meant to be in the first place, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me to try to... Parents across America are throwing money away on braces if you are not correcting the palate issues and spacing issues at a very early age. I think that, you know, I don't like to be black and white or dogmatic about anything, but... I do. The fact that all I see is adults, most of whom have, you know, crowded teeth, most of whom went through braces. And it's like this, every time I meet somebody who's like that, which is every Monday when I do my new patient Mondays, it's like, we're having laughs. I'm like, well, you know, I wish I'd warm my retainer because,

you know, blah, blah, blah. I didn't wear it because it was a pain in the butt. And I'm like, and I, my straight teeth relapsed. I'm like, well, don't you think that if they were actually, if you had been set up in a way that your body was meant to experience forever, you wouldn't have needed the retainers in the first place. Right. And it's like this light goes on. you know, that, oh, yeah, that kind of makes sense. Well, something else to consider, because most people are going to get two options for retainers. They're going to get either the plastic retainers that you just click on at night, where while you're sleeping, or they may get the fixed, glued metal bonded retainers

on the tongue side of the lower teeth, you know, canine to canine. those wires, as we've talked about sensitivity for some people, you know, if you're, if you're, let's say, you're highly sensitive to nickel, which you can ask most women, you know, can you wear cheap earrings? And if they immediately say, oh, no, my ear blows up when I wear cheap earrings, it's like, yeah, and you've been licking this metal bar for how many years? And they might have, you know, three other metals in their mouth from fillings and who, who, you know, titanium implant or something, too. And they're all crows. And they're all, creating energetic disturbance. But some people are like, I don't want to wear anything. And I'm like, cool. Don't wear anything. Understand that your teeth might move again. And oftentimes they do. 20 years later sometimes. But that permanent retainer could be causing you so many issues. Like you said, if you don't go and get that testing done and figure out what materials you're allergic to, you could be allergic to that. It could be making you crazy. Good news, ladies, you may not need a padded room. You just might need to remove your permanent retainer. It's true for some people, you know?

It's like the funny thing about metals in the mouth is that your saliva is a conductor. You know, it's a salt bath. And we put multiple metals in people's mouths without even thinking about it. From braces, lingual retainers and mercury fillings, I mean, those three are like, that's like every kid I knew growing up. So you're disturbing the energy flow in your mouth. It's a literal battery. And we wonder why people feel off, you know. What is your new book called and what's it about?

It's called Feel Whole Again, your humanistic guide to health care. It takes a look at health care as a provider looking at the humanistic side of people's healthcare experiences. And what that means, humanism refers to the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that people have with whatever topic you're discussing. In this case, obviously my... lens is through dentistry. As somebody who came into dentistry being called by God to do this, you know, I questioned when I was called by God to do this at the age of 21, like, why would I have

just gotten a psych degree and be called to become a dentist? And I truly believe it's led up to this point where I can share with people the value of, like, listening to your intuition, listening to your feelings, finding practices who value listening to those things from you and who lend credence to what that information provides them as practitioners. There's a quote in the front of the book from a Dr. Osler who said, listen to your patient. He is telling you the diagnosis. And it resonates with me both in my experience as a dentist when I worked on a crisis line back in

college that when we listened to people well, they are sharing with us, like through their feelings and what they've experienced so much of what we need to know to actually get to the root of their health issues. Unfortunately, almost all healthcare is designed in a way where it leaves no room for that aspect of our human experience, the thoughts, the feelings, and the emotions. I haven't been to like a traditional MD doctor in years by choice, but I remember when I used to and it was like a three-minute deal. There's no exchange of, hey, what's going on in your life and what have you been feeling like and what are the emotional dynamics that might be impacting your stress levels?

And, you know, it's just none of that. So the book, the intention with the book is to help people to tap into that. And through it, I sincerely hope that I can stimulate and inspire a health revolution where people start looking at how we structure visits. as health care providers, meaning the amount of time that we schedule to sit knee to knee with another human being has got to change if we want to help people be healthier. My whole practice is built on the philosophy that when we give time to other human beings, I mean, each new patient experience is two plus hours, which is a lot of time for most people's

in their health care experiences. what I find is that when people know that we're listening and valuing their input and their experiences, it changes everything about trust. Frankly, it helps me understand more about how to better serve them when I understand how they feel. So if somebody wants a high-quality, holistic dentist like yourself in their area, what sorts of questions do they ask for people that are allegedly calling themselves that to make sure they really are or is there a database that they can go to? If you're wanting to qualify whether or not this practice feels like a good fit for you,

which I use that term, I'm emphasizing, feels because it actually matters. That's the whole point of the book, is call them. See how you, what's your experience like when somebody picks up the, first of all, does somebody pick up the phone? Right. Let me tell you. Or do you go to the phone tree? and how much curiosity are they having when you're having the engagement with that person?

If it's a lot of them telling you things, information, information, and they're not curious about you, in my opinion, that's probably going to reflect the mindset of the practice. Wow, yeah. So whereas you've met Heidi, you know, who works with me. She's been with me for eight years now. like Heidi will sometimes be spending weeks engaging with people before they schedule their new patient experience. Oftentimes, you know, I'd say probably on average, she's spending an hour plus on the phone. That's insane.

Wow. With people who schedule. I think that gut feeling thing is so important. At the end of the day, you are responsible for your own health. Therefore, it's incumbent on each of us to, one. One, start, my highest recommendation is start with a group or a team where you feel like, man, they really cared about me. And that takes time. There's no, it's like, you know, finding a mate for life.

You wouldn't just, you know, take the first thing that came along, right? Like, you probably investigate it. See how you feel. What's the vibe? You might do one or two or three new patient experiences at different practices if you're really looking at getting a lot of dental reversal. Shall I say? Like, you know, I say like I'm in biological dental rejuvenation mode. That's, I'm helping people remove stuff that makes them sick, you know. So it's going to require some homework. But there are, I mean, there are more good resources out there right now than ever before. Somebody who hasn't been in the dentist in, you know, six to 10 years and they're listening to this and they're like, okay, Dr. Blodgett, I just don't know. I hate the dentist. I don't really know that I need to go. I don't have any major pain or issues. What would your elevator pitch? be to them that they need to go find a holistic dentist.

My pitch is always to ask questions. You know, like, well, do you want to go to the dentist? It's like, no, I feel great and I don't even care. Well, okay, then I have no pitch for them because I don't want to talk to people about stuff, you know, care about which they have no interest. Well, I'll make a pitch. Sure. I'll make a pitch, a 10 second pitch.

My pitch is, I think that there is inflammation going on in our mouths that is causing major issues in other areas of the body, and you will not know until you go to the dentist. And if you are flossing and every time you floss, there is blood, that is a obvious sign that you have major gum disease and inflammation, correct? Yeah, absolutely. There is something wrong. That's like the easiest way, or it stinks and is bloody. You make such a great point.

I mean, that would be another question I would ask. Well, okay, do you ever floss your teeth? Yeah, once a year, you know, does it bleed? Oh, yeah, you know. Well, does any other part of your body, like if you touch your hand on the, pick up your fork, does it start to bleed? You know, like if it did, you would be really concerned. It's the same level of concern in your mouth for sure. What if somebody wants to go see you?

How can they get an appointment with you? Great. Thank you for asking. I would have them reach out to us. Either they can call. Go to our website, first of all, www. www. blodgettdentalcare.com. Either give us a call or email us at Info at BDCPDX.

So I am in Portland or Oregon, BDCPDX.com. So many people email these days. You know, it's just such an easy way to go. But yeah, we see seven new patients every Monday. Each one has two hours reserved for them, which is kind of funny. I mean, in a given year, I will see fewer than 300 new people. And my practice is truly, I mean, it's reserved for people. people who have a massive value for their own health who are struggling and you know because of the

fact that we'll hear and listen to the things that a lot of providers won't i mean that's my focus is listening and kind of seeing through what they're sharing what's happened and how's it impacted them and do you believe like do you already have a vision for yourself beyond this for when you start to heal. There's a story I share in the book about a woman I asked that question two years ago. And she painted me a very clear picture of what she wanted to do that was like to be out hiking again. She's like, you know, she was confined to a walker in oxygen after a COVID issue. Like she was in a coma for four months. And by golly, when we got all the oral crap out of her mouth, cavitations, root canals, metal implants, helped her heal up, rebuilt everything. And

so she could chew and smile again. Like she literally walked into our practice without any oxygen, without a walker. She and her husband had hired a guide to take them on hikes of Oregon waterfalls. Wow. So people who can see like that whole psychology of understanding that your mind plays a massive part in what you will do, the people who already see that the future is possible are going to be much more likely to heal. What is your Instagram for your practice? At Blodgett Dental Care.

Okay, and I want to say this before I get thousands of DMs asking me where they should go see a dentist like Dr. Kelly near them. Your office will respond to DMs of people saying, in my state, who do you recommend, correct? We have for years. Claire, one of my amazing team members. Buckle up, Claire, you're about to get an influx. Yeah, Claire, God bless her. You know, it's. She's going to say never go on Alex Clark's podcast again.

Yeah, you remember Claire. But yeah, we encourage people. I'm happy to work through like a massive influx if it means that we get to help people have better lives. I have great team members and I've got health and time and I will do whatever I can to help people because it's that important. This is what I wish, you know. I wish that people cared enough about the kind of impact that the care that people like me provide can have for them. if so, you know, we would see like at Blodgett dental care having millions of followers. Hopefully someday that becomes the case.

It's only going to happen through people becoming aware. It is so important to build the awareness because if you're only experience in dentistry, is the dentist coming in for two to three minutes every time, oh, occasionally you need this filling, you need that filling, you need a root canal. And it's just this totally transactional thing. That's why people hate the dentist. Yeah, the experience sucks. It is nothing about it respects our humanity.

Well, when you go to Dr. Kelly's office, they give you hydrogen water in the waiting area, right? We do. Yeah. It truly, I mean, you've experienced it. I mean, it's built on not just the dentistry. Of course, that's important, but it's first and foremost built on how does this experience feel as a human being coming into this space? And how are you treated? How are you served? How are you listened to? So if you could offer one remedy to heal a sick culture, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, what would it be?

Become more interested in listening to yourself and those around you. Dr. Kelly, thank you for coming back on the show. You were on before the rebrand. Now you've got to experience culture pot to carry. I'm so happy to have you back. Thank you for having me, Alex. This has been an absolute pleasure. How crazy is it that story about the woman with the knee pain? while she's gardening and then it actually had to do with an old root canal. I'm telling you, freaky stuff. Hopefully, Dr. Kelly's advice on how to find a holistic dentist near you will really help you out and find that for you and your family. The cash pay dentist, man, it's where it's at.

Same with all health care providers. We post new episodes every Monday and Thursday at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern, wherever you get your podcast. And don't forget, you can watch my vlog with Dr. Kelly that I made going to his office, my experience, going to Blodgett dental in Portland, Oregon, And on the Real Alex Clark YouTube channel, I filmed that a couple months ago and posted it. So you can find that and watch that. Join the cute service Facebook group. Follow the show on Instagram at Culture Apothecary and me at Real Alex Clark. I'm Alex Clark and this is Culture Apothecary.