Episode 117: The Mouth-Body Connection That Could Change Your Health with Toni Engram, DDS, AIAOMT

Foreign Dr. Rob Whitfield, the board certified plastic surgeon specializing in explant surgery Breast implant illness is a topic that is not often talked enough about, especially in medical community, but is something that affects many women. In this podcast I'll be discussing the latest research, treatment options and personal stories of women who have undergone explant surgery in an effort to heal breast implant illness. In this podcast, we'll explore the symptoms of breast implant illness and delve into the latest surgical techniques for explantation and the recovery process. Whether you are currently experiencing breast implant illness or are considering explant surgery, this podcast is a valuable resource for anyone looking to take control of their health and wellness. So let's dive in. Hey, welcome to today's show. We have Dr. Toni Ingram. She is a biologic dentist, integrative health coach and owner of Flourish Dental Boutique in Richardson, Texas. After her own personal health struggles with an autoimmune disease, Dr. Ingram shifted her practice philosophy to focus on whole body health and the prevention and safer treatment of oral disease. She has degrees from Texas Christian University and Baylor College of Dentistry. Dr. Ingram is a member of the IAOMT that is the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology and the IABDM International Academy for Biologic Dentistry and Medicine. She is smart certified in Safe Amalgam Removal Technique accredited through the IAOMT and is a TBI Ambassador through the Breath Institute. She is also certified slide as a Integrative Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. You can find more from Dr. Ingrammatter practice website www.flourish.dental.com or follow her rich additional educational content on YouTube at your holistic dentist and Instagram at Dr. Tony Ingram. Common topics she speaks about are fluoride and its effects, the EPA lawsuit regarding water fluoridation, mercury fillings and how to safely remove them. What is holistic biologic dentistry? Root canals Breastfeeding Impacts regarding Tongue and Lip ties How to cure Tooth decay Welcome everyone. I have Dr. Tony Ingram with me. Tony is a biologic dentist and we're in different groups together and we thought this would be a great conversation to have. I take care of patients who are concerned about chronic inflammation as it is associated with a medical device, a breast implant and then she obviously has to take care of folks with chronic inflammation who and I'll let her explain all the different things with amalgams and mercury. And thanks for for coming on to discuss this. This is a complicated, you know, issue that I don't have a a great handle on all the time.

Oh well, I'm excited to be here, excited to talk through all the things.

All right, so I get asked, you know, do I know biologic or holistic dentists in Texas? And obviously we know you and, and look forward to sending folks to you, but what is biologic or holistic, you know, entail?

Yeah. So really it's going back to the concept of terrain theory versus germ theory of disease. And germ theory says a particular substance, whether it's a germ, a virus, whatever the case may be, will cause a particular illness. In biological medicine and biological dentistry, it's going beyond just the germ theory and really looking at the terrain, which is so much what you do and what your patients are doing, doing also it's what can we do to support the terrain of the human body? And in dentistry that means removing any oral contributors to systemic chronic illness. Oral contributors might be hidden infections, like infections around root canals, around old extraction sites, like cavitations that you hear about. It could also be things that we've done medically, dentally, like amalgam fillings, you know, things that are. If we're introducing potentially toxic substances into the body, into the mouth, how does that impact the rest of our health? And so practically speaking, it means we're looking for those hidden infections, looking for those source of toxins, and trying to make sure that everything in your mouth is as clean, as healthy, as well balanced as possible.

Because obviously the mouth oral cavity is the beginning of the GI tract. And we talk about absorption and trying to help people get their nutrients. And because I have patients who have a lot of chronic inflammatory issues that affects the GI tract, I typically giving nutrient dense supplementation in oral liposomal formulation, so liquid based for oral cavity absorption. So optimizing the oral cavity obviously is very important so that they can absorb and it's probably really, I imagine underappreciated how much care the oral cavity needs. Just like, you know, in terms of diet and, or exercise or you know, skin care or like what is the, you know, quote unquote best? I guess oral care habits.

Yeah, absolutely. And you're right that oral health is gut health. And you can't have gut health without also having oral health because your mouth is the entrance into the rest of the body. And so what we tell patients to do, just like we want to support things internally, you know, we want to make sure that diet is clean, that things are as anti inflammatory, nutrition wise as possible. But then, you know, the things that we do externally, the brushing, the flossing, what the Products that we're using. Obviously that matters too, because we want the oral microbiome to be in balance, in harmony as much as possible. We want a good balance of good bacteria, as few of the bad bacteria as possible without wiping everything out with like a commercial alcohol based mouthwash.

Right. I remember we discussed this, you know, previously just and for all this was no, like I did microsurgery for a long time and I would grind my teeth and I broke and changed the height of my teeth, especially my back teeth. I already had a problem with like a more narrow airway. So it created a whole obstructive, you know, problem for me. And I've had my teeth corrected and it's really important that I use like a coarse floss and make sure that I don't have any debris build up. And then I have a very, very high protein diet. So I get a lot more buildup of alkali or, or stuff on the back of my teeth just because I have a high protein diet.

Yeah. And the mineral content of your food is really high. So those minerals are going to be in excess in the saliva and then that's going to deposit on the teeth. Yeah, for sure. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. We just want to be able to control where that biofilm is and minimize the buildup of the biofilm as much as we can.

And then one of the things too is obviously the fluoride and not using things that are going to be potentially injurious or cause problems within the oral cavity. And I don't obviously from a product recommendation, if you have specific ones, you feel like obviously they're better than, that's great, so they're safer. I think most of the folks listening to my show understand that fluoride was introduced a long time ago and it is in probably the amounts that have been introduced too high, obviously. And then the different companies that produce toothpaste, it's in there. I mean there's just like, there's a.

Lot of fluoride everywhere and you really can't get away from it. And it's. If you're drinking tap water especially, it impossible to control the dose. Even if you're not drinking tap water, say you're filtering your water. I've had people who say, oh, I, I grow all my own vegetables in my own backyard. Like, oh, well, what are you watering your vegetables with? You're usually not filtering the tap water out of your water hose.

Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah, I didn't think about that that's everywhere.

Everywhere.

We get a lot of things from a farmer's market and they do. He made a big deal about the system that's used to treat the plants. It's an aeroponic system, it's not a hydroponic system. But just to your point, like yes, of course. So it's kind of that same old situation like how do we make things as non toxic as possible without making ourselves crazy in the process of trying to, to do that.

Right? Yeah, I would say filter things where you can. I personally don't use any products with fluoride. Even in the practice we don't have any, anything with fluoride in it, which is, believe it or not, it's an ongoing process because it's not like the materials that I have in my office have nutrition labels on the back. They don't have drug labels on the back. So we actually have to call the manufacturers of all the products that we use. Anytime we get a new cement, anytime we want to use a new filling material, we have to check and see if there is fluoride anywhere in the formulation. So we avoid it where we can. But you're right, I, you can't make yourself crazy over it. I think what's important is that when you can't control the dose at all, then I think if you have the opportunity to talk to the people at your water board and say, hey, are we adding this and why? And do you know about the latest studies from the National Toxicology Program showing that there's potential harm and there's really no safe level that can be determined yet, you know, against the lawsuit against the EPA that the EPA just lost, saying now that they have to address the safety of fluoride. So I think knowing those things and being able to, to speak to the people who control what's in your water, I think is important.

So if we start by just doing the. I always try to have everybody listening to the, the habit changes. So if the habit can be take, I have a whole filtration system so that stuff gets filtered out and then the, from the application and you know, in your bathroom do you recommend the, the powder or is it a specific type of, of toothpaste that's better over another.

So you, you definitely don't need fluoride in your toothpaste. I disagree with my colleagues that say that you do. There's no shortage of fluoride that causes cavities. So what you can do, you can still, if you feel like you're cavity prone and want that extra oomph in your morning and night routine then absolutely I would look for toothpaste and products that have calcium hydroxy appetite in the ingredients. Xylitol is a plant based sweetener that can be really helpful and both of those work really well at optimizing the the microbiome in your mouth, optimizing the ph in your saliva and remineralizing the teeth externally. And it can be paste or powder. If you are really against having any of the fillers or any of the extra stuff that makes it feel like the toothpaste then absolutely go with the powder. But I the ingredients in the more natural toothpaste are still really clean. Really good ingredients too.

Are you struggling with irregular digestion or restless nights? Introducing Magboost from Dr. Rob Solutions. Your go to solution for digestive support and better sleep. This powder delivers 300 milligrams of magnesium per serving promoting GI regularity and relaxation. When fiber isn't enough, it's easy to mix and adjust to your needs ensuring you get the right amount to help you unwind and fall asleep. Ready to transform your wellness routine. Visit the link in the show notes or drrobsolutions.com and experience the benefits of Magboost today. So start that way and then I always have everybody be very careful with you know their, their water and try to concentrate to the best of your ability controlling you know the, the water and, and obviously trying to have it filtered. And then I think the other question I was concerned about asking as it relates to like these fillings. So I grew up kid in the 70s and I definitely had some old school fillings put in maybe for all of us. I'm 55 so we all did. Yeah, the children of the 70s did not get away from the mercury fillings.

No, I will be replacing those things I'm sure until I retire.

Yeah. So what's the best guidance for folks who are concerned about that? Because obviously when patients come to me and they ask what's the route? Or I have these feelings and I'm going to go, you know, see Dr. Ingram and then I have these implants, I'm concerned about that and they asked me like what to do first. I was like hey, I'm going to give you what we understand about this. And then if that becomes like you have one or two filling tool that's way easier for Dr. Ingram to do than to do a surgery where we're doing an explant. So I always try to give them like the easier route is to go Visit, you know, Dr. Ingram and try to, whatever traction you can get, you know, that way, on one or two, however it is, you know, feelings like what's that process look like when they, you know, come to, to visit you and, and learn more about that?

Well, what I love is that in this way what we do is so similar. We're both peeling back layers of the onion on someone's journey to getting well. And that journey is not always linear. You know, there's a lot of ups and downs and what makes sense to do first is going to look different in each patient. But just like if, if a woman feels that her, her implants might be causing some of her long term symptoms, then she doesn't want to go to just any plastic surgeon, have those removed or replaced because that could stir up things if not done carefully. It could stir up things and cause more harm than good. Similarly, in the mouth, if you have these old silver fillings that are half mercury, if you want those replaced and you do it with any Joe Blow dentist off the street who's not necessarily cautious or even acknowledges the need to be cautious with the mercury exposure, then believe me, because I started out my career as a normal dentist, I have seen people tailspin when this was done the wrong way. And so what we do is we're really protecting the patient and everything in the environment, including myself and my team, from the mercury exposure that will happen, not if it happens, but the mercury exposure that will happen when those amalgam fillings are removed. So we're filtering the air, we're isolating the tooth as best as humanly possible. Like we are getting a, like a rubber dam seal. It's basically like a condom on the tooth when we seal things off so that the patient is really minimizing the exposure to mercury. And we go through a process called the smart protocol that an organization that I'm a part of called the IAOMT developed back many years ago. And so we go through that smart protocol, we check the checklist and make sure that the patient, the room, the air that's surrounding us and myself and my team are all protected as good as possible.

Yeah, I'm glad you brought, I was going to ask you about the smart protocol because obviously it's going to vary by providers. I think it's best. And I get asked routinely on shows that I appear on, things like how do I, you know, discuss this? And probably, like you said, we're doing things that are very, very, you know, similar. We're trying to explain what, you know, the concerns are so that the patient can make the best, you know, decision and then we can help support them in their decision making with the right, you know, protocols or techniques that what we feel is going to help them, you know, the most. I remember when I was getting all of the, the work done after I was basically told like how bad my, I'd lost height and all these things over many, many years of, of surgery and grinding and all the, all the stuff, I was like so bummed out. But I, because I'm so interested in toxicity testing, I made sure and do my toxicity test beforehand and then I did one afterwards because I wanted to know personally. Like, course everybody says they're like you said, they're going to take all the precautions and, but you don't know how that's going to affect each individual. And so I did, you know, my own afterwards because I can.

Right.

I didn't have any increases in levels or anything like that, which was obviously nice and they took very good care of me. So the materials like you're using now that are better, can you maybe describe, obviously we've heard a lot about mercury and that's not what you use now. What are the materials that you replace the mercury with?

So depending on the size of the filling, if it's a relatively small filling, we still have more than half of the tooth left, then a lot of times we're replacing it with a tooth colored filling. We call it composite. It's really a mixture of glass and plastic particles. So again, we still have to be very intentional with the types of composites that we choose because in order to get the handling and the performance that we want. Yeah, there's still plastic particles in those fillings. And so we're careful to make sure that it's fluoride free, that it's BPA free, minimize the endocrine disruptors where we can and place the filling. That way, if it's larger, if we're going to have less than half of the natural tooth structure remaining, then a lot of times that's going to be replaced with a crown instead of a filling. And then the crowns are going to be either zirconia or a type of porcelain material, something that's metal free.

And so for everybody, can you distinguish like a crown, a veneer, like what are the differences so that everybody listening can understand those differences?

Yeah, yeah. So a crown is going to be. A crown protects the structural integrity of the tooth. And so a crown is basically a hat that sits over the tooth that we've had to make room for the porcelain. So it is more invasive, but it protects the structure of the tooth the best. It gives you the best longevity for the tooth. And so we're taking basically a millimeter to two off the top of the tooth and a millimeter around the circumference to make room for porcelain or zirconia to then fit around and over that tooth.

Okay. So that's protecting it like a hat. And then the veneer is. What's the difference in that?

A veneer is also porcelain, but instead of it fitting completely over the tooth, it's usually just going over the facial surface or the front facing surface of the tooth. And sometime the. The incisal. Incisal edge. It's basically covering one to three surfaces instead of all five surfaces.

Okay. All right. So it's not a complete covering. Okay. And like you. Those are zirconia and porcelain, typically. Okay. So you're diminishing, obviously, in that case, like microplastics and other exposure risks. Yes, obviously. Oh, all the plastics are not.

It's everywhere.

That's not good. I mean, I was listening to a show and I won't say what show, but it was depressing. There was just so many things, and I was like, oh, man. The whole microplastics is. Plastics came about in the 50s. And, you know, now there's all these studies showing that tissues. It builds up in tissues and it crosses and it's in your brain. It's so like.

And again, how do you not make yourself go crazy by thinking about it?

Oh, yeah. I was just like, I don't know how to. Plastics, when you think about it, I mean, they're literally everywhere in the environment. There's not a way to, quote unquote, remove plastics completely. You can, in your home, obviously, be careful, but just like you gotta have a bamboo toothbrush or something. Like is the. The toothbrush is handles made of plastic, almost invariably.

And a lot of the bristles are nylon.

Yeah. So it's just like, oh, man. It's not. Nothing straightforward. And obviously I think. Or I feel like people need the. Understand. This is not the scary buddy. I don't. Not trying to do that. I'm just trying to make you try to change little things that you can control. And, you know, a simple one is, you know, buying a toothbrush. And what would be a good toothbrush to get? Dr. Anker.

So from a sustainability standpoint, I do like the bamboo toothbrushes with the natural handles. If you can find one With a tapered bristle, those tend to do a better job of cleaning in and around the gum line. So I really like tapered bristles. But honestly, the gold standard at plaque removal is going to be an electric toothbrush, like a sonic type of toothbrush.

Right.

And I know it's not sexy. I would much rather support an independent brand than a big, huge conglomerate company.

But I, in combination with the water picks or anything, that was the recommendation to me because of all the. The problems I had, I had to use, or I have to use a water pick as part of the. The recommended way. I take care of everything.

I love water picks. They do a great job. And I. Especially for anyone who. Now, this won't apply to you because you're a surgeon. Obviously you're great with your hands, but I would say a majority of men and a majority of people over age 70 are not going to be completely perfect flossers. And so a water pick can really be a really effective way to cheat the system and be able to get away with either less flossing or less effective flossing.

Yeah, it's hard now. Now I actually carry floss with me all the time because anytime I eat, it seems like I notice more that things get, you know, trapped. There's more debris or problems with it. After all this dental work I've had.

I say after a lot of dental work. Yeah, you'll have more, more maintenance to keep up with.

My Lord. Yes. So the bamboo handle, which we've talked about, I think on the show before, and the powders, if you don't like the paste and the water pick, I mean, there's a variety of water picks. Unfortunately, I think most of them as. As we talked about before, have plastic tips. Just great. But I mean, that's. I don't think you're going to escape.

That can escape the plastic. But I do. There is. If you get a water pick that has several different attachments, and usually they do. They have several attachments. There's one that has a tiny little silicone tip, and that is my favorite favorite because the silicone tip is a little bit softer. There's less risk of damage to the gum tissue. And it really can sneak under the gum line really, really well, that's a good tip.

Then the actual floss. Oh, my gosh. I never knew there were so many, like, floss things. But I'm supposed to use a more floss.

I would say if you're getting things stuck in and around dental work, then definitely go with a thicker Floss. If you have spacing in between your teeth, also you want to use a thicker floss. I've got some patients on something that I tell them look for something as close to yarn as you can get. But then that's not the case for every person. If you've got really tight contacts and it's hard to get floss in between your teeth, then you're going to want to have something much thinner, much more like a ribbon shaped floss.

Yeah. For those listeners that have, you know, we talk about obviously increasing protein and diet and for, for our patients, it seems like an extreme amount, but it's actually not. It's just, it creates more material buildup, especially on the back because there's more saliva. And it's something that I think that people have to address. And whether it's with the, the brush and, or the water pick, that seems to be, you know, part of it, certainly, you know, doing more in terms of flossing. And now, I mean, I've lost more than I ever have my entire life now.

And I would say so. For one, everybody gets buildup there on the back of the lower front teeth. Everybody does. But you can absolutely minimize it, especially if you're going through a diet protocol where I see it a lot. If people start drinking green smoothies or increasing their protein intake, I'll, we'll see an increase in buildup. But you can keep it off for longer if you will just be really intentional with turning that toothbrush completely straight up and down. So if this is your toothbrush, turning that toothbrush straight up and down and going back on the backside of those teeth and then really working with the flot, like if you're not a flosser, just floss those areas, just floss those. I'd rather you go from nothing to something than not do anything at all. But floss and straight up and down toothbrush will help keep that buildup off for longer.

Well, maybe the last thing, because I do this the least now, where I used to do it more is some kind of mouth rinse. I guess this is something that I probably do the least now, whereas before I was pretty, oh, I'll just use this mouth rinse and whatever. Then I've gotten kind of discussion about that, both what's in it and its potential, you know, problems. So maybe just for the audience, what would be some maybe options for that? And like, I don't know, I mean, you probably don't need to do it after every single thing you eat or drink or whatever. But what are some ideas for that?

Well, I love the discussion around it that's happened over the last year or so. I think it's a really beneficial conversation because of what's typically in most big brand commercial mouthwashes. Yes. If it has alcohol and a bunch of weird dyes and artificial sweeteners, all that's going to do is completely wipe out your oral microbiome. So things will get way out of balance. If you do that, it'll give you the temporary, you know, for a few minutes, it'll give you nicer breath because it's killing, you know, sulfur causing compounds, killing those bacteria. But long term, it's not doing you a whole lot of good. But where I think some people, and especially influencers online, when you're seeing the sound bites on the Internet, I think we're sometimes throwing the baby out with the bath water. Because I actually like rinses and I use them strategically. If I've got a patient who has some inflammation or is dealing with frequent cavities, then I'm choosing a rinse for them. But I'm choosing it carefully. I'm choosing things that don't have alcohol. I either want really soothing ingredients that are only going to kill a certain number of bacteria, or I'm going to want a rinse that has these remineralizing components. You know, they've got baking soda to raise the pH, they have hydroxyapatite in them, they're sweetened with xylitol. So they can be beneficial and can be used long term. I'm also looking at their salivary testing because if we've got some of these bacterial strains that are more often implicated in chronic disease, like if we've got Porphyromonas, gingivalis, that has a strong correlation with pregnancy issues, fertility, low birth weight, heart disease, then I actually want a strong mouthwash for a period of time because I want to knock that crap out. And so I will use a stronger mouthwash. Usually it doesn't have alcohol in it. Like, usually I'm choosing something different, but I will choose something that is antimicrobial for a period of time because I've got to knock out the bad guys before I replace them with the good guys. So I don't think that all mouthwash is bad and I don't think mouthwash is always bad. I just think that it needs to be used strategically. And what I used to do early in my dentistry days is just take a little pump of the Listerine between every patient that we can't do that. Leads to imbalance. But being really strategic with our mouth rinses, I think it can be still a really good and effective tool for a lot of people.

So is this something that you have formulated on your own or you have someone product wise or something product wise you recommend?

I have several that do a really nice job. The one that I use the most for inflammatory issues like bleeding gums, anything inflammatory is a company called Stella Life. And then Ryswell has a really nice rinse that does a really good job. There's one called Elementa Silver. That one does fantastic. And now there are some that have, you know, coconut oil, ozone oils, all kinds of other things that do a really nice job without wiping out every single good strain of bacteria.

Yeah, you mentioned that strain. And I guess I get. I've had. People have problems with Prevotella. I guess that would be the one top of mind in my experience. I haven't. You don't see the, the stool testing doesn't reflect that oral cavity issue. So maybe when you do the remote removals, do you send things off for PCR testing or do you do biocompatibility testing for materials for patients so they have a better idea of what works best for them?

Yeah, we can do both. And depending on the patient's needs, I may or may not feel like we need it. And so I don't require it for every patient. But absolutely we can do biocompatibility testing. And I will insist on that. If patients have had reactions to dental materials before, if they just know like they're that person, they're the canary in the coal mine person, they react strongly to things that are added, then yeah, we'll go ahead and do the biocompatibility testing. The testing, yes, we can send off root canal treated teeth and have those tested for whatever is icky and hanging out in there. But if we can really. Just testing saliva has been the most helpful in guiding our treatment. And so anytime we can test saliva before they've started their work with me, then we can hopefully help get to those root cause issues and alter their oral microbiome.

What does that look like when you do saliva testing, what are you testing for and who's doing that?

Right now there's several different ones and we're lucky that more are coming out onto the market. Right now I'm using one called Bristle because it, it just tests for such a wide variety of different strains able to look at the, the beneficial bacteria. It's able to pick up Candida species Which is really helpful. And then a lot of the different cavity causing bacteria too. So bristle is my favorite right now. And it's really a super simple. They spit in a tube before they have a cleaning. And then once we get that back, then depending on the amount and the types of strains that they have, we may go through, you know, a two week protocol of trying to wipe stuff out, or we meet, may be able to take things much more gently and really just support rebalancing the strains that are there. Maybe we do need to work on their oral hygiene, what their habits are at home. Maybe we don't. Maybe we just need to change their products and change the probiotics that they're on. So it really helps guide our decision making in our treatment.

So, Bristol, you can go and do saliva testing. That makes perfect sense. And then the other, the compound testing, how do you determine which compounds people may react to? What's that look like for the patient? Whether they need to do.

That's actually a blood test. And so we'll keep the kits on hand and then patients can go to anywhere that can draw in centrifuge blood. They send that off.

Who's doing that one?

There used to be one that was kind of the standard, the Clifford test. And they've gone away and then come back. So right now I think it's Clifford and there's one from Biocomp Labs. And I think Biocomp is the one we're using most often now.

That's the one I've heard before. So because I had a patient ask or show me their biocomp, I think that's what it was. And you can get the bio comp done, I guess through LabCorp anyway. Well, those are, I think, as in dentistry certainly are looking more at the oral microbiome and then compatibility of devices. Obviously gut microbiome in my patients, I get like, oh my gosh, the amount of things that are completely abnormal in my patients by the time they show up. Because it's really a, a chronic inflammatory process that starts in the mouth because obviously that's how everything's beginning. So it would be interesting to know how many of my, my folks would benefit from learning from you and your team about just like the oral health component. Because obviously we touch on a large amount in my program, but I don't spend time on oral health. So maybe I can do a better job with that. I can help for them all to get them sorted out.

Right.

So that's actually really.

I just want to make your Job easier. That's what I view as my job as a dentist is I want to remove anything in my patient's mouth that might make your job harder.

It's an underappreciated problem. I often, as an aside, because of just our interest in sports and sports around the world, there are particular people who now biggest, like sports franchises in the world, will make their players go get oral health exams. And the reason they're doing that is the link between a underappreciated oral health problem like cavitation or what gum disease, which is an indicator of inflammation, and their performance. And it may be, maybe they get injured more frequently. And there's obviously underlying genetic predisposition as there is with a lot of things. But having poor oral health as a component is something that they've looked at. I think it's interesting that obviously these people are from a performance standpoint, the owners and the clubs that are paying them these exorbitant amounts of money to play sport want them to be able to perform. When they don't, they're like, what can we look at? Can we look at.

They've got to protect their investment.

Yeah.

And when I see there are a couple of players, so I'm not just a huge sports person, but I watch enough and I'm in Dallas, so I watch the Dallas teams. There was a player on the Cowboys years ago who I knew, I knew their career was going to be short because you could see the airway issues in how their jaw developed. You could see the open mouth posture all the time. So you talk about inflammation, but man, airway is such a indicator of systemic inflammation. And that player did have a short career. It's happening on the Mavericks just now. We just traded a player who has open mouth posture all the time, who you can tell, you can tell that that player, and sure enough, he was injured his first day on the team. Will have chronic injuries unless they are. Unless the team and his team of doctors is addressing airway issues that look like they were not addressed as a child.

Yeah, we talk about that routinely in our workups because I have really pretty bad sleep apnea. But it's from like we talked about loss of height and then I have some narrowing in the back that's not bad. I don't have a short recruited, you know, jaw or anything like that, but. And I'm not overweight. It's just more of a congenital thing. It's not a specific thing that I've done. But you can, you know, to your point, like I If anybody can do anything to protect their brains, you know, having sleep apnea is a leading cause of Alzheimer's because oxygen's at night. Pretty important. Don't want to sure struggle with that.

Things that we didn't know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we talk about getting sleep apnea tested pretty routinely in my discussions with patients. And you don't have to have a problem with snoring to have sleep apnea. So that is a fallacy. You know, there's.

For women, a lot of times it's not even apnea. Sometimes it's just that upper airway resistance, and that's enough to disturb sleep enough that their cortisol levels go up and it sets off that cascade of hormonal havoc.

So in women, do you find it even more prominent without snoring? Like, do they present less with snoring?

But, you know, I don't know. I would say probably not been. Yeah. Most of the time, husbands aren't noticing if their wives are snoring as much as wives notice if their husbands snore.

Right, Right. Yeah. My wife was like, hey, you're snoring. I'm like, I don't snore.

Yeah.

I obviously didn't. It took time for my. The height of my teeth to go down enough to create enough resistance in the airway over time that developed because obviously I didn't growing up, I didn't snore. And that's just a function of, you know, time, so.

Well, did you have any of anything that would close your airway when you were a kid? Did you have teeth pulled for braces when you were younger?

No, that was me was grinding over time.

Right.

Yeah. Operating for many, many decades and clenching and grinding and not really not aware of that, so. Well, this has been fascinating. I think probably I would like to make sure that everybody knows where to find it. We'll put in the show notes too, obviously, where to find you. But where can people go to learn more about biologic dentistry and your practice?

Yeah, I would love to have anybody come visit us up in Dallas, the practice website at Flourish Dental Boutique. It's in Richardson, technically, just right outside of Dallas. And that website is www.flourish.dental you can find us on Instagram is probably our biggest social media and. And that's just. Dr. Tony Ingram is my Instagram handle.

Well, thanks for coming on. I really appreciate it and look forward to seeing you soon.

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you found that the information and stories shared on this podcast. Helpful and informative. Remember, taking control of your health and wellness is key to recovery from breast implant illness. If you're looking for additional resources and support, be sure to visit our online store, Dr. Rob's Solutions at drrobsolutions.myshopify.com you'll find a wide range of wellness products and supplements to support your journey to recovery. From specially formed formulated detox supplements to personalized skincare products, we have everything you need to aid your recovery. Visit Dr. Rob's Solutions today at doctorrobsolutions.my shopify.com thank you for listening and we'll be back with another episode soon. Remember, you're not alone in this journey, and together we can overcome breast implant illness. Take care.