My Journey to Dental Herbalism
It’s a funny thing …
… some people think that I had a longstanding desire to steer my herbal clinical practice towards oral health. In fact, this exciting direction arose from working with clients … and a little help from the Universe.
Picture it. It’s about 2010. My new client ~ let’s call her Dolores ~ was a woman in her 70s. She was quick-witted, smart, funny, and very short. She lived with her sister. Their house had stairs. She liked to spend her time offering a running commentary on everything local (and beyond) as she slowly sewed; a hobby of more than 50 years.
Amongst the many health issues that Dolores wanted to address, she hoped to focus our work on inflammation. Discomfort had plagued her for decades, long before she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Her joints were swollen, red, and hot. It took her a while to get going each day and her knees ached almost as much as her hands, especially her fingers. Needle and thread filled her days and had begun to bring more discomfort than joy. Her friend referred her to me, having herself experienced positive benefits from working with me and herbs.
Initially, our work went along smoothly. Customized herbal formulas eased discomfort. Dolores was making slow and consistent progress. Then, formula after formula had little or no effect. I remember rethinking my approach, reviewing our work, of course consulting the literature while hoping for fresh insights. Time and again, a new formula failed.
Then, as often happens, the Universe intervened. I stumbled across the work of Dr. Willoughby D Miller, a dentist from Ohio, who lived from 1853-1907. I had not been thinking about the mouth any more, or less than I had in the early years of my practice. Actually, I wasn’t very interested in the mouth. Sure, I was taught that digestion begins in the mouth. Yes, I wanted fresh breath and I remember liking my childhood dentist who offered sugary lollipops after each visit (“Y’all come back now, ya hear”). Initially, my introduction to Dr. Miller’s work did not bring an epiphany to me. Nonetheless, his words percolated subconsciously.
Sometimes referred to as the Father of Oral Microbiology he suggested in his 1891 seminal paper, entitled “The Mouth as a Focus of Infection”,
“It must be constantly borne in mind that wherever micro-organisms are accumulated in large masses in any part of the body [such as the mouth] the possibility of their being carried to other parts through the blood or lymph-channels, and of their producing, accordingly, metastatic abscesses wherever a point of diminished resistance exists, can never be certainly excluded.”
One day I “casually” enquired about Dolores’ oral health. Yes, she was accustomed to me asking if I might see both the top and underside of her tongue, but my inquiries about her mouth stopped there. Her oral health had plagued her for most of her life. I shared some thoughts with Dolores and asked if we might work in her mouth.
To her great surprise, and frankly my own, as the inflammation in her mouth began to shift, and then subside some, her fingers felt better. Her aches were less. We worked with customized topical oral formulas and rinses while continuing systemic work with tinctures. Dr. Willoughby’s work had my full attention. It does still.
Around 2011, after continuing herbal practice while exploring the link between oral inflammation and systemic inflammation, I was acutely aware that the mouth was often overlooked by myself, the vast majority of herbalists and several other healthcare professionals. I had many questions, some simple. For example, if digestion begins in the mouth and what we eat and drink affects our health, why hadn’t a dentist (any dentist) ever asked about foods and beverages I ate and drank? Why hadn’t my primary care physician (any primary care physician) ever asked about my oral health? What did my clients know about their own oral health? Or even how many teeth they had? …
Thousands of questions populated my mind. I continued to further explore the literature. I realized too, from conversations with clients and other herbalists, that there was a huge need for a resource. I asked a dentist to collaborate on a text. He declined. He pointed me in the direction of Linda Straub-Bruce, current President-Elect of the Pennsylvania’s Dental Hygienists’ Association and my co-author. Together we authored Dental Herbalism: Natural Therapies for the Mouth, published in 2014 by Healing Arts Press.
I’m so very grateful to have been called to work as a community herbalist and educator. Too, as a one-on-one mentor. I am even more delighted to have expanded my general practice to include the mouth.
Herbs for the mouth make so much sense … or is it scents? I’m sure most of us hope that our teeth will last all the days of our lives. Most importantly, our oral health, or our “oral micro-biome”, affects our general health, even before our birth. It’s a game changer. Herbs for the mouth make so much sense. They really do.
