Q&A with Tom: Dental Implants and Total Body Health

A follower writes:
I have been looking for more information and a manual therapist’s experiences with dental implant procedures.

How do dental implants, being of inorganic material (zirconium seems the best choice at present) drilled into the jaw, static and fixed in the mouth, effect the health of the entire body?
How do these implants, lacking the living, natural structure and movement of a tooth, effect the mouth, cranium, face, arms, chest, etc.? (In terms of myofascial mobility, cranialsacral pulses, fluidity and ‘breath’ of our energetic system…)

I am trying to decide about getting an implant for an eye tooth. Perhaps a missing eye tooth is better to my natural, subtle rhythms of energetic flow and thus physical health?
Please enlighten me as to your thoughts, experience and resulting health issues you have seen caused by dental implants.

tomworkingjaw

Tom replies:

I cannot comment on your implant without seeing you, but here are a few things to think about:

1) The evidence isn’t in on all these new dental procedures, so there is only anecdote about their wider effect. Mercury / silver amalgam fillings were the cats whiskers when they were introduced, compared to what went before, and see what a mess that’s turned into 50 years later. In future, some of these implant procedures may be seen as revolutionary, some as damaging.

2) I know you didn’t ask, but I am going to start with root canals. Some say “That’s a dead tooth in your body, get it out!”, whereas I was convinced by the dental professor who told me “You’ll never find a better fitting implant than your own tooth” – speaking in favour of root canals. I’ve never had a any bother at all from the couple I have had.

3) Make sure it is placed properly and doesn’t adversely affect your bite or equilibration (which an eye tooth is unlikely to do, whereas a badly placed molar implant can end up causing TMJ, neck, or back problems, through the incredible power of the jaw muscles, into the cranium and the spine). If you get an implant, make sure the implant fits your ‘bite’.

4) In terms of subtle energies, it depends on how tuned you are to them. So, yes, the implant is foreign, but they’ve learned a few things about metals in the last decades. If you are highly sensitive to stressors, I would go without the implant, as it will be a small but constant stress. Most people tolerate them without incident, but some people may be having symptoms they would never think to associate with the tooth.

5 and last) The implant is going into one single bone, so as long as it is done well, it should not affect your cranial pulse. Depending on your age, leaving a gap can set your teeth to wandering over time (the younger the more), so that can translate to a wonky bite that can definitely affect the cranial rhythm – which may be subtle, but is very present and physiological under my hands. I spent quite a while practicing in Britain, where the state of dentistry was considerably behind at the time, and I found the effects of missing teeth could (I emphasize: could) be distorting to cranial flow. Braces, bridges, and appliances are often have more affect on CSF rhythm in that they fix several teeth together or, worse, a couple of bones together.

Again, I cannot advise you personally. You seem to have done your research on the best implant; now find a dentist who has done a thousand of them.

Tom Myers, November 7th, 2016