The Lyme 360 Podcast: Heal+

E11: Biological Dentistry with Dr. Karla Solis

July 15, 2020 Mimi MacLean Episode 12
The Lyme 360 Podcast: Heal+
E11: Biological Dentistry with Dr. Karla Solis
Show Notes Transcript

Today, we have Dr. Solis and she has been practicing the art and science of dentistry since 2007. She received her bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California. She then received her doctorate degree from UCLA School of Dentistry. She is dedicated to advanced postdoctoral studies and provides her patients with a gentle, caring, and comprehensive approach to oral health. She believes there is more to dentistry than just teeth and has a passion for an integrative approach.

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Intro (00:03):

Welcome to the heal podcast for all things related to Lyme disease and other chronic illnesses. I'm Mimi McLean, mom of five, founder of Lyme 360 and a Lyme warrior. Tune in each week to hear from doctors, health, practitioners, and experts to hear about their treatments, struggles and triumphs to help you on your healing journey. I'm here to heal with you.

Mimi (00:25):

Hi, welcome back to the heal podcast. This is Mimi. And today we have Dr. Solis and she has been practicing the art and science of dentistry since 2007. She received her bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California. She then received her doctorate degree from UCLA School of Dentistry. She is dedicated to advanced postdoctoral studies and provides her patients with a gentle, caring, and comprehensive approach to oral health. She believes there is more to dentistry than just teeth and has a passion for an integrative approach. Dr. Solis, thank you so much for coming today. I'm so appreciative of you joining and taking the time to be on here today.

Dr. Solis (01:05):

For sure. Thank you.

Mimi (01:07):

So, okay. My first question is how does your oral health affect your immune system and your normal health? Because I don't think people relate or know that there's a tie in between your teeth and your oral health and the rest of your body.

Dr. Solis (01:18):

Absolutely. So everything starts in the mouth. The most important thing that people are starting to realize now, it's the gut microbiome and the beginning of your gut is your mouth. And so that is why it's so important for people to really understand how, if there is inflammation in the mouth, then that's going to open up portals for pathogens to get into the bloodstream, which then take these pathogens, these bugs to other areas of the body, where they don't belong and therefore causing secondary effects. So a lot of times people that have infection in the mouth can oftentimes feel other things or systemic conditions that arise. A lot of people that have autoimmune diseases oftentimes have these hidden infections in their mouth and they don't even know it. A lot of times practitioners don't take the time and by practitioners, I mean like medical doctors are usually the ones that kind of bypass the dental aspect of wellness and general health. And so we're seeing a lot of our referral sources send patients to us so that we can do 3-D imaging and see if there are hidden infections in the jaw bones that are creating havoc on the system. A lot of times people spend thousands of dollars trying to figure out what's wrong with them. And it's simply a dental infection.

Mimi (02:41):

It's true. I definitely have personal experience from that. So I have been going to a holistic dentist for a while now, even before I found you they're are hard to find, but what would you say is the difference between your dental office in a normal traditional dental office?

Dr. Solis (02:57):

Yes, so I, that a lot of times people wonder what holistic or what biological dentistry is. And I often chuckle because it's the same, right? We do the same type of dental procedures. However, we take time to curate our dental materials. We make sure that they're the least toxic. They're going to cause the least amount of reactions in the patient's bodies. And that's important because we don't want to add already to what's going on with environmental factors, burdened detoxification pathways, because of what's going on with our food supplies, being burdened with pesticides and all that. Even when you're buying organic, you still have to make sure that you wash and your rinse and the glyco phosphate stuff is really, really, really impossible to get around. That's why, what we're trying to do here at the office is make sure the products are clean as possible. There's really no toxic free material out there. We're just trying to really get the ones that are least reactive in the body. And we offer biocompatibility testing for those patients that know they're extremely sensitive. That way we can test whether or not certain materials are more suitable for them. And so we kind of cater the materials to that person. You know, there's a lot of everyone has different sensitivity levels. And so it's important for us to be aware of all of that. And that's the main difference in our office versus other offices. We get products mainly from Germany, they're all BPA free and we're also a metal free office. Um, we don't like to cause anything in the mouth that's going to create almost like an, a battery like effect, and create acidity in the mouth. We also do ozone water. It's a great pre rinse, any procedure that we're doing, whether it's a cleaning or a filling. The other thing that we really are very proud of is our laser technology. That's one of the things that most people really like about our office that we're trying to create more efficient ways of helping people with cavities, helping people with periodontal disease and other aspects of dentistry. Like for those that snore, that laser also allows us to help with collagen production inside in the soft tissue areas. So it's a great tool. It's a great tool. We usually, like I said, we stay away from metals. We stay away from fluoride and we really take the time to curate our products so that our patients have the best results right now.

Mimi (05:30):

Is there a difference between, like, do you still do x-rays or is there a difference between your x-rays that I would get going to another dentist?

Dr. Solis (05:35):

I mean, we do have digital x-rays, which have less radiation than the traditional film ones. And we do have a 3D scan, which again, shows us much more detailed than a two dimensional regular x-ray, but no, we're trying to move forward and seeing if maybe we can either invent or come up with a way that we won't have to do X rays on patients, but that's one of the things that similar to other offices, but we use technology that uses less radiation.

Mimi (06:06):

Right. You don't use mercury on your fillings. So what, what do you use?

Dr. Solis (06:09):

We use composite. So the white film material, it's a hybrid between a ceramic and a composite, which is a resin and it's a German product. Again, it's endorsed by all the organizations that most biological dentists belong to. So when you remove the BPA from the material, the strength decreases. And so in order for us to kind of give longer lasting materials, the ceramic portion really adds the durability part to it. So it's a great product.

Mimi (06:40):

Now, how did you come about, like you graduated from dental school? Like how did you, did you start out as a normal dentist or did you?

Dr. Solis (06:51):

2013 is when my life kind of was exposed to this part of the dental field. The interesting part was that my whole life really kind of, it was more holistic and just more mindful I ate, well, I exercised, I often did a lot of meditation yoga and it was this particular aspect of my life that was just not in alignment with everything else. And until I met my mentor, Dr. Rhoda, he had put an ad out that he was looking for someone and I responded cause I had no idea what holistic dentistry was all about. And low and behold, I fit right in with the style, the way that we spend time with patients, it was really something that was missing in my life. And it was a perfect fit, right from the start I started under his wing, almost like an apprentice. And then I started taking classes and workshops and then just really diving deep into what it was all about. So that was back in 2013. But another side note is when I was working as a regular conventional dentist, my body was incredibly sore and achy. And I have to say that I'm one of the people that has a higher sensitivity to mercury. So because of that, and I wasn't taking the precautions that we do in our office, when we're removing the material, I was having a lot of toxicity from the mercury. And so I realized I was sold right away when Dr. Rhoda told me, you know, mercury causes, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And I was like, this is all me. I was lethargic. I was in pain. I was a little bit, you know, just really foggy, like my mind wasn't sharp. And so once I started practicing like a holistic dentist, things really shifted for me.

Mimi (08:42):

That's great.

Dr. Solis (08:44):

I know I understood it. And I was happy to share it with the rest of the world.

Mimi (08:49):

Right, right. So it's biological dentists is what I would tell people if they're looking for somebody in their area to go and Google that, that's how I have been finding people, dentists depending on where I am in a country. And then the other big thing that we haven't really talked about is the whole idea of like the root canal. Can you talk about that? Like, you know, between your cavitations and your root canal? Cause that's what I went in to do. Cause I had a root canal issue and I kept getting a root canal and kept getting infected. And then I started reading about this cause I wasn't getting healthier. So like with my Lyme and some other issues I was dealing with, and that's when I kind of dove into this world and read a book and I was like, wait a second. And so I would love for you to just talk a little bit about like root canals or about the cavitations.

Dr. Solis (09:35):

Sure. Yeah. The root canal is one of the biggest controversies and I think it's a real big one to bring light to because I often think that there's space for everything. One of the main things that we see with the three D imaging is that a lot of times these failed root canals are because there's such an intricate root structure. And whether it's a specialist that does the root canal or whether it's a general dentist who does a root canal, there's always a possibility to miss a canal. Therefore you have this tissue, that's still residing in the root structure. That's going to cause this low grade infection, that's just zapping your immune system and it's just flying under the radar. But yet the whole system kind of gets thrown off by it. So that is what we're seeing. Most of the failures, these root structures are so, so tiny and really hard to access with regular instruments that this is where most of the practitioners kind of fail at really getting a successful result. So what ends up happening is these endotoxins are kind of residing hovering in that part of the mouth. And it starts to create this inflammation starts to create, like I said, open portals. And what ends up happening is you have all these bacteria that are kind of traveling in the bloodstream again, affecting other systems in the body. And what is really important is that a lot of times people say root canals, block energy. It's not the actual root canal that's blocking the energy. It's the scar tissue that is happening as an, as a result to the bacteria, infecting the root structure. And that itself is what causes our bodies, our circuits, right? We're all energy. So what happens is it kind of bypasses that and that's why there's a blockage. In our practice, we use laser technology as well as frequency therapies to really almost in a way, dissolve those blockages and really clear the path so that our bodies know what to do. Our cells communicate via light, via energy. So that's important aspect of the root canal controversy that it's not necessarily the actual root canal that will cause a detrimental effect on your health. It is whether or not it was performed correctly, whether or not the materials that are being used are bioavailable and compatible to your body and whether or not there was advanced irrigation that was occurring during the procedure. So there's no, you know, hidden areas of the root that still have the tissue and the bacteria that caused the initial problem. That's the biggest thing that we're really trying to focus on in our office. One, because a lot of times people aren't ready to lose their teeth. It's a real psychological impact to lose a tooth, especially if you're young, you don't want to lose the tooth. And there's this huge component that people overlook and dentists don't tell patients this, that once you pull a tooth, you lose the blood supply to that job bone and you no longer have that feedback. That neural biofeedback that happens from chewing and to the brain and back and forth. Those are two critical things that you need. You need to maintain your structure of your mouth for airway purposes. And secondly, we need those bio feedbacks for the brain and the mouth and the whole body to communicate and to do what they know what to do. So one of the things is to help educate and inform patients so they can make a proper decision if that doesn't align with what they want. Then of course, there's other options. There's, you know, there's extracting the tooth and then we have to kind of go through that because in extracting the tooth, a lot of times practitioners don't do it correctly. And that's where cavitations are formed. That's where the small hole in the jawbone is created. And that that little hole can be almost filled with wispy bone, fat deposits, bacteria. That can cause I had a colleague of mine say that they found bacteria, pathogenic bacteria that causes leprosy. I mean, who would have thought that that could be found in a cavitation, but it's literally a walled off area in the jawbone. And it causes really, really, really detrimental effects to people's health. And not until you get a 3D image, can you tell, cause the two dimensional won't give you that. Won't give you that information. And again, it's always about doing things properly. Most of the times, the surgeons won't remove the PDL. The PDL is the periodontal ligament, and that needs to get extracted along with the tooth. A lot of times people just pull the tooth. In our practice, we use the laser to decontaminate the socket. We use ozone gas and water to also disinfect the area. And then we use PRF, which is basically we draw blood from the patient. We spin it out and we get a fibrin that little fibrin gets placed in the socket. And it acts as a scaffold for bone and all of the cells to come to heal and repair the area. So we take those extra steps to make sure that we're not causing problems later down the road for a patient. We do a lot of what you call it, preventative care.

Mimi (15:19):

Right. And that would apply also to your wisdom teeth being pulled. Cause that's what I had my major problems when I had my wisdom teeth pulled like when I was my twenties and then, you know, eight years ago I went back in and everything was almost like rotted out. Like the bone, the bone had literally been disintegrated and they had to clean it completely out.

Dr. Solis (15:38):

Clean it out. And honestly, it's not a fun surgery. I had it myself. I had all four sites, if there's any way to avoid that for a patient. I mean, that, that would be incredible because the body doesn't want to have surgery at all. It doesn't want to have to go through all of that. I don't know if you were put under, but that's another thing that you have to like recover from.

Mimi (15:59):

Right. I was Twilight and it was funny cause he, the dentist that told me, Oh, you know, you're going to feel terrible for a couple of days after. It's a big deal. And that night I felt amazing. And he's like, how come am I? Cause I think my body was in so much pain from it. Literally it was during the surgery is almost like a light bulb went off like, Oh my God, I feel better. It was almost like I took a splinter out of my, out of my foot. And then it was like, I was like, wait, I can stop worrying about it. And it was instant, honestly, that I felt better from, from dealing with those.

Dr. Solis (16:28):

Yeah. It is a big deal. Mold is in there, Lyme syprocytes so many different fungus's and parasites can be found in, you know, just hanging out. And do you imagine people go their whole lives, not knowing what's really going on. And it's just right there in their mouth right there in their jaw close to their brain, the lymphatic system also backs up. I mean, it's just like one thing after another. And so it's really important for pretty much every I'm hoping that, you know, with this whole pandemic thing that's happened that the movement in dentistry becomes more like biological dentists, where they using ozone, where they're doing the 3D scans to make sure there's no pathology to evaluate patient's airways. Those are important things for people to have assessed.

Mimi (17:16):

Right? No, it's true now. Okay. Let's talk about like prevention. Like what would you tell somebody to do each day that we're not doing right? There's just brushing your teeth, but I know you like mostly biological dentists want you to take it a step further.

Dr. Solis (17:28):

There's a couple more steps, more steps. Like you have to reserve like 20 minutes, 20 plus for the morning routine. Ideally I love the am routine. I usually tell patients to do the floss, to do the brushing and then to do the oil pulling. And oil pulling can be literally you can do coconut oil. You can do Sesame or you can do some flower oil. Some people have an aversion to coconut oil, so you can try the other two and minimum you can start by doing five minutes, cause it is a rigorous task. You have to swish, you have to pull, you have to, it does start to get your cheeks a little bit tired. But I think that the oil pulling is such an essential part of the whole routine. And we can talk about that a little in a little bit, but oil pulling and then you would tongue scrape. And then at the very end rinse with salt water, warm salt water, and you know, salt is super healing at the end of it all. And it's really cleansing cause you're kind of with the oil pulling, you're pulling those anaerobic bacteria that are under the gums. They don't like oxygen. So they hide under there and they wreak havoc in those pockets. You know, when the dentist goes around, measuring the health of your gums and they're telling you, your pockets are a little fours and fives, that's typically what's happening is that floss only goes down four millimeters. If you have a pocket that's more than four millimeters. That means nothing. The biofilm that's happening down there is not getting disrupted. So you either have to do oil pulling or you have to get a Waterpik to really aggravate the buildup that's under there. And then not allow for that basically the bugs or the buildup, like the calculus to really start to irritate the gums and create inflammation. So that's one of the, one of the main little routines that I have oftentimes given patients.

Mimi (19:25):

Right. That's great. Okay. So you're talking a little bit more about the oil pulling as far as like taking out is it five minutes? Cause I've heard like half an hour or five minutes.

Dr. Solis (19:34):

Five minutes, five minutes is enough to start. I don't want to discourage patients from doing it cause 20 minutes can be, can sound a whole lot. So I usually tell them to start with five, you get the therapeutic effect at 15, but at least you get into the practice of doing so in five. I usually tell them when you're taking a shower, go ahead and put it in. And you're not talking to anyone, get in there and swish around and then make sure you don't spit in the, in your sink or anywhere where there's plumbing. Cause it will clog the plumbing. I usually spit it out in a trashcan. You never want to gargle with oil, the oil pulling because you are literally pulling those bugs from in the pockets of your gums. And if you gargle it, then you are, you can get sick because you're introducing all that bacteria to the lymphatic tissues that are back there. So you don't want to do that. The other thing that I was going to talk to you about a little bit, so basically oil pulling is one tablespoon and you let it melt in your mouth and you swish it around and it's kind of work. You can't just let it sit there. You kind of really have to run it through. And the reason it's an old iron Vedic medicine, it's a beautiful practice because it's literally, it's a way of detox. You're pulling out the bad bugs that are not going to get pulled out by any water or any rings. The fats of the layer of the pathogen is that the outside cell wall is made out of a fat membrane. And so the heavy media and I'm like, well grab bind it and then pull it out. And then there you go. You have a detox process that, you know, you're in charge of. And it's really easy. You should hydrate afterwards because it can be very, like I said, detoxifying. So hydrating afterwards is a good practice.

Mimi (21:20):

Yeah. I love it.

Dr. Solis (21:21):

And I see patients that have a lot of periodontal disease kind of come back after doing the practice. It's relatively cheap and it's relatively easy.

Mimi (21:30):

That's great. That's great. Okay. So my last question I have for you is a little bit of a touchy subject, but I think we have to talk about it otherwise it's I think it's very relevant is the fluoride.

Dr. Solis (21:40):

Yes. So it's definitely a controversial. So can you talk a little bit about why fluoride is so bad and any kind of history you know about it? And is there anything else that everyone says that you definitely need it? So is there something that you need to replace it with or do we really not need it?

Dr. Solis (21:58):

So I don't think there's a need for it. You know, the water supply in LA has a lot of floor it's fluoridated, there's no need and it's actually fluoridated more so than what we need. We need one, the who the world health organization says 1.5, right milligrams. And what the waters in our systems are two to five. So we have more than enough. And quite honestly, I don't see a reason for the fluoride to be in our water. It does not prevent decay at least that I have seen. I think I've seen more cases where it actually harms the tooth. You get the pitting. I don't know if you've ever noticed there's a little bit of on the enamel. You get a rough surface and that's called pitting. It's almost like hypo mineralization. So you get soft spots on the teeth. Some in some cases you get steaming. So it looks a little white and chalky. In some cases you get like a little bit of a Brown hue to the tooth. So in all honesty, there are a lot of countries that have banned the use of fluoride. And so it's known it's a known neurotoxin. It hardens the pineal gland, which the pineal gland is known in the synthesis of melatonin, which regulates our normal rhythms and our sleep cycles. And we all need that in order for us to rejuvenate and regenerate at night, it also has caused, like I said, it's caused the staining, the pitting, and in a lot of little, lot of little kids, we see that, you know, they get more cavities, they're more prone to cavities because they make the two softer. So it's kind of contraindicating what its purpose is. I honestly don't see a real reason. It, in the, in the dental field, I think I encourage all my patients to do fluoride free toothpaste. I think that if you can do filtered water, we have a great company called live water that the Kundalini community really has had a part in that. So we like that spring water. And then we also encourage patients to drink structured water. Anything that will not have fluoride in it is where we would like for all the patients to be. Because I personally don't think there's room for fluoride in the, in the mouth.

Mimi (24:17):

Do you think it's like a marketing thing? Like why are traditional dentists still behind?

Dr. Solis (24:22):

Oh, for sure. I think it's a marketing thing and I think that's what they were taught in dental school. That's all they know, just like the mercury fillings. It's a part of being certified as a dentist in California. So I mean antiquated very much. So I think if we didn't have fluoridated water, I think there might be again in moderation, everything in moderation, but they're really, they're really doing an overkill on it and it's actually causing more harm than good.

Mimi (24:57):

Yeah. I've read that. It actually, I don't know if it's true or not. I remember reading about it. I don't even remember where, but that it eventually is what is the leading cause of Alzheimer's how has increasing cause it's a neurotoxin for sure. Yeah. So you might not see the immediate it's it's the longterm effects,

Dr. Solis (25:12):

It's the long term. All the heavy metals and fluoride. That's why, you know, it's interesting that dentistry is, it's always fascinating to me how people don't recognize that what goes in their mouth can have such, such, such longterm effects down the road. And it's really my job to really inform and educate patients to really like empower their own health, get rooted in their own like oral care.

Mimi (25:37):

Right. Just read I'm a big reader. So I keep reading and reading, but I gotta tell you it's getting easier, but it's been really hard for the past, you know, 20 years of me having children of finding, especially pediatric like dentists or even practitioners that kind of believe what you and I are talking about. I remember the longest time I could not find anybody in Los Angeles or even on the East coast when I lived on the East coast. And I remember going to my first pediatric dentist and they were fighting me about the fluoride, like so much so that they just wore me down and I was like, fine. Give them the flouride. And literally that was the first time, you know, they were like 10 and under they had fluoride cause I just moved to the West coast and they went home and all of them vomitted. They were like, that made him sick. And I was like, it has to be that like, there's nothing else that would have all gotten that sick from it. It really isn't that great.

Dr. Solis (26:27):

Making kids vomit!

Mimi (26:29):

I mean, I'm sure other kids don't vomit from it. Mine just had kind of total reaction to it. So that's what I'm like no more. I'm not going back here. And I was like, no. And I was like, I'm not coming back here. If you were to keep giving my kids fluoride until I found you to take my children. So, but yes, it's harder than you think to find dentists that kind of believe this whole biological dentistry.

Dr. Solis (26:52):

I know, like I said, I'm really hoping it really, this, this pandemic really moves and the conventional dentist and the regulations towards more of a biological feel, it's really amazing. And it feels good at the end of the day to really take care of patients and not harm them with toxic materials and toxic procedures. So. Right, right. Yeah. We're really, we're really hoping for that.

Mimi (27:15):

So it's funny whenever I come across, it's not funny, but it's whenever I have a friend or somebody just calling me and telling me that they're still not getting better from Lyme or if they were just diagnosed recently with cancer, I'll say to them like what have you had anybody look at your teeth? Cause that's the first thing I would tell you to go deal with because you're not going to get better. If you have a cavitation that's inflamed or you still have the mercury fillings.

Dr. Solis (27:38):

Or the root canals, the root canals and the cavitations are a really big one. Cause you know, a lot of times people don't even remember they have root canals. A lot of people don't even know that they have infections that are walking around and it's, it's a really big one. It's a silent killer, honestly.

Mimi (27:57):

Is it Dr. Weston Price? I forgot his name. Is it Western price? Is that the, the dentist that did the research a long time ago out of Europe. And I think it was him that had the rabbit and he put the root canal and the rabbit and the rabbit will wind up getting cancer. And that there's a huge correlation between like cancer, like breast cancer. It was like 95% of breast cancer patients have had root canals. And then not properly dealt with it, which I was like flabbergasted. When I read that, that was like, how is nobody talking about this? Like, and it's a proven, you know, and he wound up passing away like as, uh, no one believed him or he became

Dr. Solis (28:31):

Exactly as a, as a pretty much a lot of the conventional dentists believe that him to be a quack dentist, but there's truth to it. Listen, everyone's, body's different. Everyone's detoxifying pathways are also different. So there has to be a more comprehensive way of evaluating what pathways people need support with and then being able to see that first and then addressing all the other issues. So it really is a whole body mind connection where we're not just dealing with, okay, let's pull this tooth out. What we really have to see what happened. What caused this failure? Was it a failure in the performance of who the clinician or was it the materials causing the person inflammatory reaction? There's so many things or is there an even bigger underlying issue like Lyme is a big one where dental procedures are so not what you think is going to happen with patients that have Lyme. It goes really southbound. A simple extraction can put a patient who has Lyme in the hospital. So there's all these things that we really need to work with with functional medicine doctors, with, with naturopaths in order for us to evaluate the blood work and the inflammatory markers under their care, and then guide our treatment plans in conjunction with what's going on with their, you know, their primary care doctor. And that's why we work really, really well with all the doctors that come to us, either for the 3D scans or patients love for us to kind of communicate with their caretaker. And then, you know, together we can help them. We'd have helped many people that come in and our office is the last house on the block for them because no one believes them. No one can find out what's wrong with them, but sure enough, we've helped people that have had cases of eczema on their scalp. And you know what? It was two, three hidden infections that were just residing. They're not posing any pain or any discomfort. And so once we cleared the infections in that person's mouth, their eczema cleared off of their scalp, never had another flare up again.

Mimi (30:43):

It's crazy. It is. Thank you so much. This has been amazing. And I hope everyone who's listening will go find a new biological dentist or encourage their current dentist to go research it and learn more about it. But thank you. I really appreciate your time. This has been amazing. Thank you

Outro (31:03):

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