AYURVEDIC DENTISTRY

One of the topics I came to research was the subject of dentistry which I felt had been much neglected in the field of Ayurveda. I was confident that treatments were present but this seemed to be nearly forgotten in practical application. I was inspired upon this road by doing a study earlier last year on the systematic toxicity of modern dentistry. Virtually all treatments and substances used in modern dentistry were swarmed in controversy, from mercury-amalgam fillings (containing one of the most powerful neurotoxins known to man!) to root canal treatments (which have been linked to weakened immunity and other disorders), to fluoridation which was very controversially being debated on the world medical scene and had been banned by some governments due to it's question marks. In my heart I had the question that there must have been a natural science for preventing and treating dental problems. I was right and upon this quest I discovered Dr. Jaysuth Makwana.

Dr. Jaysuth Makwana is an Ayurvedic doctor from Gujarat's most famous university who did his post-graduate speciality in Ayurvedic Dentistry. He presently runs an organization called The Divine Dental Trust and has devoted much of his time to promoting Ayurvedic Dentistry and to helping people rediscover this science.

I met Dr. Makwana in Bangalore at a charity dental camp for local people and witnessed him perform an ancient treatment called Jalandar Bandar Yoga. This treatment allows him to single-handily remove teeth that are beyond repair and in need of extraction, without any pain, blood or discomfort for the patient at all. It is a very simply technique to learn and reduces the risks and discomforts caused by this procedure when usually performed. It's also safe for diabetic and heart patients who could not normally tolerate surgical procedures. The practice involves ancient Yogic and Ayurvedic knowledge of blocking prana to the head region using a special "lock" from hatha yoga. When prana is suitably blocked, the tooth can be extracted easily without much effort and without pain or adverse bleeding.

While extraction painlessly is all well and fine, my deep aim was to find methods for saving and restoring and preventing and treating tooth and gum disease. On this journey I spoke deeply with many Vaidyas interviewing them on various treatments. Ayurveda offers various topical applications of oral oils (mostly consisting of bitter antibacterial oils like clove, babul and neem) and most importantly the regular use of tooth powders as opposed to tooth pastes. Of all the tooth powders I sampled, the one I found particularly and immediately effective was Sudanthi Churna prepared by Ayushakti in Mumbai. (See more about Ayushakti later in this article). Sudanthi churna is a combination of herbs that all help to clean, disinfect and strengthen gums and teeth and has a synergistic effect on preventing tooth decay.

From an Ayurvedic perspective, dental problems are linked to poor bone nourishment and related poor diet, with particular reference to taking excess refined foods which remove minerals from the body while passing through the digestive process. For those wishing to strengthen teeth, white sugar and white flour must be removed from the diet as well as any other processed, denatured and refined foods. Nature gives us wholesome, nutritive foods and our modern processing methods remove all the nutrition which has it's price. There are various formulas in Ayurveda for strengthening bones and subsequently teeth such as coral and pearl powders. Ayushakti have a special formula called Keshiya and another called Praval Moti for this purpose alone which we found in clinical observation to be very effective.

If bones are not being adequately nourished, there is often a deeper imbalance in the body which could be addressed by Panchakarma. Panchakarma aims to restore the digestive fire to it's full and optimal power so that what is eaten can be transformed into tissues correctly and completely.

Upon our research on this topic we also got wind of a doctor in Kerala, Dr. Ram Nathan, who had also done some speciality in this area and opened an Ayurvedic dental care centre in a hospital there. We discovered that Dr. Ram Nathan was using many ancient methods for treating and preventing tooth and gum disease with great results.

In conclusion Ayurveda has a vast scope in the dental field, it is our wish that some dedicated research could be directed in this area and in the course of the next years we will plan and proceed with a small project in this field.

Contact: Dr. Jaysuth Makwana, Divine Dental Trust E-mail: drjmakwana@yahoo.com

Upon my research I discovered references in Tibetan and Ayurvedic medical texts that indicated a herb existed which could halt oral diseases and trigger the natural remineralization of decayed teeth. Modern studies confirm that there is an ongoing process of dental remineralization which occurs naturally and it makes sense that such a medicine could exist. Thus should this possibility exist, the need to visit a dentist would reduce to almost none in combination with suitable nutrition.

We persisted in this field and discovered two leads that might bear fruit in this regard. One was a Tibetan herbal product which we had travelled to Tibet in May 2003 partially to research further and will be returning later there for more enquiry. Many senior Tibetan doctors report about such a plant but we have yet to find one to identify and prepare it.

We also had read reports from a botanical researcher doing work in Chhattisgarh of a certain traditional healer from Gunderdehi named Mr. Chawda who had a herbal oil preparation that he administered in the form of a traditional Ayurvedic nasya (application of the medicated oil to the nostrils). There have been many reports of dental carries being stopped and reversed with this treatment and the description of the treatment mirrors that mentioned by other references so it is our sincere wish to spend time in this region documenting this further as it could be an immense boon to global dental health. We will update our readers as to further discoveries in this regard after our proposed visit to the region a little later this year.

Dental health is an area we initially decided to focus some time upon researching due to the lack of truly holistic dental treatments available in the West. Modern dentistry is technically superb but systematically nearly all the treatments have vastly immunotoxic and hepatoxic effects.

Any long term treatment of dental disease should bring an awareness to the overall physiological health of the person. To bring the doshas into harmony and to remove aam (toxins) from the tissues of the body and digestive system. Even were a herbal oil be available that can stop and reverse dental decay, people should be aware that there is a greater internal need and the body tissues are simply reflecting this outwardly.

In 2005 we will be spending some time further on this subject. Please visit our soon to be published website frequently for articles and information.