(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!

 

 

History of and Possible Prognosis for my Lifelong “Dental Liability”

May 14, 2026

 

At age 83 I’m increasingly aware that, no matter what I do to stay in prime condition I also have a lifelong dental “liability.” And that, no matter what I do or don’t do, it’s likely to take me out in some way at some time. But obviously, something will take me out; and I’m totally willing to go NOW, if necessary. But would rather not. I still “have stuff to do.”

Okay. So the reason I bring this up is because I have an 11:00 AM appointment this morning with my old dentist. We’re billing it as a “consult.” Not sure what will come of it.

Back story:

I had been with this dentist ever since I arrived in Bloomington Indiana, nearly 24 years ago now. And I was always a good girl, getting my teeth cleaned every four months. Then, at his suggestion, I made a sudden, drastic change.

Further back: I had braces as a kid, due to big teeth in small mouth, so buck teeth. Plus many mercury fillings. Sometime in the 80s (I think it was), I had those fillings removed, and crowns (gold and/or porcelain) put on each tooth, with a continuous Vitamin C infusion during the entire procedure each time.

So, at least I got rid of the mercury!

All these decades, besides getting teeth cleaned regularly, I’ve brushed my teeth daily, and flossed each time I brushed them.

At one point a front bottom tooth got so loose that it finally came out. My dear dentist constructed something down there so that you can’t even tell it happened.

(Huge back story to why that tooth was loose, having to do with clenching my teeth in my late 30s to the point where my left jaw got infected during a toxic male/female relationship.)

When I, or anyone, looks at the history of our mouths, and the teeth we use to bite and chew our food, I’m sure the back story is endless, fascinating, and likely, infuriating as well. Plus, of course, the mouth is where we express ourselves linguistically, in song, and through guttural sounds into the world, creating relationships that aren’t just physical, but mental, emotional, spiritual.

Okay, back to the back story.

About two years ago, my dear dentist and his wife (who serves as his receptionist and assistant in his very private practice),  told me I should probably get a dentist that is “in the system,” so that I could get delta dental insurance.

In other words, that they wanted the best for me, no matter what it meant for their practice.

Okay, I searched around and found a dental office that takes the dental insurance I was supposed to have.

Spent two years with that office, which had two actual dentists, plus numerous assistants, techies, receptionists, billing people, etc. A VERY busy place, and tightly scheduled.

The very first thing this new dentist did was look at the situation on the back top right side, and say “these three teeth have to come out, right away.”

Wow. These were the teeth where admittedly, a deep hole had developed between two of them, and I was both doing oil pulling three times a day, plus my old dentist’s meticulous work to clear out bacteria there each time I saw him.

So, being a good girl, I made an appointment with the oral surgeon, got those teeth out the very next day.

Ever since then, I can only chew on the left side.

Which is important, since the next thing that happened was, according to my new dental office, I needed to get a root canal on the crowned bottom left molar. What? Yuck. I’ve always heard bad things about root canals. But one good thing here: this dental office sent me to the “best endodontist in Indiana,” who happens to live in Columbus, one hour from here. And yes, the procedure was done there, and I have to admit, it felt right; the dentist was done in one hour, both precise and exacting.

Plus, I hardly felt any pain afterwards, which apparently is quite unusual.

Of course I could have chosen to simply yank the tooth out, but that would mean the only side where I can still chew would be compromised. So I opted for the root canal.

(BTW: my jaw bone structure is so eroded that I cannot have implants. Which I’m glad about, having learned since that they are a bad idea.)

Okay, so the next time I went to the new dental office, I was told I needed a filling, also on the left side, but above, near the front.

This of course after X-rays, over and over through the years. My mouth is permanently radiated. . .

A tiny filling, but they claimed I needed it.

 

By about this time I was beginning to get concerned, seeing myself eventually toothless, having to eat baby food until I died.

It was about then that I discovered Ellie Phillips, a dentist with an entirely other way of working with teeth, and oral health in general.

I began to follow her protocol.

I’ve already written one post that refers to her.

And today is the day I see the dentist, a different dentist, my old dentist, the one who is NOT in any system. I will tell him the saga of what’s happened since I left him, tell him about my new protocol, and ask him to look at my teeth. Do they really need to be cleaned? That is the question; because if they do, then I’ve been on the wrong track.

Will report back on Monday.