Would you like an online consultation with Dr. Tarantola and his 43 years of experience regarding a dental problem, question or concern and how a holistic approach may help?
The 8 pillars of holistic wellness encompass various aspects of well-being, aiming for balance and harmony in one's life...an important word being "aiming". We never achieve 100% perfection however these goals help guide us, keep us on track, and guide us back on track. These pillars include physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, occupational, spiritual, and financial wellness.
Physical Wellness: Focuses on maintaining a healthy body through regular exercise, proper nutrition, and adequate rest.
Emotional Wellness: Involves understanding and managing emotions effectively, fostering resilience, and nurturing healthy relationships.
Social Wellness: Emphasizes building supportive social networks, fostering positive relationships, and contributing to the community.
Intellectual Wellness: Involves continuous learning, critical thinking, and creativity to stimulate mental growth and development.
Environmental Wellness: Focuses on respecting and preserving the natural environment, promoting sustainability, and creating healthy living spaces.
Occupational Wellness: Involves finding satisfaction and fulfillment in one's work, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and pursuing meaningful career goals.
Spiritual Wellness: Nurtures a sense of purpose and meaning in life, fostering personal beliefs, values, and connections to something greater than oneself.
Financial Wellness: Focuses on managing finances responsibly, setting financial goals, and maintaining stability and security.
By addressing each of these pillars, individuals can approach holistic wellness, leading to a more balanced and fulfilling life.
This site is for informational and educational purposes to help patients become more proactive and effective at oral health using effective and natural techniques and products. The goal is to lessen the need for invasive dental procedures. Oral/dental conditions can only be definitively diagnosed by your dentist.
Regular daily plaque (bacteria) removal and nourishment/remineralization of teeth are paramount for maintaining optimal oral and overall health. By diligently removing plaque through daily oral hygiene practices customized to each individual's oral/dental condition, we can prevent the buildup of harmful bacteria and plaque-related conditions like cavities and gum disease. Additionally, promoting nourishment and remineralization through natural teeth strengtheners like hydroxyapatite, proper nutrition and supplementation to get important vitamins like K2 to strengthen and fortify tooth enamel - and even some cavities - making it more resistant to decay or stopping certain cavities from progressing. These simple yet essential habits not only preserve oral health but also contribute to overall well-being by reducing the risk of systemic diseases linked to oral health issues.
The focus is the whole person, not just their mouth/teeth/gums; how oral issues affect overall health; uninterrupted time for conversation and understanding and total focus on every minute detail of minimally invasive dental procedures.
After every exam — and after the patient has left — I take time to carefully review all findings. This includes photographs, X-rays, clinical notes, and most importantly, the patient’s concerns. I then create a personalized written report using the patient’s own images to clearly explain what I see. Only after thoughtful review do I recommend treatment, if treatment is necessary at all. Each plan also includes a customized daily home care protocol designed specifically for that individual. This approach allows dentistry to be thoughtful, personal, and never rushed.
Meridians are passageways through which energy flows throughout the body. Disruption of this energy flow can be caused by mouth/teeth issues which can be a factor in overall health issues.
The goal is to remove plaque/biofilm from all areas with the right products and techniques - customized for each individual's needs - and nourish the teeth with the right natural products.
The "Daily Protocol" also takes diet into consideration. A healthy diet for oral health should focus on nutrient-dense foods that support strong teeth and gums while minimizing sugars and acids that can contribute to decay. Cavity causing bacteria turn sugar into acids which erode and decay teeth.READ AN ARTICLE ON THIS HERE!Include plenty of fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals. Remember fruits have sugar and some have citric acid so be sure to rinse afterwards. Also include lean proteins like fish and poultry, whole grains, and dairy products for calcium. Avoid sugary snacks and beverages, acidic foods that can erode enamel, and limit processed foods. If you do eat or drink sugary snacks, it’s better to consume it all over a short period of time. Sipping or nibbling over a long time period subjects your teeth to more frequent acid attacks. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day helps rinse away food particles and keeps the mouth hydrated. Additionally, chewing sugar-free Xylitol gum after meals can stimulate saliva production, which helps neutralize acids and remineralize enamel.* Click Here for the "Oil Pulling" Info Sheet
Keep the pulp healthy - and therefore the entire tooth - with a good diet, natural remineralizing products, and Vitamin K2. And when dentistry is done, it should be the kindest, most tooth-conserving procedure possible. The more aggressive the procedure, the harder it is on the pulp.
If the pulp becomes inflamed (pulpitis) it can be overly sensitive and even painful. We try to determine if it is reversible or irreversible. If the tooth is sensitive to cold and stops right away, that's normal. If it lingers for some time, that means there's more advanced inflammation. Hot sensitivity that lingers is even more. A tooth that hurts by itself may be irreversible inflammation. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT, cold laser, red light laser) can decrease inflammation and stimulate healing...if it is reversible inflammation.
If the tooth has a deep cavity and needs to be treated, the cavity is carefully removed, the remaining tooth disinfected with ozone and the pulp protected with a calcium liner - a "pulp cap" - to protect the pulp and give the osteoblasts the nourishment they need to heal. * Read An Article On The Success Of Vital Pulp Capping
Root surface cavities are the most difficult kind of cavity to treat. Once restored, the chances of future problems and re-treats are high. So the best thing is to avoid them with proper daily care and remineralizing products (BioRepair Advanced Nighttime and Dentite applied with an end tufted brush are especially helpful for root area cavities) especially if there is a lot of recession. Ozonated water in a WaterPick directed at the cavity is very helpful. You can also apply ozone gas directly with the flexible tubing with the bubbler removed. Another way to apply ozone is oil pulling with PurO3 oxonated oil. And if it does need to be treated, be even more diligent to avoid future problems.
Modern dental X-rays are digital and very safe. The number and frequency should be based on patient history and needs and only after a clinical exam is done to determine necessity. For new patients, since we do photos, we need less x-rays.
The holistic approach is also about differentiating "observations" from actual "problems". This often requires close observation over time - not just a snapshot in time but a comparison of snapshots over time. The use of digital x-rays makes this comparison over time safe. The comparison of snapshots over time also includes digital photographs - see #12 "Photographs" below.
There are teeth conditions that do require teeth to be restored with crowns, however, my opinion is that they are over-prescribed. Many times a much more conservative restoration can be done.
After careful consideration of all factors, if it's determined that a crown is the best treatment option, lab-processed zirconia crowns emerge as an outstanding choice due to their exceptional strength, even in thin designs. This necessitates minimal reduction of the tooth, promoting a conservative approach that preserves the integrity of the living pulp.
We use two different types of cameras because they serve different purposes. The small intraoral wand camera allows us to zoom in and look closely at specific areas so you can see details in real time. Traditional intraoral photographs, taken with a professional camera and mirrors - as in the picture above - , give us a broader, more accurate view of your entire mouth—teeth, gums, bite, and overall balance. Close-up images show detail; wider images provide context. By using both, we’re able to look carefully, think clearly, and make calm, well-informed decisions that support your long-term oral and overall health.
High-quality photographs often allow us to observe and track many conditions visually, which may lessen the need for repeated radiographs in certain situations.
Teeth clenching and grinding is a habit - and it can be a bad one! Chewing generates 75 psi. Grinding at night can generate 250 psi! The typical treatment suggested is a "mouthguard" to cover and protect the teeth. It can protect from damage but you still clench/grind...just on the mouthguard. It is also often suggested to "rebuild the bite" by crowning all the teeth - A MAJOR AND INVASIVE UNDERTAKING! It may improve the bite but it still may not stop the clenching/grinding as it is a habit ingrained in the subconscious mind. And that can be changed by getting the right message to the subconscious mind, as described in the info sheet, via biofeedback/self-hypnosis.
Using Biofeedback to Reduce Clenching and Grinding
The Muse 2 biofeedback device can be a helpful awareness tool for patients who clench or grind their teeth, especially when stress or unconscious muscle tension plays a role. By gently monitoring brain activity and providing real-time feedback during guided sessions, it helps train the nervous system toward a calmer, more balanced state. Over time, this increased awareness can support relaxation patterns that may reduce daytime clenching and stress-related bruxism. Used as an adjunct—not a replacement—for dental care, muscle therapy, and stress management, biofeedback supports a whole-person approach to protecting teeth, jaw joints, and overall well-being.
It has been used for many decades to restore teeth. It is a strong, durable material made from a blend of metals, including mercury - which is a toxic component - combined with silver, tin, and copper. Being a metal, it expands and contracts differently from teeth making enamel cracking a possibility. While amalgam has a long history of use, it differs from modern tooth-colored materials in appearance, bonding behavior, and most importantly biocompatibility considerations. In whole-health dentistry, we carefully evaluate existing amalgam fillings in the context of overall oral health, symptoms, and individual preference, and we do not recommend removal unless there is a clear reason to do so. When replacement is appropriate, it is done thoughtfully and safely, with an emphasis on minimally invasive care and long-term oral and systemic well-being...and, as always, taking risk and long term prognosis into consideration.
Read 3 very enlightening scientific articles on the effects of silver/mercury fillings:
Watch this video on the hazards of mercury. When removing silver/mercury, the patient has wrap-around eye protection, nasal oxygen mask, special mouthpiece (purple) that wraps around that quadrant of teeth and seals off the cheek/tongue/throat, a suction device (white tube) that has a tip that wraps around the individual tooth, and an overhead vacuum...the ultimate protection from the silver/mercury removal.
Consider these supplements before, during, and after silver/mercury removal. Everyone's immune system is different so if you have any questions or concerns, ask your Integrative Medicine physician.
Patients are often told that removing the silver/mercury will weaken the tooth and that the tooth will always look grey. Obviously not the case! And they also are often told that because of the cracks in the enamel, crowns are needed. Again, obviously not the case! Done properly these can be a great restoration...conservative and kind to the pulp. Also, that are MANY restorative materials available to dentists. If a patient's medical status includes material sensitivities or immune response issues, we have them get a biocompatibility test ay www.BioCompLabs.comto be sure the materials used will be biocompatible.
Today's modern dental composites are long-lasting and wear resistant. When the cusps are weak but the circumference is intact a direct bonded composite can be done that "onlays" or covers the entire chewing surface. Way more conservative than a crown and done in one visit so the dental pulp is not subjected to additional trauma. It is very technique sensitive and time-consuming to do. The restoration has to be done in small segments to optimize bonding and minimize shrinkage which is why a lot of dentists don't do them. And you cannot delegate any of the steps. It has been one of my favorite restorations to do. Sometimes the strength of porcelain is needed - Click here to read about "A Porcelain Onlay".If a tooth really does need a crown, lab-processed zirconia is the thinnest, strongest, and therefore kindest to the tooth. Click here to read about"Zirconia Crowns."
Not every missing tooth automatically requires replacement. The decision depends on many factors, including bite balance, chewing function, tooth position, bone support, airway considerations, and a person’s overall health and goals. A whole health dentist sees the importance of thinking this through.
The other consideration is what procedures would be required to replace the tooth/teeth and what is the risk and prognosis of doing those procedures. The key is to keep the risk as low as possible and the prognosis as beneficial as possible.
In some situations, a space may remain stable and symptom-free for years; in others, missing teeth can contribute to shifting, bite changes, joint strain, or altered chewing patterns over time. A whole-health approach focuses on careful observation, function, and long-term stability rather than routine replacement. When replacement is appropriate, options are discussed thoughtfully, with attention to biomechanics, biocompatibility, and minimally invasive care—always guided by what best supports the individual, not a one-size-fits-all rule.
Root canals are accepted as appropriate and safe treatment by mainstream dentistry. It is a specialty in dentistry called endodontics and the specialists have years of extra training and many are Board-Certified which is a grueling process so the root canal process itself is precise - specialists actually use a microscope to do the treatment. The big concern is that the internal anatomy of the roots - the millions of microscopic dentinal tubules - cannot be sterilized and sealed even with the best techniques so they can be a breeding ground for pathogens.
From a whole-health viewpoint, this is one reason some individuals may choose careful monitoring or alternative approaches, emphasizing individualized decision-making rather than assuming the same outcome for every person. That is why it needs to be a "whole health" decision - the patient's medical status, immune system, medications, past dental history, etc.
Read the infosheet noted above for a more indepth discussion.
More than a century ago, Sir William Osler, often called the father of modern medicine, captured this truth in a line that still feels radical today:
“Medicine is only learned through the bedside, and not in the classroom…
See, and then reason and compare and control. But see first.” That is OBSERVE AND THINK before it is assumed to be a PROBLEM.
It's essential to understand that not everything that falls short of the "ideal" in dental/oral health necessarily requires treatment. The crucial question to answer is whether the issue is causing a problem. If it is indeed causing a problem, then you have a valid rationale for pursuing treatment. If it is not causing a problems then careful monitoring over time is essential.
In our dental practice, we have witnessed a growing trend among patients who are actively seeking holistic and conservative approaches to their dental care. These individuals are not only concerned about their oral health but also value the integration of dentistry with their overall well-being. They are eager for relevant information that empowers them to make informed decisions aligned with their best interests. Through our conversations with these patients, it has become evident that their holistic approach extends beyond dentistry, encompassing broader aspects of medical care, nutrition, and lifestyle choices.
*
