TA Ep. 165 Dr. Al Fallah - Are Hidden Oral Infections Contributing to Your Chronic Illness?

Dr. Fallah: Well, thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

Leigh Ann: I was just telling you off air. I actually haven't had a holistic dentist, biological dentist on the show yet. So this is really, really exciting for me to get to introduce the audience to this realm of things. And then we're also going to be getting really specific into a couple areas there. But I do think it would be a really good place to start for anyone who hasn't heard of biological dentistry, holistic dentistry, to give us a little bit of kind of the definition or the compare and contrast here.

And that's, that's my goal. [00:02:00] And as long as that's my patient's goal. Then, uh, we're in sync and moving forward.

Leigh Ann: And how does it kind of differ, maybe the different angles of what you're looking at? I'm thinking too, particularly I'm much, much more in the holistic health world outside of dentistry and the conventional world kind of compared to that conventional medicine compared to that is also very much so like, Hey, you're experiencing something conventional medicine might either first just jump straight to prescribing you something, jump straight to.

band aiding the symptoms, the more holistic, alternative, integrative world is looking at much, much deeper root causes. And is dentistry the same way? Yeah,

And we approach it differently. We, uh, do some testing, see if the pulp is still vital, basically if the tooth is still alive. And then we use techniques, uh, such as ozone, get rid of all the microbes within that cavity. And of course, we removed all the decay part of the tooth as well, and then restore that tooth back to health, whether it's a biocompatible filling or porcelain restoration.

Uh, the other area is that we look at, um, toxicity issues. Uh, like for example, uh, amalgam fillings are 55 percent mercury and conventional dentistry looks at it as, uh, oh, it's just silver filling, but it's really 55 percent mercury, 35 percent silver. So it's mercury silver filling, regardless. we avoid, um, all those materials, but if we have to remove an old, uh, amalgam filling, we use, uh, what we call a smart protocol, safe mercury amalgam removal, uh, technique. Like, for example, we did that this morning and with that protocol, we eliminate, not just reduce, but eliminate patient's exposure [00:05:00] and also our exposure to that mercury vapor and mercury in general, and we use a very, very sophisticated technique, but it's very, um, tested. Uh, we make sure that there's just no leakage of, mercury contaminated fluid into the mouth, or no inhalation of that either.

Leigh Ann: when you were going through dental school, Something I feel like I see so often, not just in dentistry, but in conventional medicine in general, is everything is a separate acute system. They're not interconnected. What's going on in the mouth is not affecting anything else, which is why it's like, Hey, something's up with the tooth.

Let's just pull it. It's not going to affect anything else versus I think the more holistic world is also very much looking at that interconnectedness of everything.

Leigh Ann: Yeah, I want to get into some of the specifics here, particularly with the oral infections, but I do, I would love to hear ever so quickly. You went to conventional medical school, as you said, all dentists do. When, when did this start? Broader approach or more well rounded approach start to come on your radar.

Dr. Fallah: That's a great question. Uh, 1999, I did a one year residency in cosmetic dentistry, basically making your smiles beautiful and all that. And at the end of that, uh, program, I had my mentor do twelve of my veneers. And at the time, I had, four of my teeth that he worked on had amalgams in it. And he drilled, like, Like dentists do. And after that, I was not feeling well. I basically got mercury toxic, uh, because of the way that those amalgams were removed. And, uh, I didn't put two and two together until one of my, uh, friends in Santa Monica, um, he's a integrative physician, and he told me to get tested. So he tested me, and I was off the chart toxic with mercury.

Leigh Ann: Oh, wow.

Leigh Ann: Mm hmm. Ever learning always, always something new to learn and integrate. Mm

Dr. Fallah: life, too.

Leigh Ann: hmm, 100%. So let's talk oral infections. I know there's so many places we could go. In fact, I had in my questions some things on amalgam fillings towards the end if we could get to it. But the oral infections is a place I'd love to start, particularly because I work with so many cancer patients and this is something I hear so often is going on with the cancer patients are these sort of hidden, chronic, unidentified.

So hidden oral infections. Some of us might be thinking, how can you even have a hidden oral? How can you have an oral infection you don't know about? Um,

Cells really, uh, cannot thrive in, in presence of an infection. And so, uh, oftentimes this could be a tooth that is not vital, meaning that it's dead. Now this could be a root canal tooth or a tooth that just, um, lost its vitality for different reasons, trauma, infection, decay, uh, any of those would do. And now we're dealing with a tooth that has. no blood flow inside. And a tooth, if you look at it under microscope has miles of microscopic tubules called dentinal tubules. And so if there's no blood flow and you have miles of these tubules, It, it's like having miles of freeway lanes with cars that are stalled in it. And, and so, so that would [00:12:00] be, uh, how we look at it.

We basically see a, a tooth that's harboring a lot of microorganisms, not just in the bone, but in the microtubules as well. So, um, conventional dentistry, uh, with a tooth like that would say, okay, let's do a root canal. And oftentimes these teeth have had at least one or two, uh, rounds of root canals, but they're still, uh, have failed.

Leigh Ann: Hm,

Dr. Fallah: we're able to verify that on the 3D scan, and we are able to see what is the composition of those microorganisms, through the PCR DNA testing. And so now that we have basically an objective proof of the infection, and oftentimes these teeth don't hurt, but they feel different. So you tap

Leigh Ann: hm,

Dr. Fallah: it just, not always, but it feels like.

Leigh Ann: hm.

Dr. Fallah: so the microbes can travel and some of these microbes have affinity for different organs, different parts of the body. Uh, and we oftentimes also see parasites in the combination of microbes that we find in those dead teeth.

Leigh Ann: Oh, wow.

Dr. Fallah: so, so from, uh, Infection perspective, those hidden infections that typically, or most of the time, is not associated with any pain, can penetrate into different parts of the body.

Leigh Ann: Hm.

Dr. Fallah: this morning, we addressed, um, we took care of this very nice lady, and we took Uh, two, three, two and a half months ago, we did, um, a six hour surgery for her where she had two infected root canal teeth and a few areas in her jawbone that, um, she had previous extractions and the jawbone never healed properly.

And we were able to confirm that with the PCR DNA testing that there was some really nasty microbes brewing there. So, we remove those, um, infections, clean them up really well. In the process of the cleanup of infections, we use a lot of ozone, ozone gas, it's highly antimicrobial, and it basically destroys the microbes.

So it's a broad spectrum antimicrobial and it also destroys the parasites as well. So we use ozone very much as part of our cleanup. We also use ultrasonic device called piezo. We draw your blood, uh, we spin it, we make what's called platelet rich fibrin. And one version of that is injectable platelet rich fibrin, which is very high in your, uh, white blood cells and immune factors.

Leigh Ann: Ugh, yeah.

Dr. Fallah: she had breast cancer surgery, gosh, about, I think about a year ago.

And underneath it was amalgam. So literally the amalgam, uh, reacting with the metal of the crown was creating a, what a battery is actually. It's, it's two metals in contact with each other. And it, those, um, hidden amalgams don't show up on x rays because no matter what kind of x rays you take, the metal conceals the amalgam underneath it.

So we had a really high galvanic reading

Leigh Ann: Uh huh.

Leigh Ann: Okay, so many questions, so many places I want to go. Um, we're going to talk about the meridians because that is so, so big. And like I said, we, we see a lot of cancer patients over at the center who have oral [00:19:00] stuff, particularly breast cancer patients. So we're definitely going to get into that more. But something I want to start with is one, it does seem interesting to me that we can have these oral, Infections without necessarily having symptoms.

And I would love to understand that a little bit more. Is it that it, there are these symptoms, they're just kind of low grade. So we might not necessarily be tuning into them. And then likewise, how do these infections take root in the first place? Is it almost always because there was some oral surgery or oral intervention that happened that wasn't done correctly that allows these to take root?

Leigh Ann: Mm hmm. Um,

Dr. Fallah: only helpful the first stage where it goes through what we call pulpitis.

But once that Pulp becomes necrotic, which is dead, then, um, pain is no longer something that we can rely on. So,

Leigh Ann: are there any, on that note, I guess my, my next question right off the bat then is for those of us listening going, okay, maybe I don't necessarily have any oral pain. So how would I know that I might need to go in and, you know, look at oral infections? And I suppose one answer could be, Hey, this is something we all should do At some point, right?

Just to like check that box and stay on top of things, but are there other maybe more subtle symptoms? I'm even thinking of maybe like chronic lymph nodes that are swollen in the neck or something to that effect.

Um, if, if, if your dentist does not have that, um, inclination and basically addresses things based on two dimensional x rays and symptomology, then it's possible to miss. presence of hidden infections. So that's as far as, um, really, there are organizations in the holistic, uh, dentistry. One is International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, IAOMT. And then the other one is International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine, IABDM. These are my two favorite organizations that really, [00:23:00] uh, train dentists to look beyond, uh, the conventional.

Leigh Ann: Mm hmm. Mm

Dr. Fallah: find a dentist that has been certified by both, then I think you are in a good place to, um, get your evaluation done

Leigh Ann: hmm.

Dr. Fallah: for hidden infections and maybe hidden, um, galvanic reactions and things of that sort. So I think that's really important. And then I think the other part of your question was. How do you, how this sort of thing happens, right? In terms

Leigh Ann: Yeah. How do they take root?

And the reason any, uh, dentist, oral surgeon, or in general, they would use anesthetics with epinephrine is because it's what we call a vasoconstrictor. It basically reduces bleeding at the site of the

Leigh Ann: Mm.

Dr. Fallah: So, Uh, you want to see better, so less bleeding, you can see better, right? But the problem with that is that bleeding is, uh, how you heal.

Leigh Ann: Mm.

Dr. Fallah: that would become an area where you had a wisdom tooth removed 5, years ago. It goes and it still looks completely hollow there. So, some people call that cavitation, I just call it an area where the bone didn't heal after the extraction. so, those are areas that can be harboring microbes and we test that with PCR DNA testing.

So that's one. The other would be that, um, a lot of dentists don't like to use a lot of water when drilling on a tooth.

Leigh Ann: Mm.

So a lot of dentists really reduce the amount of water or don't use water. We use a lot of water. And the reason for that is just 10 degrees. Uh, a Fahrenheit increase in the temperature of the pulp actually push that pulp into, uh, pulpitis and then necrosis.

Leigh Ann: Oh, wow.

Dr. Fallah: if you have a hot drill on your finger, right, that heat, uh, will burn the skin on your finger, right?

Leigh Ann: Mm hmm.

Dr. Fallah: pulp, uh, inside the tooth. It's no different. It's just, you're numb at that point. So you don't feel it. And, and yet it can actually kill the pulp. And so a

Leigh Ann: Wow.

Dr. Fallah: um, end up having root canals. Oh, the tooth was fine and then I had worked on and now I need a root canal. Uh, two things we do to avoid that scenario.

Leigh Ann: Mm. Mm. Um,

Dr. Fallah: And so those are the two of, uh, and then of course our anesthetics that we use.

We use no epinephrine or very minimum amount of epinephrine to maximize the blood flow. So those are really three. And the fourth one is when you do your, your filling is done, your crown is done, you make sure that tooth is not high. Because if it's high and it's going to pound, so, oh, you're going to get used to it.

Well, by the time you get used to it, the trauma of that high bite can actually kill the pulp. So those are the four things that we do consistently to really avoid a tooth dying on us. Um, and,

Leigh Ann: Mm hm,

Leigh Ann: Mm hm. Amazing. Thank you so much. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um, and I'm kind of excited to get into now sort of the reverse of it. You gave us a great, you know, starting point of how to start to reverse these. And I also want to get into just daily. Oral hygiene. But with that said, I do want to spend a second on what is the cascade?

So we have these underlying oral infections that might be ongoing for months, maybe even years. What is the cascade of maybe negative effects that starts to have on the body? Mm,

Dr. Fallah: way I look at it

Leigh Ann: hmm.

And, um, the, the analogy that I use a lot is that if your sink is leaking, how bad is your leak, leak and how good is your drain? And I think that's really my motto in, in health. Um, and it's like you can have, um, let's say compromised areas in your mouth or different parts of the body. Um, and yet we all know people that live to be 90s and, and all that with all kinds of things that may not be, uh, workable for another person.

Uh, molasses will not be able to penetrate [00:31:00] far. And so blood flow, uh, and nitric oxide is very much like that analogy. And, um, for example, there's been a study, um, by Dr. Um, Nathan Bryan where, um. He administered, uh, Listerine, uh, mouthwash, and you can substitute that with just about any, um, commercial mouthwash out there, for two weeks on these 18, 19, 20 year old college students in Texas. And within two weeks of that mouthwash use, these young, healthy male populations blood 20 points.

Leigh Ann: Oh my gosh,

It's about getting rid of the bad stuff and, and, and populating and seeding the good stuff. And that, you know, we, so many people are familiar with that concept in their gut.

Leigh Ann: mm hmm, mm

Dr. Fallah: in the mouth.

Leigh Ann: hmm.

Dr. Fallah: And, and so that's the entrance point. And so, um, that is, I think if, if your listeners take home one thing is that just respect the microbiome of your mouth just as much as the rest of your GI. Because it's all interconnected. And if you have an infection in your mouth, that just percolates everywhere else. And also, So just be mindful that you want to keep the good stuff, too. You don't want to just eradicate everything. about, balance, and, and that's really important.

But you also mentioned this point about the meridian system. And can you speak to that a little bit more? Because that might be a new concept for many of us.

And so, um, the teeth are part of that system. The periodontal ligaments part of The, um, connection to the fascial system and all of that. So, uh, the whole body is interconnected and you can kind of, if we go back, it comes, uh, it basically starts at the very beginning where, when we were just a few cells. And, um, we basically, uh, end up, we're supposed to have 32 teeth and, uh, unfortunately a lot of people end up having. teeth removed for reasons [00:35:00] and not enough. And that's a whole different concept of why that's happening in modern day because our ancestors did have 32 teeth and they had room for 32 teeth.

Leigh Ann: Mm hmm.

Dr. Fallah: we wouldn't be here because we would be extinct. If, if,

Leigh Ann: Yeah.

Dr. Fallah: to remove their teeth, um, cause there were no oral surgeons of years ago. And so all of that is really, um, to think about. Um, and that's a whole different topic of developmental airway and all that that, um, perhaps is a topic for another discussion. But, um, the point is that the 32 teeth, um, have connections from a meridian perspective to the rest of the body in terms of the organs and everything else as well. And, and vice versa too. Like for example, um, um, One time my, my wife was having a gallbladder attack and her tooth that was on the gallbladder was hurting.

Leigh Ann: hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah, it's essentially these meridians. They're, they're channels of energy flow throughout the body and every organ system lands on a particular meridian of energy flow. And so if there's something going on with any, at any point on that meridian line, it can affect everything else that runs on that line.

Dr. Fallah: Absolutely. Yeah. And Dr. Tennant, uh, describes the teeth as like a switchboard because if a tooth is dead, it's sort of like it throws off that circuit board,

Leigh Ann: Mm

Dr. Fallah: because the, the circuit is not completing itself.

Leigh Ann: hmm.

Allow that tissue to stay in the body.

Leigh Ann: Yeah, right? It's wild.

Dr. Fallah: Yeah.

Leigh Ann: Yeah. What, what particular teeth are on the breast meridian? Is it that left side that you were mentioning before?

Dr. Fallah: So the breast meridian, um. You have the, uh, molars on the uppers. Uh, so that would be upper right molars on would be basically on the, on the right breast meridian. And then the upper left molars would be on the left breast meridian, but also the lower by cuspids. Uh, so that would be lower pre molars. Uh.

Leigh Ann: Mm

Dr. Fallah: these teeth as it's not a very, very fixed border, especially because teeth, uh, shift over time with braces

Leigh Ann: hmm. Mm

Dr. Fallah: also, um, potentially that, uh, teeth don't develop to their full genetic potential because of mouth breathing and other factors like tongue tie and, uh, big tonsils and adenoids in a growing child. So, so yes, those like, in terms of the teeth that are breast meridians, upper molars and lower bicuspids, But you can always go one tooth back or front as well and that would have an influence on the meridian as well.

Dr. Fallah: so I always say when it comes to these situations sometimes it takes a village. And so as far as hidden infections, we, we give patients options. Thanks. We give them options of just leaving it alone or, um, going to, uh, you know, even an endodontist. But all that is the allopathic path. And then alternatively, um, they, they can choose to remove the tooth. Um, and, when they remove the tooth, then that's how we can help them. once the tooth is, let's say it's infected tooth, once the tooth [00:40:00] is removed, then, uh, how we replace the missing tooth will become a choice for the patient. Um, I always say that once the infection is removed, then As far as replacing it, you have an option of implants or bridge or partial. we don't do titanium, we only do zirconia implant. um, there are reasons for that. Um, or we can do a bridge or we can do a partial and any of those would replace the missing, uh, tooth or teeth for functionality reason. Um, but also if, if. As I said, our main goal when we're working on teeth that are non infected is that we keep them vital.

Leigh Ann: Yeah, so if a tooth is infected, is the only way, like, is the starting point to clearing that infection to remove the tooth? Is that the, like, that's kind of a non negotiable, you have to remove it?

Dr. Fallah: So, no, uh, you can get a root canal. You can get a root canal on the tooth. we don't do root canals in our office. But that would be an option. Now, um, I was trained by Dr. Hal Huggins and, um, many years ago and he, uh, he kept telling me that because I, I, this is 15, 16, 17 years ago and I was so excited by using ozone and root canals and all of that.

Leigh Ann: Mm hmm.

Dr. Fallah: I think that again depends on patient's health, on where they are in their health journey. a patient is very healthy and every other aspect is fine and they're young and vibrant, then I think root canal would be justifiable in my book in terms of keeping the tooth and keeping the bone and all of that. But if, um, if we're dealing with chronic illnesses and all of that, then, uh, we want to reduce the burden.

Leigh Ann: Okay, so let's say the tooth gets removed, then is the, what's the process from there? Is it just ozone that area and then send them home with some things to do at home? Mm hmm.

So those would be typical replacement options for a tooth that's removed. But we [00:44:00] always want to make sure the area's very clean we move forward.

Leigh Ann: So, I know we just have a few minutes left, I do want to ask, now kind of flipping to the other side of it, which is prevention, what, you know, I have a really broad question for you, which might entail a lot, but what, what would be someone's ideal daily oral care routine in your book, if you were to send them home and be like, hey, if you could do this every day?

That would go a long way to preventing these chronic oral infections and just supporting your overall oral health.

Dr. Fallah: That's a fantastic question. Obviously, oral hygiene, good brushing, good

Leigh Ann: So

Dr. Fallah: that, if you're a mouth breather, um, you want to address that. So, because, uh, if you're mouth breathing, you're changing the microbiome of your mouth. in, in the wrong direction. Uh, the other thing is that you want to replenish the good, uh, bacteria.

And just physically making sure that you see a good, um, hygienist, get your teeth professionally cleaned as well. We also use a laser assisted cleaning, which I think it helps with the, uh, oral hygiene and takes it to the next level, but, um, just really good maintenance and avoiding. Sticky, sugary stuff.

So, Uh, avoid anything that's sticky and sugary. Um, other than, and then just keep everything clean. And if you are having something sweet, uh, and if you have access to your toothbrush and floss, do it. If not, switch with water, and that also helps too. Uh, and just, just common sense, you know. Just, just, just do [00:47:00] whatever it takes to keep your, uh, teeth free of plaque.

Use your tongue to sense the plaque on your teeth. teeth. Your tongue can be trained in being a good detective. And if you feel like that's slimy thing on your teeth, it's definitely time to floss and brush.

Leigh Ann: the last two questions that I feel like I have to ask just cause I have you on one is everyone's, I think, going to be wondering this. So. oral products? Are there a couple particular brands that you really like? There's so many out there in the conventional world, and then there's also so many out there in kind of the holistic health world that might be cleaner, but are they actually effective?

And so I'd love to kind of get some recommendations there. And then I'd also love your input quickly on um, oil pulling.

Dr. Fallah: Uh, so I'll start with the oil pulling. I love it. Uh,

Leigh Ann: Okay.

Leigh Ann: Okay.

Dr. Fallah: products, um, now the conventional dental world are big on fluoride.

Um, I'm gonna just take two minutes to talk about that. Um, our thyroid hormone is tyrosine with T3 is tyrosine and 3 iodine. So it's T3 and T4 is tyrosine and 4 iodine and fluoride is very competitive with iodine. So it kicks out the iodine out of the tyrosine complex. And T2 is what our mitochondria uses, uh, in terms of energy regulation.

You want to keep those healthy. And, uh, an oil pulling seems to be totally fine with the good bacteria in, in the back of your tongue. So, um, just things that are heavy in alcohol tend to also reduce. um, good bacteria in the back of your tongue as well. basically any product that doesn't disturb the good microbiome is something that would be beneficial and [00:50:00] you want to mechanically also remove the bad stuff on your teeth so that would be flossing and brushing.

Um, one thing I do like you can get it from Amazon is those, uh, hand flossers. because it makes it very convenient that you can floss anywhere. And even if your hands aren't clean, you, you can floss without contaminating your mouth with whatever that was on your fingers. So, but also it's very practical too, aside from that.

So, um, and then other than that, it's really, um, you can just try. There are so many products out there and I don't want to say that Ryswell is better than let's say Boca or a bunch of other things that as far, as far as I'm concerned, they are in par, uh, and more and more of new products come out

Leigh Ann: Mm hmm. Mm

Leigh Ann: hmm. I love it. Oh my goodness. So many other questions. To your point, so many other places we could go, even talking about mouth breathing, some of the lens of that from holistic dentistry. So we'll have to have another conversation to cover some of these other topics. But so much. I think that was such a deep dive into this specific area of oral infections.

Dr. Fallah: Well, it's been a pleasure and you are very welcome and thank you for having me.