MY DENTIST: “Shall we try an experiment?”

May 19, 2026

Note: See last two posts, for which this is a follow-up.

I was wrong. My next dental appointment was today at 9 AM. Tuesday, not Monday. . .

Home now, feeling immensely satisfied.

All weekend long I had been kvetching; should I just cancel it? Should I go and do what he wants to do (clean my teeth)? But Dr. Ellie says teeth need the (slightly slimy) “biofilm” that’s on them, so shouldn’t be cleaned.

Hmmm. Should I go and, hopefully, mostly talk with him?

I didn’t want to just cancel. I’m not into cancel culture. Think it rude. To me, it’s axiomatic: treat others as people, not as functionaries, no matter what their role happens to be which, in this case, involves a financial transaction as well as big philosophical decisions on what dental care I want going into the future.

But I was constantly tempted to cancel! To just forgetaboutit.

And I’m so very glad I did not.

The minute I walked in the door, it was obvious he and his receptionist wife had been undergoing their own transformation. The weird, defensive atmosphere was gone. Instead, welcoming. They were fully prepared for whatever!

I wanted to go and have another, deeper conversation with him, if possible. And to ask just where the tartar buildup was, and do I really need to have it scraped off now?

 

At first I spoke with her, told her how I almost canceled, but didn’t want to, given that we are all human beings. On and on. Said I wanted to continue with Dr. Ellie’s protocol for now, despite the tartar (calculus) build-up — which he told me today, is on front and back of front bottom teeth, the very ones for which he had, probably five years ago, expertly fashioned some kind of a permanent prosthetic, to “fix” the hole where the tooth had fallen out.

It turns out that the bottom front teeth tartar buildup is also where saliva inters the mouth.

He and I did end up deep in conversation, both about my own confusion, and his. My dentist is now 70 years old, and his own dad had also been a dentist, the “old school” kind, he said.

Most of what we talked about had to do with the saliva, and how it’s deeply and complexly interwoven into to the entire bodily ecosystem. Yes, he confirmed, my tartar buildup was caused by too much alkalinity — the opposite, too much acidity, would lead to cavities; how to get it to be slightly less than now? And moreover should I have him scrape off the existing tartar (calculus)?

We talked about the fact, he said, that the blood always wants to be slightly alkaline (just very slightly!), and will go to any lengths to achieve that — including robbing calcium from the bones.

I eat lots of meat. He said maybe change that somewhat.

Hmmm. (Gemini AI)

Okay, it looks like that theory is “old school.” My dentist kind of (and I think he would agree) straddles the line between old and “new.”

It was a fascinating conversation, and I wish I had taped it, to go over it, sentence by sentence. Because truly, this business about the mouth, and how it feeds into everything else, has me hooked. I want to know more, more!

I told him the four-step protocol of Dr. Ellie, and he says he basically agrees with it. Told him also, that it is so weird that I put away all the Dr. Ellie stuff before anyone comes to visit me. (Example: What? you use Crest anti-cavity toothpaste which has fluoride in it?)

We talked for about 35 minutes

To the question of whether or not he should scrape off the tartar on and between the front teeth:

Him: “Should we try an experiment?”

Me, of course: “YES!”

We agreed that I would continue Dr. Ellie’s protocol (and further refine my approach to it) for the next four months, and see him again then. Meanwhile, I would eat slightly less meat and instead, more eggs, cheese, nuts. Because of course, at 83, I need to be pushing protein, to continue to build muscle, which would be wasting away without continuous replenishment.

Oh yeah, he did say that this idea of eating less meat was “old school . . .” And he too confesses to being confused as to what’s really going on.

We briefly discussed the role of genetics in mouth health; his brother, a biochemist, says everything is due to genetics. Both of us disagreed.

What was so cool: this discussion, far deeper than before, and with give and take on both sides, was, to me, deeply satisfying. We ended with a big hug.

I insisted on paying, even though he didn’t touch my mouth.

The charge: $50, though his receptionist wife suggested that I might at least get the tartar scraped off, to make the charge worth it.

Oh no.

It was well worth it.

 

 

(Confused?) Update on Dental . . .

May 17, 2026

I write this on Sunday. See the dentist again 9 AM Monday. Here’s what happened during Friday’s visit, when I just planned to tell him what I was doing re: a new protocol for dental care, and have him not clean my teeth, but just check them to see how I’m doing.

As I said in my last post, I hadn’t been to my dear dentist for about two years, instead, going to a dental practice which was in-the-system. So when I did go, I noticed immediately, the very different feeling of the little office, compared to those two years.

People who go to this dentist have gone to him for a long time. His receptionist wife is equally caring — but I sense, chronically frustrated, since she has to deal with all the godawful insurance stuff. The dentist himself, is both kind, deeply serious, and sweet-natured.

When the “patient” before me finally left (I waited an unusually long time for this office, probably 20 minutes), she ushered me into an examining room and into its chair, telling me that she had looked “briefly” at the Dr. Ellie info and that he did too. Which made me feel good.

But then, when he walked in the room, totally masked, and sat behind me, taking notes while I talked with him about what had been going on with me during the last two years, the situation felt utterly weird. What notes was he taking, I wondered? He started taking them even before I said anything. At one point he did get up, still masked (though mask below his nostrils), which drove me crazy internally, reminding me of the covid con years when masking made it impossible to see the other person’s face and therefore expression!

Then it was time for the check-up. He agreed with me that my gums looked good, not at all red or swollen. Also, that none of my teeth were loose (despite serious gum recession, ongoing for decades, and due, I wonder now, mostly to  daily pre-breakfast (acidic) lemon juice, to help my digestion . . .)

But then, right away, he found his “aha!” for that is what it felt like. “You do have some plaque.”

Crestfallen, of course, I asked what that meant. And he wants to know too; says tooth decay (which Dr. Ellie’s protocol definitely defies) and plaque formation are opposite conditions. That the first is too acidic, and the other too alkaline?

But then I just asked ai: tartar is hardened plaque. So I guess he meant tartar formation, not plaque. (And maybe he actually said that; by this time, my attention had been blurred by his “bad news.”)

I asked, “Plaque (tartar) is caused by too acidic an environment?  Which means that if you treat for one, you end up with the other?” I asked, puzzled. “And so the problem seems to be that there needs to be some kind of balancing act?”

At this point, he did begin to remove his mask down, below his mouth even, and looked both as puzzled and perturbed as I felt.

Then he too said so; and his “defeated-looking” body language proved the point: he’d been trying to figure out how to understand and work with this balancing act for years; that it’s what he’s been focused on, but to no avail.

Dr. Ellie uses the term “biofilm” for plaque, and says it’s important to leave it on there, because its soft stickiness protects the enamel of the teeth . . . so don’t have the dentist clean your teeth!

But then if plaque hardens, and mineralizes, into tartar, then do have dentist remove it, she says.

Which I’m going to do.

Looking back, I can see that I’m still confused. But that I now know my way forward. Go to this appointment; have him remove hardened plaque (tartar); tell him not to floss; and not to clean off the (plaque) biofilm otherwise! I’ve already made another appointment for four months from now, but will likely change that, push it way back while I continue, and refine, Dr. Ellie’s protocol.

BTW: at first I felt defeated; then I didn’t. But it took many hours of coming to terms with the situation, feeling for both myself and my dear original dentist!