People become passionate about things that affect them. Pain, infections, a decrease in the quality of life, inability to work, symptoms that are debilitating, medical bills…all of those things drive people to find answers. I’ve met so many people desperate to find answers to their physical symptoms. Many are willing to go to any length to get back to normal. They’ve spent countless dollars and time in doctors’ offices, searching online and trying out new diets to achieve health. This person describes me. In my case, the health crises affecting me was 25 years of recurring dental infections. I would go to the dentist, he would tell me that I had cavities, and then the tooth would get a filling. I trusted my dentist. I would ask the questions. “Why am I getting so many cavities when I’m brushing and flossing consistently?” Inevitably he or she would reply, “your hygiene looks great, why don’t you try this fluoride rinse?” Then in 6 months I would return only to find out that the cavities were back, and now I needed a root canal. Again, I trusted my dentist and I would get the root canal. To characterize my dentist experience as anything short of shame would be a lie. I dreaded the dentist. I became ashamed of my teeth. Every time I went to the dentist, I felt like a disobedient child who was being sent to the principal for an infraction in class. From the year 2020 to present, I had so many dental infections that I was on antibiotics and pain killers 75% of the time.
At the same time, my own health knowledge was growing and as it grew, it began to dawn on me that just like answers to the root cause of problems in the rest of the body could be found, answers could also be found to the root cause of my dental problems. So, I began to dig and dig but was appalled by the dearth of information available. There were scores of books and podcasts on inflammation, gut health, liver health, brain health and the like but there was shockingly little on functional dental health.
Fast forward to July 2024. Our family moved to the little city of Gillette WY. (the middle of nowhere) and our pastor and his wife recommended a board-certified naturopathic dentist office called Synergy dental. As mentioned in my last blog post, I had the privilege of shadowing Dr Porter in his office for an entire afternoon. After an entire afternoon of watching Dr. Porter work, listening to a consultation with a client, and subsequently reading his book A.I.M., I was flabbergasted. Here in this obscure little city, were the answers I’d been looking for. Someone willing to get to the root of my dental issues and give me a road map for entire body health.
The most important thing to me, after listening to Dr. Porter was getting my existing root canals (all nine of them) which were constantly erupting in abscesses out of my mouth. I was tired of antibiotics, pain and pain medication. Second, I wanted to know WHY I was always getting cavities in the first place and how to stop it. I wanted to get to the root cause.
Dr. Porter’s pre-consultation appointment was so much more than what I was expecting. They really did a series of whole-body testing. I was shocked to find out that all of those infections in my mouth had driven my A1C numbers to 5.8. I knew that hemoglobin A1C measured a patient’s average blood sugar level over the past 2-3 months. An A1C level from 5.7-6.4% indicates prediabetes. (5.2-5.3 is optimal) I couldn’t believe it. After teaching countless clients how to keep blood sugar in check through diet and exercise and living that lifestyle myself, how could my numbers be so high? But there it was. There was the mouth-body connection right in front of my eyes. Dental infections did drive inflammation which is the root cause of most disease. Diet alone wasn’t cutting it.
The hygienist also took a swab of the inside of my mouth and discovered that I had nasty little pathogens swimming around in there which were the root cause of my cavities. At last!! the answer I’d been looking for.
All of the tests run at the office were centered around Dr. Porter’s three-pronged approach to the prevention of chronic disease: Airway, Infections, and Metals. When the tests were over, we scheduled a follow up appointment for the one-on-one consultation with Dr. Porter. He was definitely thorough about going through each of the tests including breathing issues that could be causing sleep apnea to Vitamin D levels, to checking for infections.
The important thing was we made a plan. A plan, not to just put a band aid on my symptoms, but a plan to increase my airways, remove infections and pathogens causing inflammation, and to remove metals. It was going to be a long journey, but for the first time in 25 years, I had hope.
I write this blog post because I’m one of those people who have become passionate about getting answers. I’m writing this blog post hoping that someone like me who spent 25 years with no answers will stumble upon this and find hope.
Deep Roots Wellness 