Columbus Center for Implants & Oral Surgery

06/28/2023

I'd encourage you to checkout the latest book by a wonderful colleague and friend, Dr Abhinav Singh, titled Sleep to Heal. The guy has a passion like no other in the world of sleep medicine especially when it relates to whole body health.

I am a physician, sleep specialist, educator, author, speaker and innovator with a passion for improving everyone’s health and life through quality sleep. It is my belief that everyone can learn to achieve better sleep.–Abhinav Singh, MD, MPH, FAASM ChicaneMusic · Chicane - Low Sun

01/08/2023

https://youtu.be/oAdKVu6vS20

Pain is your brain's way of telling you that something is wrong. It is like a 'check engine' light that pops up in your car; it's telling you to stop and tak...

08/16/2022

Taken from JRE #1506 w/James Nestor: https://youtu.be/U5o9b2RVC2E

05/31/2022

Cavities in our teeth should really make us think.

It’s made me think a lot about what causes the hardest structure in our body to literally turn to mush in front of our eyes.

Why would our body allow that?

Well, it’s complex.

The traditional views on dental cavities aren’t wrong, per se, it’s just that we have uncovered so much scientific understanding in the last ten years. We now have the capability to dive into deeper layers for further understanding.

For a start, the body is extremely tuned into what is happening with your teeth.

If there is a hole in one of the teeth the body can develop an abscess that creates a life-threatening situation.

So, let’s look at some of our current understandings and look at how we are moving beyond these frameworks.

We thought it was from a lack of brushing.

While brushing can help prevent cavities today this statement is not exactly true, because decay doesn’t occur in ancestral societies where brushing never existed.

We thought it was from sugar consumption

True. BUT, there’s a lot more nuance here. The modern diet has increased our susceptibility to cavities in many ways beyond sugar. In particular the

We didn’t understand vitamin D very well.

Dental caries is a skeletal disease. We know lack of vitamin D is implicated in both osteoarthritis in the elderly, and rickets in children. There is also good evidence to suggest vitamin d deficiency is at least implicated in dental caries.
Tooth decay is a skeletal disease after all.

We thought it was an infection.

Kind of true, but the bacteria that are detected in dental caries also live in the mouth during health, alongside trillions of other bugs by the way.

We didn’t appreciate hormones.

The skeletal system is also endocrine driven. Hormones direct the laying down of bony structures, and yes it also affects teeth. Thyroid hormone, cortisol, melatonin, insulin and s*x hormones all can increase risk of mineral imbalance and cavities.

When we bring everything under one umbrella we are suddenly thinking of the body as an interconnected organism.

Which it is…

Did you ever notice a link between dental decay and another condition you experienced?

01/28/2022

Do gut issues begin in the mouth?

I’m frequently seeing patients who are on a gut health journey.

The problem is they’re not getting anywhere. We don’t think of it this way but the mouth is part of the gut. It’s the accessible portion of the digestive system that allows us to diagnose.

For example, in celiac disease, the first presentations are years earlier when tooth enamel doesn’t form well.

If you have gut issues don’t ignore the mouth.

The oral mucosa is a site of first encounters for the immune system. Here, the oral microbiome, screens anything entering the mouth before it enters the gut.

How these first encounters control the development and education of the immune system isn’t completely understood yet.

Immune responses within the oral mucosa are strictly controlled, imbalances in the mouth is one of the most common inflammatory conditions on the planet, known as gum disease (periodontitis).

For decades this disease has been associated clinically with various extraoral inflammatory diseases, including (but not limited to) cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and colitis.

Gum disease is also known to increase inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Animal studies are also showing that oral bacteria seem to accelerate tumor growth in the body.

A study published late last year, for example, showed that mice infected with oral bacteria developed significantly larger and more numerous tumors compared to those not infected.

Researchers said that as soon as they sense that there’s some problem in the mouth, or that there is a decrease in the immune system, they respond and attack, because they’re looking for food.

Of the 700 or so bacterial species typically found in our mouths, scientists studying OSCC have zeroed in on a spindle-shaped suspect called Fusobacterium nucleatum.

If you have persistent bleeding gums, a dental exam will help to bring down local inflammation, then we need to dig deeper.

Have you experienced gum issues alongside gut problems?

12/19/2021

Do you have restless sleep or grind your teeth?

Teeth grinding often accompanies a set of other symptoms, including:

​- Low blood pressure
- Chronic stuffy nose
- Temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD)
- Headaches or migraines
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Tension headache
- Hyperventilation syndrome
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Cold feet and hands
- Depression or anxiety
- Brain fog, daytime sleepiness
- Allergies, skin rashes
​
Why would this be?

People who grind their teeth, often work or study long hours or report stressful family situations. Stress plays a part, but teeth grinding also reveals how people breathe during sleep.

To put it more correctly, teeth grinding hints at a set of sleep disorders and lack of oxygen during sleep. It’s a little-known condition known as upper airway resistance syndrome. And it is far more common than you’d expect.

It’s estimated that 70 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders. You may ask how the number could be so big? Many people simply don’t know they are at risk. They also have sleep disorders that are hard to pick up and even define.

The relatively small number of diagnoses are those with obstructive sleep apnea, yet it’s estimated 1 billion people globally suffer from OSA.

Teeth grinding is often associated with a condition abbreviated as UARS – UPPER AIRWAY RESISTANCE SYNDROME.

Sleep tests reveal UARS is sleep interrupted with frequent respiratory effort related arousals (RERAs). It’s due to higher pressure in the airways that send a message of ‘choking’ to your brain. If you suffer RERAs all night long, your body cannot enter deep REM sleep.
​
​UARS indicates sympathetic FLIGHT OR FLIGHT driven sleep. It is the little sister of sleep apnea, and we need to talk about it.

Imagine the sound of tooth enamel screeching against under 250 pounds of force per inch. That’s what dentists think when they see teeth grinding in patients. For a long time, I would prescribe a night splint to prevent damage to the teeth. Whilst guards can sometimes help, the real way to help a patient is to identify their breathing issue.

Do you or a family member suffer from teeth grinding?

06/18/2021

Join us the 3rd Inflammation education series LIVER HERE with Dr. Dipesh Sitaram Dental Solutions of Columbus who will talk about oral health and inflammation.

Special guest: Dr. Aubrey Jackson-Conner and Dr. Kelly Weisner Flourish Columbus

Time: June 29, 2021 at 5pm EST

We are going to talk about

✴️What is inflammation?
✴️How dental care can help to reduce inflammation?
✴️The importance of nutrition to sleep and airway growth & development
✴️3 useful tips to reduce inflammation and improve sleep

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