Most Toothpastes Don’t Work | What Your Mouth Can Tell You About Gut & Brain Health | Dr. Sanda Moldovan

Welcome back to Everyday Ancestral. Most people think oral health stops at brushing and flossing, but what if the mouth is actually the missing link in our modern health crisis? Today's guest, Dr. Sanda Moldovan, is a pioneer in regenerative dentistry, someone who believes the mouth isn't separate from the body. It's the gateway to everything that happens inside it. In a world where we're losing jaw structure, fighting chronic inflammation, and living completely disconnected from our ancestral biology, your mouth is the earliest warning sign that something deeper is off. This conversation isn't about teeth. It's about your microbiome, your immunity, your brain, your nutrition, and the way you breathe, eat, and live. If you want to understand the future of health, you need to start where the health actually begins, the mouth. Dr. Sanda, it is a pleasure to be talking to you. I'm so excited to cover this topic. How are you today?

Great, James. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to talk to you today.

Yeah. Let's, you know, let's cover right away a topic that's near and dear to my heart because I am an unprofessed, like a lot of people don't know this about me, but I am a toothpaste fanatic. I really do try every toothpaste out there to see what is going to give me that best clean. And I know you have an opinion on how people should be picking their toothpaste and maybe even what toothpaste you recommend. So let's start there.

Yeah, for sure. And, I'm curious, how do you choose whether or not you like a toothpaste? Is it by the flavor? Obviously, you're a chef, so maybe you're looking at flavor, or is it just the clean that you're looking for?

For me, I would say the clean is— well, probably ingredients would be first, clean, that clean taste where I don't feel like my teeth weren't brushed 5 minutes later. Yeah, I would see that. I would say those are the two, you know, and then I guess taste would be third. And I also tend to not gravitate towards like sweet flavors. Like I like more minty. I find that even the really like clean— I'm saying clean with quotation marks, but like the ones that have all the natural ingredients, I find sometimes aren't doing what I want. And it's the more recent toothpastes that have the And I don't remember the ingredient, but it's the ingredient that's like your teeth.

Yes. The calcium hydroxyapatite.

Thank you. So that's the ones I'm finding work better than, than the natural toothpaste that don't have it.

Yes. I agree with you 100% because I'm a big fan of calcium hydroxyapatite, mostly because it actually has been shown to strengthen the enamel. And, what's the enamel? It's that outer layer of the tooth, which is highly mineralized. And, in the nanopores of the tooth, calcium hydroxy can actually go in there and repair, especially after we have an acidic diet, for example. Even, let's say, eating an apple, that acidity from the apple actually can start to weaken the enamel. And then, especially when we have dry mouth, The saliva is not there to remineralize because that's what saliva does. So, calcium hydroxyapatite as a treatment or in a toothpaste or tooth powder actually helps to fill in that damage that's done by acidic foods.

Nice. So, is that kind of the ingredient that is your go-to or what are some other things people should be looking for when they're purchasing toothpaste? Yes.

I think a lot of people use toothpaste because it's just out there. But personally, I prefer a tooth powder because less filler. Just like the food has fillers, so does toothpaste. So, a lot of the toothpaste contain glycerol or glycerin. And glycerin is usually about 70 to 80% of the tube of toothpaste.

Wow.

So, glycerin is actually a little bit oily just by nature, and it doesn't clean very well. And, I feel like that's why in a lot of the natural toothpastes out there, I've used them and my teeth just don't feel clean. And, I'm sure you've experienced this. Oh, yeah, it's got this and that and a lot of natural ingredients, but terrible at cleaning.

What do you think of those tablets that you kind of chew on and then they become Powdery in your mouth. What about those?

Yeah, you know, I've tried them and my biggest problem with them, I can't get them to fully break down. And then, I feel like I'm brushing my teeth with boulders, which is not a very good feeling. So, and full disclosure, I was actually working on a formulation of toothpaste myself. I have a company called OraSana for natural oral care. So, I was looking a lot into this and the formulation of toothpaste and what, you know, what do our teeth really need? So, I love the clean of a tooth powder. And interestingly, in the 1920s, '30s, '40s, they actually had tooth powder on the market. They even had charcoal powder on the market. And interesting, it had a comeback just in the last few years to brush your teeth with charcoal. Have you tried any of the charcoal toothpaste?

I have. I mean, I, you know, it's hard for me to tell if they're really working that well, but I did. I mean, it seems to me like sometimes you have to do it You know, consistently, right, with that specific toothpaste to really see a difference. But I have noticed a difference with the hydroxy— I'm not saying it right.

Hydroxyapatite.

Yes.

Like appetite.

I have noticed a difference with that.

Yeah. So I like hydroxyapatite because it's a treatment for your teeth. Studies have shown that it whitens the teeth as well.

I feel like I notice it's whiter when I use that.

Definitely, definitely. And, you know, there's always this debate, is it micro or nano? And for, for whitening, either micro or nano works, but actually to mineralize, we need it in the nano format.

Oh, interesting. Okay. And now fluoride, huge topic still to this day. We're starting to finally see, I think the federal government has said that they can pull it out of water, municipality water.

Yes.

It's finally getting more looked at under the microscope. But, you know, when I was in culinary school, I remember learning— tell me if this is at all consistent with what you know or maybe I was misinformed, but I remember learning that fluoride was actually a waste product from the paper industry.

Yes, actually, you're right. It is a waste product. And, there's a great documentary called Fluoridegate in which people that worked in the government at that time were interviewed, how did fluoride get in the water? They opposed the motion because it is a toxic substance. So, they got let go of and fluoride ended up in our water. Europeans have already banned fluoride. They don't have fluoride in their water because it does crystallize the pituitary gland, which is not a good thing. It lowers the IQ in kids and we don't need it. We have something like calcium hydroxyapatite. We don't need fluoride or a higher level of fluoride. So, the FDA actually pulled out all the tablets with fluoride for children from the market just recently, a few months ago, because of the research, more and more research coming out saying that fluoride is toxic for us. And, I don't know if you know people that have maybe kids when you were growing up, they had this fluorosis on their teeth, meaning they have white or brown spots on the teeth from too much fluoride. Oh, wow.

No, I don't know that.

And what's interesting, if that actually happens, the teeth become more brittle, not stronger, they become more brittle. So, it is unfortunate that it's taken these, this many years to actually understand that fluoride is not good for us. Like, we have 2 states already, Utah and Florida, that banned fluoride from their water. Unfortunately, the rest of the United States is still going through the motion, and hopefully we're going to be fluoride-free.

It also affects something else that's not usually talked about with teeth, which is fluoride affects your microbiome, correct?

Absolutely. Fluoride affects your microbiome, and not in a positive way. We see a growth of bad bacteria and a reduction of the good bacteria, which we need. And not just in the mouth, but mostly in gut health.

Yeah, it's, I think it's important. And this really brings us to why we're talking, cuz it's like we can't just think of, you know, dental practices as an isolated, you know, bubble. We have to look at it from a functional standpoint, which is the whole body, how the whole body works. Right?

Exactly. No, absolutely. And, you know, in our offices we actually filter the water and then we ozonate the water so we don't even have fluoride— fluoridated water in our water lines. And, we don't use fluoride at all. And, this is a great way to tell whether or not a dentist is actually holistic or they are biological. If they still offer you fluoride treatments in their office, they obviously are still maybe just marketing as holistic or biological, but they're not really that.

I've been at dentists where I felt shamed if I didn't use The fluoride for the kids.

I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, that does happen. They automatically, after a cleaning, they said, oh, you need those fluoride trays. Do you remember those fluoride trays with a bunch of foam in it? They put it in your mouth, you swallow half of it in the process of treatment. But this is commonly given to kids here in this country. Why? Because it's a paid insurance benefit.

So what about other products like mouthwash? You know, I feel like, like waxed floss, you know, or coated flosses, like, are we being duped with a lot of those items as well? Or what should we be looking at if we are using any, you know, oral products?

Yeah, that's a great question. I'm a big believer in 3 steps to optimum oral health. And because why this works, well, number one, brush. With calcium hydroxyapatite. Step 2, floss, either water floss or string floss. And step 3, pop in a chewable probiotic. And just, this is mostly to regulate the microbiome layer on the tongue and the cheeks, the back of the throat. I'm not a big fan of mouthwashes unless people have gum disease and they're just being used temporarily to control inflammation of the gums. Or let's say they had a surgery, people had a surgery and they need the mouthwash in order also to control the bacterial accumulation over the wound site. But generally speaking, mouthwashes are mostly for flavor for a lot of people. And unfortunately, because of the antibacterial properties, it actually, they end up destroying the good bacteria, again, back to the microbiome. And we see a decrease in something called nitric oxide production. And why is this important? Nitric oxide is important to regulate blood pressure. So mouthwashes like Listerine actually can have a negative impact on the microbiome, which in turn may cause an elevated blood pressure in, in patients.

Interesting. So does that mean if that some people are getting misdiagnosed, you know, like, cuz they're not getting, The potentially the doctor is noticing the high blood pressure, but then is not actually like talking to them about what products they're using. They're just assuming it's salt or, you know, something like that.

Exactly. And, you know, a lot of times with traditional medicine, they don't even look and say, what kind of foods are you eating? Or, you know, maybe this whole wheat bread has an effect on your blood pressure or whatever it is that's causing inflammation. So I think always going back to the root cause and reestablishing a normal microbiome. Makes a big difference in somebody's overall health.

What about oil pulling? I'm sure you've heard about that, but maybe you can explain to people what it is in case they haven't. I've been practicing oil pulling almost every morning now for like a month, and I find it really is making a difference. But can you talk about oil pulling specifically?

Yes. I actually was asked to comment quite a few times on oil pulling, so I had to look into the studies of oil pulling and see what exactly is it that we know about oil Oil pulling. It comes from an Ayurvedic technique dated thousands of years ago where they took sesame oil and they swish it back and forth between their teeth.

Untoasted sesame oil, I should say.

Untoasted sesame oil.

Toasted sesame oil would be a little strong. So untoasted sesame oil.

Yes. And my guess is they used sesame oil at that time in India because it was probably readily available.

Right.

And when you swish it back and forth in between the teeth for 20 minutes, it actually becomes a soap. That's one amazing thing. Like, I remember actually my grandfather growing up in Romania, he used to make soap out of fats, like used to like melt fats and just make these amazing soaps with it. So same kind of idea when you swish the oil back and forth has a soap-like effect and it starts to wash away some of the microbiome. It doesn't penetrate too deep under the gum. So, you know, for that have gum disease, this is not a full solution, but it's definitely a good way to get the liquid or the oil in this case in between the teeth, because that's the real problem. You know, when I swish with it also, I could feel it going back and forth in between my teeth. And that's the correct way to do it, not just to swish normally, but to actually feel it going through. So then as it's staying in the microbiome, the gums get healthier. We do see that. In our OraSana line, we actually have an ozonated oil. And I'm a big fan of ozone because ozone helps to reduce the time that we have to oil pull or swish. So essentially ozonated oil, we just need to use it for 1 minute versus, you know, the 20 minutes that is really—

1 minute.

The oil pulling.

Wow. That's a big difference. 1 minute versus 20.

It is.

So you're ozonating the oil What kind of oil are you using? Coconut?

Coconut oil, yes. And there's different oils being used like olive oil, coconut. Coconut can get a little solid at room temperature, especially when it's in the colder winter months. So that's why some of the companies are actually mixing it with some olive oil. So it's not plain coconut oil. So you don't get that solidification.

I don't mind the solidification because I find that it You know, your mouth warms it up so quickly. But I like that I, because I can control how much of it I put in my mouth versus getting too much. So I kind of, I don't personally mind it, but that's, that is interesting though that they're adding olive oil. Can you talk a little bit more about ozonation? I go to a functional dentist and I know that, that when they're doing any procedure, they're actually putting the ozone air into the mouth. They're doing a lot more than just, you know, using oil. So can you talk about how you use it and why?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'm a big fan of ozone. And I think even when I travel, I have this little tumbler. It's like a little cup essentially with stainless steel that you can ozonate water on the go, which is awesome because ozone is a great disinfection tool in the form of water. So essentially on contact, it kills not only bacteria, but any kind of microbe, viruses even. And also parasites and fungus on contact. That's why in the mouth where we're dealing with trillions of microbes in the form of biofilm, it's so important. So, we use it in our water lines in forms of ozonated water. But, as you were mentioning, we also bubble it at the gum level or a lot of times when we're doing a filling. And why? Again, because we want to sterilize the area that we're working in just to kind of give the immune system a chance to, you know, kind of relax for the mouth and just reduce bleeding. And it oxygenates the site. It does a lot of things for the oral environment.

Hmm.

So how do we use it in the form of gas? You know, dental offices typically require special training and machines, and we titrate it with Oxygen. We have like a little straw essentially that we, and medical oxygen. So then when we do, let's say a filling, once a cavity is removed, there's still microbes there. Can't see them with the naked eye. So we take ozone and actually bubble it right on the surface of that tooth. And we see it turning white pretty much immediately, which is unbelievable. You know, when the, especially when somebody has a stain, like a brown stain. We bubble ozone and it just turns white.

What do you think most people are misunderstanding about the mouth that completely changes how they should think about whole body health? What are we getting wrong here?

Number one, we already spoke about is the oral microbiome. A lot of people think, let me sterilize my mouth. And I see people using a lot of strong antibacterial. I want to get my mouth sterile, but that's the wrong way of thinking. We need, you know, to nurture our Positive bacteria or good bacteria. And if we have a good diet, a good amount of fiber, good oral hygiene habits, we don't need to use strong antibacterial because there's a symbiotic relationship between our good bacteria and our cells. We know there's 10 times more bacteria on our— on and in our human body than actual cells. So, so we need to treat them well. I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions. You know, we need to just sterilize our mouth, but we really don't because that bacteria that's friendly.

We're doing it with our hands as well, right? Our environment as well. We're just sterilizing everything.

Yes.

And like you said, it kills the good and the bad, right?

And actually, when we kill everything in the mouth, people will actually start developing Irritation and sores in the mouth. I've seen it. I've had people even like with natural products like tea tree oil, for example, tea tree oil is strong antibacterial. So I had people put it straight on their gums and they came in with like burns, with little burns because, you know, it's too much. We don't need that kind of level of disinfection.

So what is good oral practice? Like, should people be doing it for a minute each, the top, bottom, how often? Like, what is it from your perspective that we should be doing on a daily basis?

Yes. And I actually didn't learn about this till later on in life myself. Growing up in Romania, I didn't even know what floss was. So I didn't know that cleaning in between the teeth is so important. I ended up with a bunch of cavities at a young age. Super, super important to clean in between. Just like imagine, like, you're washing your hands, right? With your fingers stuck together, you're not going to clean the dirt in between. It's the same idea. We have to clean in between. So let's say you're in a rush. It is more important to clean in between than on the outer parts. Why? The outer parts of the teeth and the inner parts towards the tongue, they get cleaned easily with the foods we eat, especially if you're eating something fibrous. But unfortunately, in between, the bacteria is free to grow unless we disturb it. So how do we clean in between? Many different ways. String floss, of course, has been around since the 1850s, so that's the original thing. But I love water flossing because studies show that it works better than traditional floss, and people tend to have an easier time using the water flosser versus a string floss. A lot of people don't floss correctly, and that becomes also a problem.

Right. Because sometimes what they're doing is they're flossing the teeth, but then they keep using the same piece, right? The same section of the floss. And then they're also sometimes pushing it up instead of curling it down and getting it out, right?

Exactly. You got to like curve it like a C in order to floss correctly. And I don't see, you know, I even, you know, watch some people flossing if, you know, and just go straight up and down exactly like going all the way around. And it's not the correct way to floss. That's why I feel the water flosser is a much better tool, not only cleans in between, but it cleans all the way around 360 degrees. And it has what I like to call gum fitness, meaning that pulsation of the water jet as it's working on the gum, it actually helps to tighten the collagen fibers. So all my patients that are using a water flosser regularly, they have much tighter gums.

There's so many questions, but I want to stay a little bit on the practical side at the moment. Because I feel like this is going to really immediately help people. Let's talk toothbrushes. So there's lots of different options. What matters to you with a toothbrush and why?

I always like to go like, what does the research show? And then I'll talk to you about the practical side, right? Because research sometimes only shows us so much. Being a periodontist, I remember my residency, we had a, like, I think a couple of weeks where we had to read all the toothbrush studies that You are not over a period of 50 years. But it's good to know what is available. So what kind of brushes do we have? We have the manual brushes and then we have all sorts of different electric brushes. The best technique that we have for a manual brush, and by the way, a manual brush can work just as well, if not sometimes better than an electric brush. Manual brush, the important thing is we want to use it in a small circular motion so that the bristle actually go and sweep underneath the gums. Super important. People that just brush up and down vigorously can sometimes just push the gums up or lower here to create recession. So small circles, okay, super important, and kind of about 45 degrees into the gum. Technique is super important. Now we have, of course, electric brushes. Some people do really great with them, and some people even need them, especially the people that don't have the manual dexterity, people that have arthritis, They do much better with an electric brush. And so we have sonic-type brushes and we have rotational-type brushes, the one that just spin, you know, side to side. Sonic-type brushes clean better generally from the studies we have than the rotational-type brushes. The rotational-type brushes tend to be a little bit too abrasive, and I don't recommend it for people with thin gums. Now, the sonic-type brushes do really well, but you have to still move them around. You know, if people just miss the gum line, then they're not going to clean at the gum line. So we got to make sure we take it also close to the gum line. Super important.

Isn't there a mistake that some people are making with the sonic ones where they're treating them like normal brushes, but where, because it's a sonic, you actually have to, as you said, you have to Kind of keep it in place for a moment and then move it and then keep it in place for a moment. Like, it's not about just brush, brush, brush. It's like moment, moment, moment, moment, all on the same tooth and in a different area.

Exactly. You're so right. That's exactly right. It's technique sensitive as well. And I've actually seen people that tell me they have a sonic brush and I look at them, I'm like, are you brushing? Because number one, I think they're too gingerly about how much to touch the tooth and they're not putting it in the right place. And then they forget to change the brush head. And if the brush head has got all kinds of gunk at the end of it, it's not going to vibrate as readily as a new brush head. So we got to make sure you change the brush heads, you know, as the company recommends.

What about bristle softness, medium, hard? What do you typically recommend, or are you basing that off of the gums?

Yeah, no, gums don't need hard toothbrushes. It's a little bit too much for the gums. And that's why we can get some gum erosion with brushing, especially if we do it twice a day, every day over the years, it could take a toll. And I know there were actually some boar bristle brushes a few years ago that I found on the market, which are natural bristles, but those were so hard. Those were too hard for the gums. So, I prefer softer type of bristles, but not Okay. Soft to where the point they just not cleaning because a toothbrush should actually be able to clean without toothpaste. It should be able to do that. So when the bristles are way, way too soft, then that's not going to happen. So on the soft to medium side, I would say that would be ideal. I like the toothbrush heads to be very, very fine at the end because when they're very fine, They can actually sweep easier under the gum. So, the toothbrush that I designed for OraSana actually has 2 millimeters of the tip of the brush is super fine to sweep under the gum. And, the rest is a soft medium so that they don't lose their strength.

What foods actually build strong teeth, healthy gums, resilient bones? And, how does that compare to what people are eating today?

Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're asking this question because I was just looking at Weston Price. Weston Price wrote a book about degeneration of the jaws. And this is back in the '20s and '30s when he was doing research in the Amazon for, and they were looking at tribes. And he actually has pictures of people's teeth and they had beautiful straight teeth, all 32 of them, including the wisdom teeth. Perfectly erupted. And then he looked at our Western population and he noticed that we already had crowding and the teeth just weren't fitting and the teeth were more brittle. And another interesting thing is like the tribes, they don't have cavities. So he looked at the diet to see what people were eating and he actually noticed that people in the tribes eat actually more organ meats. When he actually found that the people's teeth in the tribes contain 4 times the minerals and water-soluble vitamins than teeth over in a Western world. And their diets also contain 10 times the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and what he called Activator X.

H3O+.

Yeah, exactly. And he was looking at butter, organ meats, eggs, and animal fats. Super important to eat those. But, you know, unfortunately, with the low-fat diet fad that we had in the last few years, that really didn't help us with the teeth, as well as We're stepping away from eating organ meats more than ever.

What I'm curious about though is like, did ancestral tribes, did they use things to brush their teeth with, you know, or was it purely just diet? Like, and where did we go wrong?

Yeah, they were using, they actually used sticks mostly to brush their teeth and chew on them. And their fiber in their diet is a lot higher than what we're getting. You know, they get like 80 grams of fiber in their diet. I think we're lucky here if the average American gets 10 to 15. So big difference. I think fibers really help to clean the teeth as well as the stomach walls. We also have a lot more gut issues today than we used to also. So, and the mouth is always a reflection of what's going on with the GI tract. So, with the introduction of processed foods, which does not exist in the tribes, processed foods, especially sticky foods, let's say crackers and cookies, they just stick to the teeth. And those become feed for bacteria, essentially for cavity-causing bacteria.

Interesting. Is it true that The earliest signs of chronic disease like heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline actually show up in the mouth first?

Yes, we do see that. There's a lot of things or imbalances that first we notice in the mouth. For example, bleeding gums. So, bleeding gums can be actually a sign of low vitamin C. And, in the past, it used to be like scurvy. That is actually a severe deficiency where just gums bleed spontaneously. But even today, like sometimes I tell patients, I, you know, what are you eating? I see gum inflammation. We're trying to treat it, but it's not going away. And sure enough, they're not getting enough like fresh fruits and vegetables where vitamin C comes from or organ meats for that matter. But as soon as we increase their vitamin C intake, we actually see everything healing. Including gum bleeding.

So I've heard before that if you have a, you know, a minor cavity, you can actually heal it or repair it or fill it just through changing the diet. Yes.

I see it all the time.

Really? Can you talk about that? Yeah.

If we give the body the right environment, it wants to heal always. It wants to achieve Balance. And, what do we do to create a better environment? Well, we have to look where do cavities come from, especially small cavities. Definitely, diet is a big one. So, processed foods, sugars. Chocolate is okay, by the way. A lot of people ask me about those. You can still have chocolate. Chocolate is not sticky on the teeth and it doesn't stay, but anything that's processed and sticky that grabs onto the teeth, that's bad. And then, also we have— A decrease in minerals. So we're not intaking the right nutrients. And then people develop leaky gut, and now we have an absorption problem on top of everything that they're not getting the right nutrients. Because if we're not absorbing the right nutrients, then the teeth cannot heal. So once we adjust these things, so cavities are also a gut issue. We change their diet, we work with a functional doctor to get their gut health under control, we actually see teeth that are starting to heal. But the cavity has to be small. So, for example, it has to be only in the enamel. Sometimes we see a little brown spot on the tooth. So, if we start to work on diet, on oral hygiene, and then we apply some calcium hydroxyapatite in this area, We can actually see that tooth is healing and that hole is mineralizing. So we don't necessarily have to drill in the tooth.

Interesting. So can you share, so some of the foods that you have people remove from the diet? So obvious ones obviously are like probably sodas, you know, anything overly sweet. You said things that are sticky.

Yeah.

Assuming like hard candies or chewy candy things, obviously.

Yeah, even crackers, like, you know, like, let's say saltine crackers, you know how they stick to your teeth, like things like that. Breads, cookies, things that can stick that have like a starchy carbohydrate in them.

Okay. And then foods that you're inspiring people to replace, you know, or put it back or put into the diet. So I'm assuming bone broth, any Any high nutrient-dense food, organ meats clearly if they're willing to do them.

Yes.

But is it— Yes.

If not, buy Pluck.

Yeah.

It's a good way.

We make it easy.

Perfect. Yes. Also, we want to do like fish liver oils. So those are important because of the vitamin A, the retinol. Butter, also important. So the fats are super important for the formation of teeth. And the mineralization. And then of course, something like dark leafy greens. Why? Because dark leafy greens have minerals in them that help with the mineralization.

If someone is listening, they feel like their mouth is a mess. Where do they start?

I would say start with home care. If you feel your mouth is a mess, start with home care. It depends which area of the country you're at. If you have a good, holistic biological dentist that you like and trust, make a plan. Ask them, you know, what's important? Do I have infections? They know to guide you in creating a priority plan to start tackling cavities and the gum disease potentially and inflammation. That's one of the major difference between, I would say, traditional dentist and integrative dentist like our practice or biological. We look to see, okay, what areas in the mouth are actually creating inflammation in the body? Is there toxins there such as maybe an unhealthy microbiome or mercury fillings that are causing somebody to have brain fog, inflammation, joint pain, low energy? It can span from the mouth.

If you could get the world to stop doing one thing that's destroying their oral microbiome, what would it be?

I would say stop putting mercury fillings in the mouth.

Removing the mercury fillings. So that's important then.

Oh, super important. I mean, Europe banned mercury already starting January 1st of this year. There's no more mercury being placed. Why? Because it ends up not just in our mouth, but it ends up in the water. It ends up in the food supply. It's kind of constantly circulating, you know, this, you know, this toxin in nature. And mercury affects cardiovascular health. It affects neurological health. I know because I suffered myself from high mercury levels. When I grew up in Romania, I had 16 large mercury fillings in my mouth.

You did?

I did. So when I actually opened my mouth, all you could see is silver. I was like, oh my God, I have all this metal. Yeah, I hated it.

So how, what are you, are you, do you have, What they called fake teeth at this point or something? Or, did you literally have to fill every tooth?

Pretty much, yeah. 16 of my back teeth, I had all the mercury taken out and replaced. But unfortunately for me, I didn't know anything about biological dentistry at the time. So, I just knew I was in my residency and I told my friend, I don't like these fillings. Just Just remove them for me. I just wanted white teeth. I just didn't want to— so, he removed pretty much all of them in a short period of time.

And, what did you notice in your health?

Oh, I didn't feel well at all. I was lethargic. I had headaches. I'm like, wow, what's going on with me? And, I didn't even relate it to the mercury fillings. I thought I was just tired. And, it wasn't until I actually met this naturopath, I was telling her my symptoms and she said, you know, you should come over to the office. We do this urine challenge test and let's test you. And sure enough, my mercury was off the charts.

And so when you removed it, how did your health improve?

It took me a while to remove the mercury. It took me a couple of years. I tried IV chelation, I tried oral chelation, and oral chelation is definitely easier. Basically, it's done— cilantro, for example, is a great And, during the chelation, especially IV chelation, I did not feel well at all because the body doesn't like to keep mercury in the blood. It keeps it in fatty tissues because it's safer.

Right.

It doesn't want it circulating to the brain. So, that's one of the reasons why I decided, okay, there's got to be a better way to do dentistry because in school, I was never taught that mercury can make us toxic. So, even in dental school, I was drilling on teeth and placing mercury fillings with no protection at all. So, the mercury toxicity starts in dental school for a lot of people.

Well, it's a good point. It's a good point because a lot of— we talk about MDs, how they don't get a lot of nutrition or if any nutritional education. So, In dentistry, they're not teaching nutrition obviously either, correct?

No, exactly. In my residency, I think I had one semester of one class of nutrition and it was all about what are vitamins, what are minerals, and severe deficiencies, which we rarely see in this country to see severe deficiencies. But, one thing that was not talked about is definitely toxins that we're surrounded and how do we get somebody healthy? How do we protect ourselves? So.

Is there any truth? I, this is something I remember a long time ago. I've been going to the Weston A. Price conferences for too long. I mean, not, not too long. You can't go too long, but I've been going for a long time. I remember there was this one speaker who taught, she had a book called Radical Health. And she talked about the meridians and how if your teeth are out of alignment, that there is meridians or something that's connecting your teeth to your overall health. And when they're out of alignment, then that can also affect your overall health. Have you ever studied that or can you speak to that?

Yes, definitely. We actually have a meridian tooth chart in our office. And oftentimes when people come and I see mirror image teeth, on both sides that have root canals, I always ask them what's going on in that meridian. For example, one correlation we're seeing is women and breast cancer with root canal-treated teeth in the premolar sites. And typically, like let's say if there's one root canal on this side, they ended up with breast cancer on the same side. Of where the root canal is. And Dr. Tennant also talks about this. He had a tumor on one side of the body related to a root canal tooth on the same side. And once he removed that, the tumor actually kind of resolved. So that's the interesting thing is that these meridians that start on the top of our head, they go through our teeth, through our organs, or maybe peripheries on the And go out through the toes. And when there's a blockage, let's say from an infected root canal or just a dead tooth or a cavitation site, meaning an area in the jawbone that has inflammation, the meridian doesn't function as well. I've had somebody that was linked, she had a root canal-treated tooth, she had a pituitary tumor, it was on the same meridian. So I see a lot of these meridians corresponding to infected dead teeth or root canal treated teeth.

For those people that may not understand meridians, how can we kind of talk about them and explain them in a different way? Are we talking about, is it an energy kind of canal or? How would you describe that? What is a meridian exactly?

Yes. So, a meridian is the energy flow. And, this has been documented from acupuncture. And, we know even there was a study at the NIH, National Institute of Health, where they validated acupuncture. We didn't exactly, right? We can't see it, but we know that it's been validated and acupuncture works. We have studies on this. For example, we treat meridians around the belly button, but then you feel it in your toes. I know because I get acupuncture and I feel these differences. So, the energy flow, just think of it as a lymphatic channel, right? Our lymphatic system, except that's physical. We can see that. But, the energetic channels, they're the same. It's just the way our energy flows through the body.

It's so interesting because I want to say like a year or two ago, I got this, like, I had some kind of, I want to say infection, but I don't even know what it was, but something happened to one of my toes. I think I was on my feet too long. Something was going on. And I couldn't treat it. I didn't have the means to do anything about it for like 3 days. And that little thing must have been on a meridian channel because it jumped up into my leg and I had this absolute like infection on part of my leg. And it was the bizarrest thing because it came out of nowhere. But the way that the doctor talked about it, he said, yeah, that can happen when it's connected to a meridian. Because it went from, you know, one area to another area, completely seemingly unrelated, but it was part of that meridian channel. And I was like, it was a real big eye-opener to feeling and experiencing that meridian.

Yes. Yes. The human body is pretty amazing. It's nice that you have that experience. So you can connect with it.

Well, luckily I healed from it too. But yeah, I still have a scar though from that infection from where it was.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because they had to actually open it up and clean it and all this stuff. It was, it was pretty wild. Let's talk about root canals. So the way I'm hearing you talk about it, it sounds like no one should ever do a root canal, but it sounds like they're being recommended all the time.

Yes. So this is my root canal story. I have my own personal story with this. After having all these large mercury fillings, of course, I ended up with one root canal at a young age. And I didn't make anything of it. I went through dental school. I had it retreated, meaning going back in and cleaning it up. And what is a root canal exactly? It's a dead tooth. And in order for us to keep the tooth in the mouth, We clean out the nerve, we plug it with actually a corkscrew type material. It's from a cork tree called gutta-percha. And then sometimes we put a crown on it and we leave it alone. So I noticed that after learning about biological dentistry and root canals, my tooth was turning dark. On the X-ray, everything looked good. The bone was fine, but then I would floss around it and I would get the smell on my floss. And the dentists were like, oh, it's totally fine. You have no infection in the bone. Just leave it alone. But my intuition told me, no, this is not good. I mean, this tooth smells. It's turning dark. So I decided to take it out. And actually, this tooth was connected to the meridian of digestion. So for me, my digestion actually improved. And I didn't even think at the time that there would be a correlation. Between this tooth and my digestion. But not only that, I felt better after I had this tooth out. I had more energy than I did. Looking into the studies of root canals, we know that a root canal treated tooth has 50, up to 50 times more bacteria inside of it than a healthy tooth. And if you ask the endodontic community or the root canal specialist, they say, well, yeah, but it's not clinically significant. Because not everybody, you know, so what if the tooth is turning dark? It's still in your mouth and it's not causing an infection. But does that bacteria circulate in the bloodstream? Of course it does. Of course it does. We know also from studies that people with root canal treated teeth, infected root canal treated teeth, they have 3, they're 3 times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, also from bacteria.

Yeah.

So I am not a fan of root canals. I don't think we have the technology yet, looking at all the studies, to truly clean inside the tooth once it's dead. Because that's the biggest problem. Once a tooth dies, bacteria takes over inside. And the methods that we have today are just not sufficient. Maybe in the future, we'll find a way to fully sterilize a tooth on the inside and actually seal it properly. We just haven't gotten there.

Interesting. So if you don't get the root canal or you have that dead tooth, then you get it removed, but you can't necessarily leave it empty because then the teeth will start to move and then you're in the same issue around the meridians, right? So does that mean that you, like, what's the solution then?

The best solution we have is dental implants. And that's what I have. I decided to choose that because I didn't want to go with a missing tooth. You know, I want to be able to chew my food. And this is a huge part of health. If people have a lot of missing teeth, they'd end up not chewing their food well. And now they develop digestive problems and they don't break down the nutrients. So it's important to have all the teeth. So dental implants replace missing teeth very conservatively. We just put it right in the place where the tooth is missing. And they can really last a lifetime if they're taken care of.

What do you think though? So I have, I have one dental implant because I didn't have an adult tooth under a baby tooth. And luckily the baby tooth was with me until I was about 20. Oh, I want to say like 21-ish, or maybe it was even a little older, 24. And It fell out and I chose to get an implant. But what shocked me, and this is sort of tied to what I believe is sort of ancestral energy thoughts or practices, which is the jaw is sacred. It's a sacred energy. It's a sacred part of the body. And when they drilled into my jaw, which they have to do for an implant, I felt deep down into my bones that that was wrong. Like, I didn't know it until they did it, but the minute they did it, I thought, oh my God, I just did something drastically wrong to my, you know, kind of my ancestral energy or whatever, my human, something just did not feel right about it. And I didn't understand it at the time. And I technically still don't understand it. I don't necessarily feel like anything's wrong now, you know, 10 years later. But, in that moment, I felt like I had done something— I dishonored something sacred. Have you ever looked into that or studied that or thought about that?

I haven't, but it might have to do also with the fact that maybe the material of your implant might not have been compatible with your body.

It was the drilling specifically. Once the implant was in, it was fine, but it was the actual drilling into the jaw that felt just energetically wrong to me.

Yeah, that's sure. When you think about it, it is pretty, um, yeah, pretty crazy that we— some of the things we do, you know, in medicine today in order to replace not only teeth but body parts, right? You know, we can replace shoulders, knees, this away when you Yeah. And it's interesting you had that experience. When I had my implant, I didn't have that experience. I was too busy looking in the mirror telling my friend where to drill the implant.

Oh, really?

Oh my God.

Because you wanted them, you had already understood meridians and you wanted to make sure it was correct? Yeah.

Well, for me, I actually had a, it was a molar that it was removed and an implant placed the same day, the same time. I didn't wait a period of time. You know, so the hole was already kind of there. I guess I didn't require that much drilling.

Oh, okay.

When that happens, yeah. But yeah, it's like, I guess you're in tune with your body and it's something that, yeah, your cells just were like, what's going on?

Yeah, I mean, I think maybe what I felt if I were to try to put words to it is you know, it felt invasive in a way that I don't think we're energetically designed to do these things. But to your point, sometimes, you know, we're doing the best we can sometimes with modern medicine, and this is how we know to do it right now, and maybe in the future we won't. And so sometimes it's very unorthodox, sometimes it isn't in alignment with sort of sacred energies and stuff, but you're What is the alternative? And in that case, I thought I made the best decision I could because I didn't want a bridge because then they're hurting, you know, they're ruining the 2 teeth on the outside of that one.

Yes.

So going from one hole to then having 3, you know, 3 parts of my mouth kind of have issues. So I thought I kind of chose the, you know, the best of a situation that I thought was limited, you know.

Yeah, for sure. Our DNA, you know, hasn't caught up to our modern life and the modern solution, I think.

There's still some things that I think people tend to say around oral health is they'll say, oh, well, I have just bad genetics because my teeth are the way they are. Is that true in your opinion? Are like, are cavities a sign of modern diets rather than genetics, or is it genetics and modern diet? Like, what is your thought around the whole genetic excuse for why they have poor oral health.

Yes. Well, I'm a big believer in epigenetics, right? We know that, but also the oral microbiome tends to be inherited as well, but it does vary with diet. So there's a lot of things we can do from our lifestyle perspective and choices we make in order to Reverse it and not get cavities. Like if, if my mom and dad had heart disease, it doesn't mean that I need to go there because it's really their lifestyle choices that contributed to that. We know that it's preventable. Cavities are an infectious disease. So we can find a way to measure the cavity-causing bacteria in someone's mouth, reverse it, get rid of it, and maintain a healthy balance. To some extent, genetics plays a role in the formation of enamel and teeth. But again, you need other factors in order to get cavities. Just because the teeth, maybe enamel is more porous, it doesn't mean you have to have cavities. So, yes, I think when I hear people that say, oh, it's just my genetics, it's just an easy way to say, I don't want to do anything about this. 'Cause there's nothing I can do. I want to just continue my bad habits and there's nothing I could do. You know, it's kind of like there's no power in that. With what we know today, we know, yes, lifestyle change can be difficult, but it's not impossible. And it could be really a difference between health and disease.

It's a really good point. What, what about the, the whole like coding that I remember They offered my daughter when she was younger, like there's a coating to help support the enamel or something like that. That's, what's your thought on that?

Like sealants, like sealers?

Yes, sealers. Yes. Yeah.

So we actually put those in the back, usually the molars on the top surface, they have grooves. So when we look at the surface of the teeth, especially when the kids are, the teeth have just come in, they're very groovy. So they got all these little grooves there that bacteria can accumulate. And dentists typically, if the grooves are starting to stain, they recommend to seal them. So they flow a little liquid in there that's actually hardened by UV light. So that way bacteria doesn't get inside these grooves and it prevents cavities. Did that help your daughter with the cavity situation?

Yeah, but I mean, both of my daughters have been cavity-free so far, you know, fingers crossed, knock on wood. Great.

Yeah. So we find that the sealants definitely help.

Okay. Interesting. What are they made of though?

We have BPA-free sealants, super important. Okay. Not all dentists use BPA-free materials, but they are out there. So it's just a matter of, you know, people asking for those. A lot of them are made out of plastic and they contain BPA, which is not good, especially the oral environment because it leaches out slowly, BPA.

And, but you haven't found other issues stemming from these sealants like gut issues or something from them that it's— if it's BPA-free that there's usually symptom-free as well?

Yes.

Well, that's good to know.

It's a good thing to do. It's a good prevention.

What's the simplest daily action that protects the mouth and the brain that the person watching or listening to today can incorporate into their life?

I think a simple daily action is flossing because people don't do enough of it, and that can prevent heart disease, it can prevent brain fog, it can prevent inflammation of the joints. It can— besides the fact that it'll prevent cavities.

Flossing, there you go. It's the one thing that I have really worked hard on trying to get my kids to do, and I think I've scared them enough to finally do it.

Excellent.

It's sad, but I have to actually scare them. Like, you don't know what cavities are like, you know? And I, and I, if you don't like needles, wait till you get a cavity. It goes right into your gums and yada yada. But, um, I think, you know, I think we're getting them in. And we do have the Waterpik, which helps, of course, because as you said, that makes it a little easier.

Yes. Yeah.

I have a final question for you. It's one I ask all my guests nowadays. So, if you could wave a magic wand and bring back one ancestral practice, what would it be?

I would say eating organ meats because it's so important for just our development. And, it's so high in nutrients. You already know this. But growing up in Romania, we actually did eat quite a few organ meats, especially right around December when usually an animal is sacrificed for the end of the year feast. Everything is used. Everything is used. And I remember my parents and my grandparents making actually all kinds of organ meats, sausages and pâtés, And things. We even had blood sausages in Transylvania. So I think that aspect of it, that ancestral practice is important for our overall health and wellbeing.

Now, if you were eating whole animal though, how did you get all those cavities? Is it because of what you didn't have? Because you didn't have the floss or you Weren't brushing your teeth regularly, or were you eating other things heavily?

Exactly. We had no idea what floss was. It was not something that it was even at the stores in Romania. And I was a sugar addict.

Ah, okay.

So all those cookies and pastries that my mom and grandma made.

All the sticky stuff you talked about earlier.

Exactly. So it was never just one thing, you know? It's never just one thing. It's always, you know, because people tell me, oh yeah, I do this one thing. Okay, I brush twice a day, but what about everything else? Even if you, you know, have a processed food diet, if you're just brushing and flossing, it's not going to be enough.

Right. So yeah, this has been fantastic. Thank you for answering all my questions. I had a lot of them today.

My pleasure.

So, A, you mentioned some products you have. I know you have a practice in California, in Beverly Hills, but where can people find you to kind of get more information to potentially work with you? Where's the general depot for people to get Dr. Sandha information?

Yeah. So I also have a podcast called The Holistic Dentistry Show, if anybody's interested. And, you know, you're on there and learning more about oral health. On Instagram, my handle is Dr. Sandha. And, at orasana.com, O-R-A-S-A-N-A, I post research articles about the oral microbiome. We have our product line there. It's a line that nourishes the mouth. We don't have strong or harsh chemicals in there. And, the goal is to heal the mouth and nurture the teeth and gums from the inside out.

Excellent. Thank you so much, Dr. Sanda. It's been a pleasure. And thank you. Thank you all for watching, for listening. I hope this has been enlightening. I really, you probably noticed, I really do geek out about toothpaste and just in general about teeth health. Too many people I know had a lot of issues. And as we mentioned in this episode, it can cause deeper, deeper chronic issues that show up in the rest of the body. So I hope this has helped. If it has, leave a comment. Let us know what you think. And that will fill our buckets. So thank you all for joining us today, and we'll see you next time on Everyday Ancestral. Thank you so much for joining me on Everyday Ancestral. If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. You can find the show notes, links, and resources mentioned at eatpluck.com. That's E-A-T-P-L-U-C-K. And hey, if you know someone who'd get something out of this, share it with them too. Stay curious, live well, and keep it ancestral.