EP 75: DR. NAMMY PATEL: WHAT IF LONGEVITY STARTS WITH YOUR ORAL HEALTH?

Cannes Intro And The Mission

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to Not Alone with Melissa Sue Metfin. And today I'm recording in Cannes in France. I am here for the premiere of SHIELD, which is a documentary series for women's health. And also they're creating the documentary Goodbye Old Dentistry, which is bring awareness for biological dentistry, which I am very much a part of the mission of shifting the industry. That's why I've had many biological dentists on. I work for biological dentists because if I can empower you as the patient, it's supply and demand. The more we demand this kind of treatment in the mouth, which is the mirror to your entire health and body systems. And today I have the honor to have the pioneer of biological dentist, Dr. Patel.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Oh, such a pleasure to be here, Melissa. This is so exciting. Um, love what you do and your gorgeous smile. And uh just delighted to share a lot of love uh for the profession, for the people, um for our purpose.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yes, absolutely. For our purpose. I definitely felt that calling, especially once my husband passed. And once I wrote my book, The Truth Behind the Smiles, which was my whole story, I was so inspired by many dentists to write an entire chapter about the world of dentistry, because I'm pretty hundred percent sure my husband had mercury poisoning from removing amalgam fillings. Because we were known as the we were in Wasilla, Alaska as the cosmetic dentist, and all he did was remove amalgams for so long, and as you drill into these silver fillings, they're made of mercury, so you're breathing in these gases, which harms the dentist, but also the patient. And I came to that realization after I had Dr. Michelle Jorgensen on, and she shared her own um poisoning, the mercury poisoning. So this is where I felt a calling now to educate the patient to dive into biological dentistry, which now I love working for uh Dr. Shreve and Dr. Dasante. So I'd love to hear from you and how you got into the journey of biological dentistry.

Mercury Fillings And A Personal Loss

SPEAKER_00 2:17

You know, I feel like uh Michelle, you said uh really, you know, we turn our pain into our purpose, um, is what we do. So for me, I got into biological dentistry because I, you know, got out of dental school, I interviewed at a lot of places. I could not work there because there were just drill and fill dentists, and so I decided I was gonna open my own practice, and I decided I was gonna open an eco-friendly sustainable practice. It was super excited, very just excited, ready, the space got built out, you know, February 8th, I still remember it, 2008 at that time. Um, and then the night before I was supposed to open doors, we got a call at midnight at home. And we're just really wondering like who's calling at midnight, you know, and didn't think anything of it. Uh but long behold, I could hear my mom scream, and it's because my brother, who was the age of 33, died of a heart attack. I'm gonna repeat that. My brother, the age of 33, died of a heart attack. That is not normal. That should not happen. And especially because he had seen an oral maximalfacial surgeon two weeks prior to an extraction. He had gone to the ER and telling the medical doctors he had chest pain. They told him he had acid reflux, and they sent him home. And so now I'm looking at the medical system and saying there are he saw a maxofacial surgeon, so this is a dentist plus a medical doctor, and then he saw another ER doctor who said nothing was wrong. He'd given his symptoms, and I'm getting a call at midnight saying he passed away at the age of 33. Something is wrong, something is broken. So I wanted to make sure that I looked beyond the superficial. I wanted to look at the sources of disease. I want to know what had happened. I knew we had missed something, and as I saw that, I learned, I put myself in education, I started looking at what are some root causes, what are some things that were missing. And gosh, I found so many other, so many things. It's not just about diet and exercise. Um, a lot of it actually has to do with genetics, a lot of it has to do with the oral microbiome, it has to do with sleep apnea. And as I discovered more and more things, I realized that that I wanted to turn my pain into purpose so nobody else gets a call at midnight. Nobody else has a brother that they have to grieve for years, um, kind of like you. And that's when I really started my process with biological. I've always I grew up in India, so I've been a holistic lifestyle, Ayurvedic dentist, a holistic dentist. Um, and then I turn my, I call myself biological uh because I really look at how the biology works of the mouth. What I'm really looking at is how can I make your body work better on its own? Without me, without you know, pills and peptides and all sorts of other stuff, I really want to see what is it that I can do to help patients live longer, better, and enjoy their life because they deserve it. Um and so that's how I started 20 years ago. I actually graduated in 2005, um and now this is 2026, so 21 years now, um practicing and loving every minute of it and struggling, as you said about your uh husband. Um dentistry is hard uh physically, mentally, emotionally. We're holding patients. You know, we're holding this whole human being that is so scared, that is so terrified, that is nervous, uh, that has so many questions, concerns, and we're looking after them, we're looking after ourselves, and we're looking after our team. So when we're holding so many responsibilities, um, it is taxing, it is hard, and yet we love it, and yet I love it, and I wouldn't change it for the world because this really is my purpose, this really is my passion is and I've designed the program into something um I can really follow for patients.

A Dental System Built For Longevity

SPEAKER_00 6:36

I call it the Aegis Longevity System by Dr. Nami. And I like that because I wanted to make sure nobody else gets got that call. And I looked at how can I make that happen as a dentist. So I always start with the airway. I always start at the root, the airway, airway, airway. If you're not breathing, you're not alive. So we have to make sure that you're breathing properly and really making sure you're getting good quality air, so you're getting that nitric oxide so that you can heal on your own. Then I look at the gums, the gut, the gym through the oral microbiome, along with your genetics, so that I can do treatment with precision. I can make sure we can help prevent chronic illnesses like heart attack, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's arthritis. Then I look at energy, mitochondria energy. What is overloading the mitochondria? And those are hidden infections. Um, even mercury, right? Mercury is going to bind. It does not allow your mitochondria to work better. It's going to bind into blutothione, which is your amino acids pretty much everywhere in your body. So uh also cavitations, uh, failed root canals. Then I look at the S, which is sculpting, regeneration, and smile design. You have a beautiful smile. We we want you to be feeling good inside and out. We want you to look good inside, look good outside. We want you to feel good inside, feel good outside, so that our inner worlds are matching the outer worlds. And that's really important from not just from an emotional state, but from a cellular state. When we're looking at the mouth as a window, as the ability, the capability to help heal patients, to help them optimize to live longer, disease-free, but also making sure that they are on purpose and they are living their missions. They are able to spend time with their loved ones, being able to enjoy this beautiful life that we have.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

I truly feel the mouth is the number one place people should look at. And it's often time, like you said, your your brother, it's often time the last place they look at, or they don't correlate it to the mouth. Where so that's why I'm trying to advocate for patients. If symptoms are starting, you know, go look, right? The biological dentist, I'll look to the root cause and look at I love the cellular. You look on a cellular level, the whole body. When I work now, I look at a mouth, I could see a whole life story. It's like a mirror for me. And I start, oh, what's happening? Like the stress, the nervous system, and how it's all shows up in the mouth. It's a big story, and each tooth is aligned to every organ, right? And energetically, if we're blocked, there's an infection, then it's gonna affect anybody. So I almost feel that should be number one place.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

I absolutely agree. You know, you heal the mouth, you heal the body, you know, and that really is a true saying. Um, and you know what? How I know we've been doing it in our Veda for thousands of years. India's been around for a very long time. People live a very long, healthy life. And, you know, my own grandfather, great-grandfather lived till uh almost 100, uh, happy, healthy, uh, you know, able mind, able-minded, able-bodied, uh, which is really important because we want to live, but live well. You know, I want to be 120, is what I like to say. But I don't want Alzheimer's. I want to be 120, I want to run a marathon, I uh want to remember things, I want to enjoy time with my husband, with my nieces, my nephews. I still want to be working. I never want to retire dentistry because I feel like it is one of the most amazing professions on this planet that allows you to impact patients so much and you build a lifelong friendship.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Yes, so true. And you see them grow, right? It's transformation.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

And when we can do it on a high level, like biological dentistry does, it really is a true asset because we're looking at preventing disease 20 years from now, you know. Uh, you know, for example, uh, you know, I'm close to 50, so if I'm one of my 70s to be looking good, I need to be working on that now,

Silent Infections And Chronic Disease

SPEAKER_00 10:48

you know. So true. And there's over 500 articles now, by the way, that tell you that the mouth is the key to longevity. Uh the mouth is a key to help you live longer. Uh, the mouth is a key to be able to find uh silent infections, remove them so your mitochondrial DNA or your mitochondrial functions actually work better. Um, getting rid of the mercury is gonna get rid of the neurotoxin because mercury is a neurotoxin. Being able to remove that is gonna help your memory. Um, so so many beautiful things we can do just from this four by four.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Yeah, it can give you that longevity because that's what it's the vitality. What if you have 10 more years left? How do you want to live it? I look at my grandfather who's 97, he dances the tango and the salsa three, four times a week. He walks, he's he's just so alive. And that's what I my goal is as well. And I think going in with looking at the mouth, because oftentimes, like you talked about cavitation, and I've had you know other dentists talk about that inflammation in in the mouth, that infection, your body's always trying to fight that. So it's always busy doing that, so it's avoiding everything else. So starting to treat there and becoming aware is so important. So I always say, look in the mouth first. Look in the mouth first. It's often time the last place, and sometimes it's it's too late. It is.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

We find that majority of the patients with chronic illnesses, you know, so often I find patients with arthritis, you know, and you know, this is after the and I could really tell the story because I could tell you exactly 20 years ago what happened to them. Because from the time they get diagnosed, which is usually about 40 plus, um, what we find is if we go back to the 20s, we'll see that they've had braces. Um, they're they're not breathing through their nose really well. Um, and then what I've noticed is that they'll get a cavity and they'll drink they'll break the tooth because they're grinding their teeth. They'll end up with small one cavity, then they'll go to another, end up with a root canal. By mid-30s, they've had that root canal replaced. Um, by 40s, they've had that root canal redone on pretty much all their molars because they've cracked all of them. And then come 42-43, they're diagnosed with arthritis, or they're diagnosed with thyroid, or they're diagnosed with some sort of autoimmune condition. And, you know, if we could just trace it back 20 years, we'll see that something was off. Or a patient who had, you know, their wisdom teeth extracted at 16 and their bone didn't heal correctly. When their bone didn't heal correctly, they ended up with a cavitation. By the time they come to around their 30s and 40s, we'll see chronic illnesses. Um, we'll see, you know, I the doctors can't figure out what's wrong with me. I have so many different things. I don't feel good. Something is wrong, I know it, but nobody can help me, are the things that we hear. Or I see a, you know, 42, 43-year-old woman says, I have had three kids. I used to feel amazing about myself. I used to have so much energy, but now I just feel dead inside. I feel so exhausted, I feel so drained, and I really want to have energy to spend with my children. I really want to play with them. I really want to have my self-esteem back. I really want to feel good about me. And how can you help me do that? Because the doctors are saying everything is fine. I don't understand. I take my supplements, I work out, I do everything I'm supposed to do. I eat pretty healthy, but really something is wrong and I know it, and nobody else seems to know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Yeah, yeah. No, that's so true. I see that. And do you see that for like cardiac arrest? Yes, yes, all the time. Because I think it's not talked about, it's like almost hush hush. But I have a feeling that sometimes when there's those quick little heart attack and everybody was really healthy, I'm always so curious. Okay, well, what did he have? An infection in the mouth.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Yes, always. If we trace back, there's actually an organization called the Bale Donin Institute based in Seattle, and they actually are medical doctors and cardiologists that have created this protocol together to be able to help prevent heart attacks. Their number one thing that they say in order to prevent a heart attack is going to be clean out the oral microbiome, fix the sleep, fix the hidden infections. And if you do that, you maintain you will be heart attack-free. And it's really amazing how many patients I have in my practice who have gone through that program and have found me because I was trained by them. And they really see how we're able to help and how their biomarkers change like this, and how they start feeling confidence in their health, because that's the key, is that I want confidence in my health. I don't want to feel like it. I want to know that I have confidence in my health because I know that I'll feel good and I know my biomarkers will be good too.

Dentist Burnout And Nervous System Care

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yes. Oh, this is so good. I'm like, I feel I could ask you so many questions, but I I'd love to dive into you as well for the health, mental health of the dentist. And and how you said it is challenging. And you love, my husband had always said he loved to do clinical, but he doesn't want to have to deal with everything else. Yes. And so, what are you doing to maintain that enthusiasm for what you're doing and your drive for your own nervous system to kind of maintain, to be able to see, because it is an energy, I call it mirror neurons, right? Your nervous system will mirror, which oftentimes the patient is a lot of fear. And we pick that up on a constant day-to-day basis for the dentist. So, what are you doing that a dentist can incorporate?

SPEAKER_00 16:18

So I, you know, I am really big on my morning routine. What I do to maintain my sanity is what I call it. Um, is I, you know, wake up at five, I meditate daily. You know, that time for me is really important because I feel like I want to quiet the mind and I want to set my intentions. I always like to do a prayer to make sure that the world is gonna be a beautiful place and that we can all help one another. Um, I start with those uh ideas and and and prayers. Then I like to sit for 20 minutes and just receive from the universe and just, you know, put out how I would like my day to go. Um, I like to be grateful and really spend that time just bathing in that good energy, filling up my bucket. And then I start with the most important thing, which is my husband. Um, so we sit together, uh, we like to have a cup of coffee, we like our word all. Yes. So we like to sit by the fireplace. Connection. Yes, connection. Um, and the important things that matter, right? Is making sure my bucket's full, I'm able to pour into his. We have that connection. Um, I start with my team when I get to work, I connect with them, and then I start my day with the patients. Uh, because I know that if I take care of the most important things and people in my world, everything else will work out. If I take care of myself, I know that I will be a better communicator. I know that I'll be able to think clearly because I'm not anxious or nervous with the patient. I know that I know that I've spent time with my husband and we've spent time together. I know that if I'm home late, I'm not gonna worry. Um I know that I took care of our connection time. Or God forbid, something happens on my way to work. You know, I was a hit if I was hit by a bus, you know. One thing that I've realized as my brother has passed away is that I want to live every moment if it's my last. So we do everything we want to. We live the way we want to, and I don't want so I always say that I I want it's being that person. If this was I would have I don't have any regrets. Most people live in regrets. I have zero regrets. I'm very happy with all that I've done, all that I've failed at, coming to peace together. Yeah, and you know, even being here around all these wonderful people, you know, it's just so lovely. And you know, we're all on their different journeys. Um, and it's really self-acceptance. You know, there are things I'm good at, there are things I'm not good at.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

And just owning it um instead of trying to mask it um and being able to be okay to ask for help, to take time for you and then be able to give back in community, finding that balance, which is often hard, but you're making that space for that.

Training The Next Biological Dentists

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Yeah. And if if you have some new graduate or some dentists are really wanting to make that shift to become biological dentists, do you provide any guidance that we do actually?

SPEAKER_00 19:18

I have two training programs for dentists. Um, so you can go to drnamipatel.com, and then I actually have an online program, which is really nice because it really starts with the basics. Um, and it's the most important thing about a biological dentist is to start looking, thinking at things differently. Because dentistry's always told you if there's a whole plug it, if there's a whole plug-it, if there's this, do this, if this this does that. Biological dentistry isn't like that. It's more of a thinking cap, like let's put on our thinking cap and think differently. So you start have to connect the dots from here to here to there to there. So my program actually starts to do that. It talks about uh basic things about oral microbiome, it talks about the functional airway, it's pretty cost effective. You can start there, you can always reach out to me. Um, more than happy to go through training and coaching and even run through the practice and see what it's like. Because even through biological dentists, we'll realize there's certain things we like to do and certain things we don't. And we don't have to do it all. You know, we have to be on a gradient, right? So, you know, being able to like surgery isn't my favorite thing in the world. I mean, yes, I do it, but it's not my favorite. Uh, but you know, just realizing that there's things that we really gravitate towards and there's things that we don't gravitate towards, but then we build a community and we send, you know, we share patient we send to one another so that they can be well taken care of.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Oh, that's so neat. And actually, I try and inspire uh dental students. I had dental students pass by on the crosswalk the other day, and I'm like, oh hey, have you heard of biological dentistry? And they hadn't. I'm like, you should look it up, you know. Yes, absolutely inspire a lot of the students.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

And I think biological dentistry really should be the future. It's been my advocacy work for a very long time, and I absolutely feel like uh, you know, biological dentistry is uh is really I think patients are gonna demand it. And you know, it's it I think that in the next 20, 30 years, that is gonna be a huge change. Um, and I'm really excited to be part of the journey.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

I'm excited too. I'm really excited, and what an honor to have you on today, Dr. Patel. Thank you so much for sharing. And uh you know, gonna continue advocating for biological dentistry, and I know that shift is coming. Yes, absolutely,

Final Thoughts And Subscribe Request

SPEAKER_01 21:22

wonderful. Well, if you guys love this episode, please like and share it and subscribe. And once again, thank you for listening.