Holistic, Integrative & Biological Dentistry

What it means here, concretely

• Biocompatible materials. Ceramic and BPA-free composite rather than metal where the clinical situation allows it. The composite is a two-tier choice: a BPA-free, Bis-GMA-free material from GC for most work, and Admira Fusion — an ORMOCER, which is ceramic-based rather than resin-based, and contains no Bis-GMA, TEGDMA, HEMA or BPA — for anyone with a known sensitivity to the usual resin monomers. If that applies to you, say so and we will use it.
• Seeing it before it needs drilling. Near-infrared imaging (NIRI) finds early decay between teeth using light rather than radiation, and low-dose 3D imaging is used where the case genuinely needs it. Finding something early is what makes the conservative option possible at all.
• Conservative preparation. Onlays instead of crowns where enough sound tooth remains, because a tooth that keeps more structure has more left if it needs treatment again.
• Mercury-safe removal protocols when old amalgam fillings are being replaced — isolation, high-volume suction, sectioning rather than grinding. See amalgam removal.
• Gum health treated as a health issue, not a cleaning issue. Periodontal inflammation is associated with cardiovascular disease and with poorer diabetic control.
• A medical history that is actually used. Medications, reflux, sleep, grinding and diet all show up in the mouth, and all change what treatment is appropriate.
• Home care chosen for your mouth, not a leaflet. Every plan carries advice on what to do between visits, and it is specific to what your examination found rather than general encouragement to floss.

• The bite counted as part of the picture. Grinding and clenching load teeth in ways that show up as wear, cracks, sensitivity and jaw muscle pain, and rebuilding a tooth without accounting for what broke it repeats the problem. Wear is photographed and compared at reviews rather than estimated. More on teeth grinding and jaw pain.

• Airway and sleep screened, not diagnosed. A narrow upper jaw, disturbed sleep and grinding often travel together, so they are asked about and looked for. Where there are signs of disordered breathing we refer you for a proper sleep assessment rather than treating around it, because diagnosing that is not ours to do.

• Keeping teeth rather than replacing them. A sound filling is treated as sound, and a root-treated tooth with no inflammation around it is one we would keep. The most holistic tooth is your own one, and nothing below that follows unless it has to.

The part you do at home

Most of what determines how your teeth do over twenty years happens between appointments, so a written plan that stops at the treatment list is only half a plan. What we suggest depends on what we actually found — how often acid reaches your teeth, whether your saliva is doing its job, how you brush and what you brush with.

A worked example, because it is the one we recommend most often. Xylitol mints are a genuinely useful habit for anyone with a dry mouth or a high decay rate: xylitol is a sugar alcohol the bacteria that cause decay cannot ferment, so it does not feed them, and chewing or sucking after meals stimulates saliva at exactly the moment the mouth is most acidic. It costs very little and it changes the conditions in the mouth rather than treating damage after it happens. It is not a substitute for brushing, and it will not fix an existing cavity.

If you already take supplements, tell us — it is more useful to us than most people expect, and it occasionally explains something we can see in your mouth.

That is the shape of it generally: small, specific, and aimed at the cause we found, rather than the same list handed to everyone.

What holistic means here

Calm Dental is a holistic, integrative and biological dental practice at Millenia Walk, and it is amalgam-free. The most holistic tooth is your own one, and everything below follows from that.

In practice that means using materials with a good biological profile, cutting away as little of your own tooth as possible, and taking your general health seriously when your treatment is planned. It also means this is an amalgam-free and mercury-free practice: no mercury-containing filling is placed here, and Dr Tan has not placed one in fifteen years.

“Holistic” covers a very wide range of practice, so it is fair for you to know where ours sits. We treat a sound amalgam filling as sound unless there is a reason to change it — a genuine sensitivity to mercury being a real thing, and a real reason. We read what your mouth shows about your general health and tell you when something is worth following up, and we leave the diagnosis of an illness elsewhere in the body to your doctor.

Root canals carry a poor reputation in parts of the holistic world, and it is fairer to say so than to talk around it. The concern is that a tooth whose nerve has been removed no longer has a blood supply reaching its centre, and could hold bacteria the body cannot clear. Where the treatment is well done and the tooth stays free of inflammation, a root-treated tooth is compatible with good health and worth keeping. Where there is inflammation, that is a real finding and we treat it as one.

None of that is the same as pretending the mouth is sealed off from the rest of you. It is not. Oral health and general health are closely related, and a problem in the mouth genuinely can cause problems elsewhere — an untreated dental infection is not a local event. The mouth also shows early signs of illness elsewhere, and where we see something that looks like one, we will tell you and advise you on what to do about it. Taking that connection seriously is right; the care is in not letting it become a reason to treat more than you need.

None of this is complicated, and none of it asks you to believe anything. It is ordinary careful dentistry, with your whole health kept in view.

Questions