I have been a health care provider since the early 70s working as an intensive care nurse and then as a biological dentist treating the dental needs of medically compromised individuals. It was remarkable to me how each year I was seeing increasing numbers of younger people with debilitating chronic health problems. Young or old, their symptoms, the expense of medications, and intolerable side effects were getting them down. Many of my patients who suffered with heart disease, migraines, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, MS, chronic fatigue, depression, sinusitis, infertility, and you name it were willing to try alternatives to conventional medicine, make lifestyle changes, and investigate possible dental connections to their health.

Traditional Medical Health Insurance Doesn’t Pay for Dental Treatment

Dental insurance (if you’re lucky enough to have it) can be very limiting because of low yearly maximums and exclusions. And your health insurance won’t cover your dental work even though treating your gum disease lowers your risk for a heart attack, stroke, or pregnancy complications. You’re out of luck if you have a TMJ problem because it is the only joint in the entire body that neither dental nor medical insurance covers. If you don’t have the means to pay for replacing missing teeth and you can’t chew effectively, your digestion and weight suffer. And your tooth grinding from bite imbalances may be adding to your tension headaches. If you suffer from allergies, sinusitis, or some chronic health condition, you may have a reaction to the materials in your fillings or crowns.

Consumer driven health care plans recognize the health impact of dentistry. If you don’t have the money for the health-promoting treatments you want or need, then you need to consider that the funds in a Health Savings Account can actually help pay for eligible services not covered by any other plan, lower your health insurance premiums, and cover other alternative and complementary health services.

If You Want to Cut Down on Healthcare Expenses, You Better Stay Healthy

The stresses of work, lack of sleep, family pressures, and financial worries take a large toll on health especially when confronted with the abundance of chemicals, electromagnetic waves, and disease causing organisms in our environment. While we can’t stop this onslaught, we do have some control over what we choose to put into and on our bodies.
It’s so much easier to take a pill and cover up a symptom. That’s your choice. But you can also safely get rid of toxic things that depress your vitality and decide to take steps to educate yourself (like you are doing now) to live a healthier life.

• Raising awareness is always the first step to making a change.
• You must decide that making a change would have value for you for the long-term
• You must believe that a positive outcome is possible.
• You must then have the willingness to make a change. (If you don’t, then stop reading and stick with your old habits).

Are You Ready for a Change?

Only Put in What is Good and Eliminate What is Bad: The 7 Secrets

Use these seven guiding principles help to boost your immune system, improve your quality of life, and save you from devastating health expenses.

1. Oral health links to systemic health. Individuals, employers, and all health professionals must consider the impact on chronic health conditions, immune function, pain, growth and development, and pregnancy complications. It is far less expensive and better for health to prevent oral health problems than it is to have to fix dental problems. But if you recognize the need for dental treatment, then choose the options that fit your mindset and your pocketbook. The important thing to remember is that the expense and health stresses multiply when you avoid necessary dental treatment.

2. Nutrition and diet are paramount for sustainable good health. Your food selection, how efficiently you chew, and what your body is assimilating are all important.

a. Food is fuel. When you put the proper fuel in your automobile, it runs better. Imagine the repairs to your engine if you used soda pop instead of gas. Every cell in your body depends on what you consume, digest, and assimilate for efficient metabolic functioning. When you put in chemically and sugar laden, processed, fatty, salty foods deficient in nutrients, health eventually deteriorates.
b. Chewing is essential for proper digestion. Poor or painful dental conditions interfere with efficient chewing. Again prevention rules. Fix a small problem, change dietary habits, and follow the next set of principles.

3. "Healthy" products may be quite valuable for health support. Always do your own research. For proper use and benefit, it is prudent for you and your health care provider(s) to be familiar with ingredients, purpose, therapy interactions, and effects on the body. There are many tools in the health care toolbox.

a. “Natural” things to put into the body: Vitamin supplements, homeopathy, herbs, organic foods, dental materials
b. Products to put on the body: chemical free personal care products, cosmetics, clothing, furniture, dental appliances
c. Things applied to the body: Acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy, biofeedback, dental therapies
Your doctor or dentist can test for the biocompatibility of dental materials permanently implanted in teeth or jawbone that impact your immune system.

4. Elimination of toxins from your body must be ongoing since we live in a polluted world. It is necessary to drink pure water in excess of the body's metabolic needs in order to flush out the toxins found in air, food, personal care products, pesticides, construction products, furniture, dental materials, and more. A knowledgeable health care practitioner should provide you with strategies to eliminate toxins and heavy metals (such as mercury found in many dental fillings). Frequent monitoring is essential. 

5. Fitness and exercise is important for strength, vitality, and organ health. Consult with a qualified health practitioner before starting or changing an exercise program. And see your dentist for improved athletic performance. The alignment of your teeth and jaws affect your skeleton and muscles. Consider that a balanced bite and elimination of tooth and gum infections improve stamina, reflexes, endurance, and recovery from injuries. 

6. Good dental health and esthetics improve communication and self esteem. Healthy beautiful teeth and gums require more than just good hygiene. When the mouth is painful, unappealing, or out of commission, misery prevails. Positive things occur when you feel better about yourself and you smile often. 

7. Stress reduction and a positive mindset have a powerful affect on health and wellbeing. The build up of emotional or physical stress can severely compromise dental health. This is apparent in tooth clenching and grinding, TMJ pain, broken and worn teeth, bleeding gums, and even decay. Don’t allow dental phobia and anxiety over dental bills increase your stress that leads to more extensive and expensive dental problems.

Seven Simple tips to enjoy a lifetime of health

1. Have an awareness that you have control over your own health
2. Do your own research
3. Distinguish what is healthful and what is damaging
4. Seek guidance for what you cannot handle yourself
5. Take deliberate action
6. Stick to a plan that prevents problems from recurring
7. Have fun and smile

About OraMedica
OraMedica International, LLC provides health promoting strategies and supportive insurance solutions to lower health care utilization and expenditures. We offer the opportunity to learn about the dental connections to systemic health that impact wellness, communication, and personal finances. 

Our Mission
It is our strong belief that avoidance of dental treatment because of lack of affordability or knowledge of systemic connections compromises health and strains the entire health care system.
It is our mission to improve health resiliency and longevity through better dental health. We believe that personal health consciousness advances with information and accessibility to researched dental and alternative health services and products. We believe that the cost of dental treatment should not deprive consumers of professional dental services and that consumer-driven health insurance is a suitable option for individuals, families, and employers.

Andrea H. Brockman, BSN, DDS is President of OraMedica International, LLC. She is a 1979 graduate of Temple Dental School and has her undergraduate degree in Nursing from Temple University. Dr. Brockman practiced Intensive Care/Coronary Care and later Geriatric Nursing where she gained her experience working with both critically and chronically ill patients. She co-owned a Biological Dental practice in Philadelphia for 25 years with her husband, Dr. Vincent DiLorenzo, working closely with all healthcare providers in treating the dental needs of chronically ill and immunologically compromised patients. 

Since 2003 Dr. Brockman co-founded OraMedica International LLC to help improve total health through knowledge of the dental connections to chronic disease, pain, obesity, and stress. She consults with health care providers and employers in helping to integrate dental education into their practices and wellness programs.

Andrea Brockman BSN, DDS