Beyond Vanity: How a Full Mouth Restoration Healed Dental Trauma, Part 2 | E065
Join host Toréa Rodriguez in this enlightening episode of Wildly Optimized Wellness as she continues her conversation with Dr. Kelly Blodgett, a pioneer in biological and humanistic dentistry. Dive deep into the transformative journey of full mouth restoration, addressing not just the physical but the emotional and psychological impacts of dental trauma. Dr. Blodgett shares his holistic approach, emphasizing the importance of viewing dental health through a comprehensive lens that considers the entire human experience. Discover how this method not only heals but also empowers patients to reclaim their smiles and confidence.
In This Episode
00:00 – Beyond Vanity: How a Full Mouth Restoration Healed Dental Trauma - Part 2
01:11 – Introduction to Dr. Blodgett and his approach to dentistry
02:20 – Biological vs. Traditional Dentistry
03:52 – Humanistic Dentistry
06:44 – Addressing Dental Trauma and PTSD
08:47 – Dr. Blodgett’s methods for training compassionate staff
12:21 – Full Mouth Restoration Process
17:15 – Grinding Issues and Solutions
24:21 – Biocompatible and Biomimetic Materials
30:28 – Pre-Treatment and Healing Strategies
38:12 – Tools for Managing Anxiety
42:09 – Neural Rewiring of Dental Experiences
44:11 – New Patient Experience
Resources Mentioned
Want to learn more about the transformation process Toréa used in this episode? Get on the Waitlist for the announcement for this year’s cohort of Deep Transformation!
Website: https://www.torearodriguez.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torearodriguez/
Troscriptions Methylene Blue: https://torea.co/troscriptions
The Science Behind Troscriptions with Dr. Scott Sherr | episode 063 https://www.torearodriguez.com/wowpodcast/e063
Connect with Dr Kelly Blodgett
Website: https://www.blodgettdentalcare.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blodgettdentalcare/
Transcript
Toréa Rodriguez 00:00
Welcome to the Wildly Optimized Wellness. I am your host Toréa Rodriguez, and I've had a lifelong fascination with the natural world, and its impact on our well being. For over a decade, my work as a functional practitioner has been exploring how our relationship to our environment, to our thoughts, beliefs and emotions can have a profound impact on our physical and mental wellness. And because of that neurology, and brain based rewiring is a core focus of my practice. I am passionate about helping people not only feel better, but actually achieve that vibrant, no holds barred version of themselves. They've been missing for a long time, and how we actually get there. Well, that is what this show is all about. Please keep in mind that this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. And if you liked what you hear today, I would love it. If you would leave a review, hit that follow button or share it with a friend. Because we never know how much we can impact others when we do. Let's start today's adventure, shall we?
Toréa Rodriguez 01:11
So Dr. Blodgett, welcome back to the Wildly Optimized Podcast. I'm excited to have you here again, because there's been quite a relationship that we have built over the last couple of years because of my restoration process. But I also wanted to talk about some of the concepts that I've learned by being a patient client in your office, and just kind of what you are about with us. But welcome back.
*Dr. Kelly Blodgett 01:39
First of all, thank you Toréa, fully excited to be back with you and I'm so happy to see your beautiful smile.
Toréa Rodriguez 01:49
It's totally amazing. So first, for people who have not heard The original podcast episode that you came on, and we've talked a lot about biological dentistry, and why it's so important to pay attention to the whole human body, when we're looking at just our teeth, I will definitely post a link in the show notes for that so people can catch up. But first, I'd love for you to just kind of give you a little bit of an intro as to what sets you apart from regular dentists and then we will dig into some of these other concepts and talk further.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 02:20
Yeah, perfect. Well, you know, what I'm comparing the concept of biological dentistry which is a big buzzword these days versus traditional care. The most succinct way I can say that is traditional care is really a symptomatic model. You look for holes, you look for bleeding gums, you treat you treat the symptom.
Toréa Rodriguez 02:41
Yeah.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 02:42
The biological approach is more systematic, looking at the health systems of the whole body and, and considering that like a hole in the tooth or get inflamed gums, are more really more of an issue of the body raising his hand to say, hey, we've got a problem here. Is it a gut health issue and nutrition, stress too many medications, you know, shutting off your, your saliva, I mean you know, things like that, right. So it's a systems approach, as opposed to a symptomatic approach.
Toréa Rodriguez 03:11
I love how that is the definition of biological dentistry and that is something that is definitely in line with somebody who is looking at holistic wellness of for the overall vitality of the the human being. But your office actually takes this concept of biological dentistry even further and that is part of this whole story that I have with my own dental experience of how much more came out of working with you and your staff in your office. Can you tell me a little bit more about this concept of humanistic dentistry?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 03:52
Absolutely, I would love to. So, you know, I do a lot of talking with people and and I intentionally create the opportunity to discuss the the terms holistic, biological, integrative, functional, they're so overused.
Toréa Rodriguez 04:12
This is a problem in the wellness industry it is a problem.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 04:15
I appreciate that people I know, you know, like when I started thinking, like, are we moving in a holistic or biological direction, whatever that means. It how does that fit in and relate to other people that consider themselves biological and integrative? Whatever. And of course, every practice is going to be a unique reflection of the leader of that practice. So there's no one way but to your point and your question about humanistic dentistry a couple of weeks ago, you know, I'm doing my thinking in the shower as I do every morning. And you know, and it comes to me I'm thinking about like, what is it that so uniquely different about the experience that we create, because of how, how we create space and time to welcome people into our practice. I mean, you know, as you recall it to, to our experience that first visit, and we talk about the emotions, and the feelings that accompany people's past and present dental experiences. And it hit me it was like humanism, it's about the human being that we're serving. So as soon as I got out of the shower, you know, I pulled out my iPad and typed in, you know, what's the definition of humanism. And I started finding like things about humanistic psychology where it's the focus on feelings and emotions. And I'm like, that's really what we do. And I found some information out there about like, other like dental schools are using the terms, like we're trying to embody a humanistic approach, unfortunately, it's like, that looks good on websites for incoming dental students. But in terms of the actual living that out, it requires a divorce from the traditional model, which is, we're allowing insurance companies to dictate how you receive care. And care is always provided in a dogmatic fashion, right? A whole on a tooth drill, fill and bill. I mean, we're just thinking way outside the box of that, but, but it starts with the human-human connection. And until you and I know each other and care about each other, you know, and I've heard what you have had to share about like your past experiences. We're not, we're not synced. And that's what I want to do is be a partner with the people that I'm helping, which is kind of been what we've done.
Toréa Rodriguez 06:44
Which is so special and so rare, I would definitely describe your practice as a hidden gem in the sea of dental options. And I never expected to go from having this horrific experience with a root canal, which left me full on PTSD around dental work, right. Full on, and I can't imagine that I'm the only one. Oh, many patients, do you see that walk into your office with full on PTSD?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 07:15
Millions. I mean, there are millions out there, right? Because if you figure 25 million plus people are getting root canals a year?
Toréa Rodriguez 07:24
Yeah.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 07:24
I mean, that's a lot of people who are likely having not only potentially negative physical experiences, of course, like, you know, if it's a painful deal, and you have to sit there and struggle through it, like, that's awful. But think about
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 07:40
I screamed through mine.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 07:41
Yeah, think about the autonomy. That is that is not respected. Because you probably went in, you had a tooth that hurt. And they told you, well, you need a root canal, like there's no other options given and just open your mouth, and we're going to do our best to get you numb and get through it and, I mean it's, oh, it's an unfortunate state of affairs.
Toréa Rodriguez 08:04
It is and tell me a little bit about how have you worked with your staff, because it's not just you, that has this humanistic approach, I'd love to hear a little bit more about how you've worked with your staff to have that compassion for the patients who are coming in. I mean, that's what I feel when I come into your office is there's a lot of compassion for my past experience, and also for helping in that process, because it wasn't just me, going off and seeing a therapist and working on EMDR to get rid of PTSD symptoms. I mean, simultaneously, I'm doing that work. But there's a lot of the experience in your office. What? How have you kind of infused that with your staff?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 08:47
Yeah. Well, as I was saying earlier, you know, every practice is going to be a reflection of the ethos of the leader. Well, I mean, let's hope so. Right? Because like, how else would people? Yeah, I mean, get a sense of like, why why are we here, you know? And so, I guess to directly answer your question, I've been doing this for I've sold my practice for over 23 years, I've had the opportunity to distill the people who choose to work with me in such a way that only people who love this are going to choose to be a part of it, because I'll tell you what, it's not easy. You know, I mean, be slowing your whole life down, to be present for people and being patient with their feelings. That takes so much intentionality and we I foster that by creating time every single day, in our morning huddle with our whole team, like we meet as a team every morning to talk about what's going on And for whom are we providing service? How you know what unique things should we know about them so we can be intentional in how we approach them. And then I spend another 15 to 30 minutes, specifically with my front office team, talking about language, looking at emails, talking about phone calls, working on the nuances of communication. So that, because honestly, like, I was born fortunate, you know, I had parents who were big on language, and because of my background in psychology, you know, I've become intentional about how we use words, but most people aren't. So we make space for that every single day. So that we look at like, how are we saying things in an email? Are we I mean, I find, I find that my team members communication will reflect their mindset of that day. So if they come into me, you know, with something that's Uber is synced, yet the email that they've received is really long. I like, where are you in a rush? By chance, like, the response you're providing? Does it reflect the energy of what they've sent? So you know, how do we, I often use the the analogy of playing a game of tennis, you know, if somebody sends you a forehand, top spinning ball, you're probably going to return something unkind. If they do a drop shot, you might come up and do a drop shot on him, you know, like, it's just a reflection, like, like, begets like. And it's just that simple of energy, right? It's a reflection of energy, I guess, is the shortest way to say it. But it is an intentional choice in learning to communicate effectively, so that we can touch the hearts and connect with people. Who are they want our help, but it is scary. You know, I think your your situation, I remember when we first met, and I could feel the trepidation. It was almost like the the comfort of what you had experienced and where you were felt safer than the the concept of what if we move forward? How, you know, if it was bad when I had this, like, how much worse would it be if I did something more? Right?
Toréa Rodriguez 12:21
Oh, yeah, I mean, to kind of bring that forward, I think, you know, knowing what I experienced with that single tooth. And then also knowing that I had this issue with my grinding and that things had been worn away. And we'll get into kind of what that was, like. The concept of doing that with every sick, like doing a procedure, with every single tooth and my mouth, freaked me out, I was just, you're right, I was much more comfortable dealing with the mediocrity, then thinking about moving forward if I was going to because we have predictive brains, right? So we're gonna think about the past, or we're gonna project it forward. So I'm projecting forward this horrific experience for how many teeth do we have in our mouths?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 13:13
You have 28.
Toréa Rodriguez 13:16
28? 28 times what I experienced was what my brain was coming up with, right, this catastrophic, horrible experience. And so, you know, knowing that there was a different way was so key to this whole process is awesome. I would love to kind of skip into or kind of shift the conversation a little bit around. You know, what was it that was so bad about the grinding issue? Right, grinding, we know is not really good, it leads to TMJ. But in my, the way I describe it, is, you know, mine was so bad that the jaw was over flexing all sorts of things. But I'd love to hear from a clinical standpoint, what was your assessment five years ago about the level of grinding that was going on? Because I came to you for just a checkup on a root canal?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 14:13
Yeah. Isn't it ironic? The one thing that's still there, you know, but but I think it's because of the thoughtfulness and, and I could also feel, as I think back to that, you know, I just, I knew based on, like, our energetic connection that you weren't there yet. And that was okay. You know. So, as you recall, I remember asking you like, what's it like, you know, tell me about your jaw joint and in this and that, and it wasn't optimal. But again, it's it's the Cromie situation that you knew and it was, you know, you're able to eat three meals a day and not worry about it. So it's like it's not going to be a life or death thing. But was it zapping the quality of your life experience? It's, of course now retrospectively, we can say, oh my goodness, look at all the, the, the optimization, the flourishing that has occurred just mean energetics alone. Like when you smile, and you share like, like you were telling Kaylee, when we did the post treatment review about using finally starting to use emojis with teeth, I was like walk out. I mean, I've never even considered that. But what a powerful thing,
Toréa Rodriguez 15:31
The layers of the subconscious pieces of the least shame of my smile. And of course, this all started from birth, I had the cleft lip and palate situation. So I grew up with a scar. And so kids would tease me about my scar. So that kind of started it. And then, you know, later on when I couldn't get my teeth straightened. For whatever reason, I don't know, if we ran out of money as a kid. I don't know what happened there. But that tooth, we could never get it straightened. I was always self conscious about it. And then built in these layers and layers of shame so much that I wasn't even aware that by the time emojis came around, I was avoiding this whole block of emojis that had teeth because I couldn't even identify with them.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 16:15
It's just amazing, it's amazing. Yeah. Oh, it's so awesome.
Toréa Rodriguez 16:21
So let's talk a little bit about the process of restoration. Because I will admit that when we were talking about how to solve the the greater issue with my dental issues, if you will, I got a little intimidated by the process. Because of a my projection of oh my gosh, we're talking about 30 traumatic 20 traumatic experiences. But let's talk about that process. Because, yes, is it expensive? Yes. Did I have to save up money for it? Yes. But why did we choose this process of full mouth restoration versus the typical? And maybe we start with the typical, like, what does it typically look like? Because I've had a couple of dentists give me that evaluation? And, yes, they were cheaper, but it sounded actually scarier.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 17:15
It's well, it is it is absolutely right. So the when I think of the traditional dental restorative process, meaning like when you ground down, it was for you and is it as it is for so many people, when you've ground off two millimeters of your own tooth structure on both the upper and lower jaws, and you've exposed the second layer of the your molars and premolars. Like, that's a lot of tooth loss. You know? The, it seems so counterintuitive to me that, in order to build it back, you need to grind even more away, like that's just craziness. So it's leaning into the old school mindset in dentistry, like pre Dental bonding. And I'm talking like, pre 1980s, which is the age by the way, from which many dental instructors, that's when they retired, right? They retired in the or sorry, when they not retired when they were in dental school 1960s 1970s 1980s. It was all like you had to do everything physically, meaning grind a tooth they own for a crown, create a shape, kind of like think about putting Legos together, right where they kind of click together, and you can put a little glue in between them and it holds on well. You know, certainly since the late 80s, if not even a little bit before we've had Dental bonding, the ability to etch teeth, create a micro like a microscopic etched enamel and dentin surface to which we can bond materials using resins. And it's crazy strong. Like we know, we can actually glue ceramic materials to teeth as strong if not stronger than our own enamel. Is it hear it to our own dentists. Like that's crazy strong. Right? It's cool. So we know that we can do that. Why on earth? Would we be grinding teeth down to nubs? So when you call me up and you said look, I met with a guy in Bend and you know, I'm considering, you know, building my mouth back up. I think I'm getting ready. But he's telling me I gotta grind all my teeth down for crowns. And I said please, please, please do not move. Don't do anything. Like let's talk about how we could in a non invasive fashion, or certainly not any more invasively than you had already experienced. You know, and of course, like we were able to additively rebuild your mouth. You know with onlays and veneers and things where literally it's like just veneering over the top of your own tooth structure. It is so,
Toréa Rodriguez 20:12
I didn't even know it's possible.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 20:13
Right.
Toréa Rodriguez 20:14
So super cool. And once again, I've never had a dentist like texting, like, send me a message back and be like, Please don't do anything until we talk, I will make time to talk to you on the phone. You were traveling at that time, when we had that conversation, and I was so blown away, that you would take time out of your travel to have a conversation with me that again, that's the humanistic side of your dental practice.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 20:43
Yeah. well, and that's thank you for acknowledging that. I mean, if I didn't call people or texted when I was traveling, I would never text people, right? Because I'm on the go a lot. But yeah, you know, for me to not let you know what your options are, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. And if you if you came to understand, like, this is how we can do it. This is how much time it's gonna take. This is how much it's gonna cost both in time and money. Like if you can't work through all that and you're like, you know what, I just want to have my teeth groundout for crowns, that at least you're informed and you can make that decision. But when you went to that dentist, I am positive. They said, Well, here's what we would do.
Toréa Rodriguez 21:27
Oh, they did. They gave us a whole presentation of what was going to happen. And I got a bit wide eyed of like, yeah, I don't think that's what I want to be doing.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 21:38
And I'm guessing it was less expensive.
Toréa Rodriguez 21:40
Very much so.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 21:41
Yeah. But it would have cost you the health of God knows how many of your teeth. Because when you peel off, can you imagine, right? This I mean, this is what we do and we're putting your crown in the tooth of a dental drill is spinning at 200,000 rpms and we're peeling off the enamel and grinding into the sub, you know, the depth and the substance of the tooth that is filled with nerve fibers. And then we're wondering like, Well, why is it sensitive? That's weird. And of course when it's sensitive later, you know, what do they say? It's not like oops, sorry, we just fried the the pulp of the tooth. Oh, no, it's Torea. You need a couple of root canals. And then you're gonna pay more.
Toréa Rodriguez 22:26
That's how my root canal came to be. That's right, is an over grinding situation. And sure enough, within a week, that nerve died
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 22:35
100% It like, it is so common. You know, it's, I got to just throw this in there. For those who are listening. The number of people that I see who go to a biological dentist, you know, for the best intentions to get their mercury fillings taken out, let's say because they want to be in better health and they're first of all, they're like, oh, we gotta grind it down and do a crown. It's like, wait a minute, I've been chewing on this tooth with a mercury fillings for 35 years. I've never had a day's pain. Why do we need to grind it down for a cramp? Oh, well, it might fracture? Yes, but I've been chewing on it for 35 years. It's never broken. And it's got this big hunk of metal in it. How can it be that you know disturbed? Oh, well, just because it's what we do. So like, going down the road of it's getting me inspired. I'm gonna have to write another post about crowns this week, apparently, because it's so abusive. You know, it really is. And it's like, to the point where it just disgusting. Like, if you don't grind all the enamel off, the likelihood is the tooth probably going to be a lot more comfortable.
Toréa Rodriguez 23:41
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I've had my fair share of like sensitive teeth over my lifetime. And a lot of that has to do with the amount of grinding and restoration and re restoration and all of that throughout the lifetime. So let's talk about a few other terms. We're going to shift gears again. A few other terms that come up because this biological dentistry is a bit overused. And like you said, while a lot of dentists have well meaning intentions, I'd love to talk about what's the difference between I've been seeing these words come up biocompatible biomimetic. What are those mean?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 24:21
Great. Yes. So bio mimetic would indicate and this is Kelly's definition, by the way, there's Dr. bloggs, its definition on this. So I don't know that you're gonna find it Webster's Dictionary, but biomimetic in my mind, would indicate that let's say when we're restoring a tooth that we're going to use materials that mimic the varying surfaces of tooth structure. So if we think about enamel versus Dental, enamel is insanely strong in dance and mineral rich Ah, the dentin. It's also pretty firm, but it has a greater degree of collagen in it, it has tubules in which your nerve fibers live. So the this the bonding materials that we use that work really well for an animal work, okay for dented similarly the or conversely, I should say the the materials that do really well for bonding to dentin, not not as well for an animal. Well, what if we actually thought about instead of just shoving one material in the whole day goal, what if we use two materials, you know, mimicking the nature of the anatomy of tooth. And so a lot of dentists respect that. And you tend to find that they rarely have patients come back and say my tooth feels sensitive, because they're respecting the anatomy and the bonding properties of dental materials and all that stuff. Right. So that would be the biomimetic concept that we are rebuilding in a way that respects dental anatomy, that the Turner biocompatible would have more to do with the unique person's immune system response to the materials that are being used. And I know this is getting pretty semantical. But you know, it's, we work with a company called Bio comp and Colorado, we send a lot of people's blood work to the that lab, we do a blood drop, centrifuge and send it to bio cop. And they will tell us, it's like a 250 page report of every dental material that's out there practically every material on the market, they can tell you which dental filling material which bonding agent which crown ceramic, which implant, which denture material, they can tell you specifically what is compatible, or least reactive for that person.
Toréa Rodriguez 27:05
To the immune system. So do you use that mostly with patients who are dealing with chronic immune issues? Or have serious chronic illness is that when you use that, because I've done that in the past, and I have my report, the 250 page report, but by the time I came to you my health issues had mostly been resolved and so we didn't find the need to do that. Is that when you use them?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 27:30
Yeah, I mean, let's say somebody's immune system is on fire. And, I mean, let's say they're thinking of doing something invasive, you know, like, like, we're, it's one thing to take out a nasty dead tooth, you know, root canal treated to, and put their own healing cells back in, well, nobody's going to reject their own healing cells, right? I don't need a compatibility test for that. But if they want to have an implant, and now whether that be zirconia ceramic, or a titanium implant, depending on the clinical situation, what, what is their immune system have to say about that? An implant like a veneer is easy enough to remove, right, I can use a laser and pop it right off, not so much with an implant hit Oh, when it's when it's implanted into the jawbone, and then the bone attaches to it, like removing that is not so easy. So I find it to be a really helpful thing. Now, I will say this, I have said hundreds of samples and gotten hundreds of biochem tests back. The materials that I've used for over 20 years, tend to be those which nobody responds to, I mean, might for instance, my Empress ceramic, that I've used for over 20 years, I've never seen anybody's report, come back and be sensitive to it. It's all it's always, yeah, it's always in the least reactive category. But it's the most simple of the ceramics that we use, you know, so if, if you don't overcomplicate it, like, like we have to deal with in order to make ceramics stronger, like for instance, lithium die silicate ceramic crowns, which are great materials, but if you're sensitive to lithium, that's not going to be a very good material for you. Right? So, it just depends on what you're trying to accomplish. And what you want to understand. Some patients that I meet are like, man, for $350, you know, just use what you think is best. Like, okay, you know, that's up to you, but at least they've been given the option to make that choice. And I can say, in good conscience, you know, like, yes, I've never actually seen anybody be sensitive to these sites. But for those who want to know and know that definitively, at least they have the option to discover it.
Toréa Rodriguez 29:49
That's amazing. That's totally amazing. I'm so glad that there are these tools available and not all dentists use those tools. You know, I had it When we were in Santa Cruz, there was a biologic logical dentist that I was seeing for a period of time for cleanings and, you know, he used that and I was all for it. Because at the time, my immune system was definitely reacting to a lot of things and so that made the most sense. So just having those tools available for your patients so that you can further fine tune and customize their care is pretty rare. So thank you for doing that and you're absolutely.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 30:28
Oh, so much. So it puts everybody at ease, right? It does say, great. You already know these are the these are the right materials for your health. I mean, again, even a filling, like, once you once you stick it in the tooth, it's there to stay God God willing, you know, and it would be nice to know that, in fact, that is nonreactive with the earth minimally reactive, I should say, because any foreign body we've put into any part of the body, including the mouth, it's not you, you know, so there's no way to make it completely nonreactive.
Toréa Rodriguez 31:04
Correct, correct. But we want to minimize those things. Because of course, a lot of patients that you see, are having health issues, and they don't know whether or not an infection under root canal is contributing to it or something else in their dental history is contributing to it. So, you know, having as much of this information available, and testing where it makes sense, right, not just testing everybody, and I love that about your practice, because a lot of times I see this a lot in functional medicine, they test regardless. And oftentimes, you know, if a client doesn't have some of the basics down, right, or if that information wouldn't actually change the way in which we would address a situation. Do we really need to be spending $500? On it?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 31:54
Yes.
Toréa Rodriguez 31:55
Right?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 31:55
Totally. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. No, I completely agree. It's funny, because I can think of some patients that I meet where their lifestyle, their, whatever they're dealing with nutritionally, emotionally or whatever. It's so it's so not well enough that we can even consider until they solve those issues, that dental stuff won't even matter. You know, and conversely, some people no matter what they do, emotionally, nutritionally, until we deal with the dental stuff, getting them on some, you know, plan won't even met. So it, it is so uniquely well, at least in our practice, you know, we're we're considering what's the most appropriate and predictable way to get to the endpoint of Al, assuming that's their goal. And generally, that is, you know, that's why people come to us, you know, is knowing where to refer them, when that's appropriate, you know, is this is the body ready for the kinds of things for which I can help them? Or do we need some other support you know,
Toréa Rodriguez 33:00
Yeah, amazing amazing. I want to talk about a recent discovery of mine, and also a recent discovery of yours. Can we talk about a dye compound called methylene blue?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 33:15
Absolutely. I'm full in.
**Toréa Rodriguez 33:19 So methylene blue, I did a podcast episode on it. So of course, I'll put that in the show notes and link back to it. It was my understanding, though, that the historical use of methylene blue was to detect cancer, oral cancer, is that correct? I'm not sure if that's what you learned about it.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 33:39
I don't know. I do know, it's been used for a die in a number of different health and, you know, pathological fashions. I became introduced to it through the functional nutritionist that I work with a lot here in Portland. She probably turned me on to that, like two years ago. And, of course, you know, I put the Trojan my mouth and let it sit there for half an hour and my mouth turned totally blue, which is crazy. Turns out I could have just swallowed it and probably been as effective and not had blue teeth. But yeah, I was recently at the American Academy of ozone therapy meeting as a couple. Yeah, like two weeks ago. And one of the speakers was talking about methylene blue, and it's at all oxygen capacities and how you know, up regulates ATP production in the mitochondria. And then I started doing the dive, right, you know, go, like, Ooh, what kind of PubMed articles can I find and found some synergistic. Some studies showing the synergy between red and infrared light therapy and using methylene blue? I wrote a post about it. And I'm like, this is fascinating. So I've been personally using it the past couple of weeks. The mental clarity that I've experienced is Unbelievable.
Toréa Rodriguez 35:02
Yeah, it's pretty amazing. And what I am excited about is that I know that in your practice, you use red light therapy with your patients, you've got a full, full body red light therapy device, which is amazing. And I use it every single time I get to go visit. But are you thinking about using methylene? Blue with your clients to help them with the antioxidant bit, you know, to get rid of some of the toxins? Because let's face it, so some of the materials used in dentistry aren't exactly going to be treated in the body as what am I trying to say? Some of the things are chemicals, right? And the body has to get rid of them. So we want to help the body get rid of them. But are you thinking about maybe implementing methylene blue as part of the whole treatment plan for patients?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 35:49
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm thinking about it from the perspective of like, before somebody comes to see me, and I'm thinking of particularly the person who is they've got water, more root canals. So their immune system has been on high alert, ever since that thing got killed, or numerous teeth got killed, or they've got oral cavitation lesions, and, you know, there's bone that has been negatively impacted? How can we help upregulate the energetics of the cells in that person's body before we get into a surgical intervention, so that their recovery is that much more predictable? And it's oftentimes, like, if you can just do little things every day, like, go for a 30 minute walk in the sunlight? Right? I mean, that's not complicated. But it's easy to go, Oh, I'm so busy, I can do it. I mean, that movement of walking up and down some hills, some stairs, whatever, and drinking clean water with some electrolytes. It's like, that's pretty simple. And if we can up regulate the energy of your cells with some methylene blue, like, why not? Now if you want to get to the, you know, go to the next level, and find a supportive place that has a, like a nova Thor bed, like we have, or, you know, something like that, where you've got red and infrared wavelengths, great. You know, we're all about it. I have found like, we've had that Nova Thor bed now for three years, little over three years. I mean, boy, that the degree to which that helps people maintain a nice sympathy or a parasympathetic balance, pre-peri, and post treatment is so helpful, along with a pemp therapy, by the way, like, our pulsed electromagnetic field therapy system, that Hugo Pro is just, I'm in love with it, you know, things pretty amazing. It's just awesome. I actually brought it home for the weekend, you know, for the long Memorial Day weekend, I'm like, Man, I'm gonna take it home and enjoy it all weekend. It's so awesome. And these things are non invasive. It's awesome.
Toréa Rodriguez 38:12
Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, it's, it's interesting to start thinking about combining these different modalities to really help with not only the patient experience, right, and helping manage the nervous system, but also with the various different pre and post healing strategies, right. And a lot of times, dentistry is just kind of like you show up, and then you deal, right, you get your treatment, and then you deal and the fact that your office is really thinking about the whole process, from even before anything starts is pretty amazing. And again, very unique. You also have a couple of different things in your office that help with client anxiety. And there is a particular device that clips on to the airlocks. And I've used it a couple times. What is that device and that thing is amazing, because I feel so calm when I'm using that thing. And honestly, because my treatment plan required a number of visits, I got some opportunity to really rewire my experience in a dental office. And that really helped through repetition. So what is is that device that was pretty cool.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 39:26
Yeah, that's called the Alpha stim. As you mentioned, you know, clips onto the ear lobes, you get to control the amplitude of how much energy are you using, you know, and basically, it's, I describe it to people like that, that alpha brainwave that it is stimulating, is that feeling of right before you fall asleep and you're kind of dozy? It feels like, really,
Toréa Rodriguez 39:54
I really know a period.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 39:55
Yeah, I feel really comfortable, you know. Now force, I think partly what complements and makes it so effective. We're not listening to Germany's greatest hits in the office while you're doing that, right? It's like, or, you know, and I love Germany, and I love rock music, but like, we're intentionally creating colors. And sounds like we're always playing spa music. And so when you're doing these things, and you know, the overhead screens are showing scenes of seascapes, and things that are very calming. So that the entire experience becomes downregulating to your nervous system. But that's a very direct, controllable way for you to be in charge of managing your the bio energetics of your brainwaves, which is super cool.
Toréa Rodriguez 40:48
It's very cool. And I would say was really, really helpful and getting me into a different state of being yet still in the same surroundings. Right? So I work with my clients and talk a lot about the circumstance, sometimes we can't change the circumstance, but we can change our response and our perspective around the circumstance. And these are some of the tools that we can do to really help release these old neural pathways that got paved in is like every single dentist office visit is going to result in pain. That's not necessarily the case. Not at all. And when we went in to do the final veneers, I have to say, I didn't even use the office, but maybe I did. Did we use it a lot? I don't think you did. I don't think I did. I think we used it on the temporary veneers. But that visit I was the most relaxed, ever, in a dental office ever in my entire lifetime. And I didn't even think that that experience was possible. And you know, through all of these things that we've talked about, and all of the different details that your office goes through to have this humanistic dental experience. I just want everybody to know, like proof positive, it worked. It worked for me. And I think that's pretty amazing.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 42:09
Well, I'm so glad to hear it. And of course, I can feel it, you know, the energetic sense of feeling your energy, I mean, heck fire, we, you know, we were there for hours, and we you know, fixed like 20 teeth, right all at once. So, if he, I love how you're acknowledging that you rewired your experience, so that you came to understand, you can trust that the people who are providing care for you are going to take care of you, it's going to be a positive experience. You know, you can imagine how that warms my heart to hear that's been my goal of this, this pursuing a practice or building a practice that allows people to be human, when they're coming to their dentist, they don't have to be like a mannequin that just sits there and opens their mouth and shuts up and takes it. You know, that's that's not how we take care of human beings appropriately. You know, we love on them. That's what we're called to do.
Toréa Rodriguez 43:09
So good. I mean, these are, these are techniques that I've developed in my own coaching practice to help my clients rewire experiences around certain things. And so, you know, behind the scenes, I was doing a lot of that work on myself, with colleagues who are also trained in these techniques. But the fact that your office is also doing that, together is pretty amazing and very unique. So thank you, again, for all the work that you're doing and your purpose on this planet. It's amazing. Before we sign off, and I know that I don't want to take up too much of your time. But before we sign off, can you just give a little bit of an explanation of what is it like to have a new patient experience? Because for me, I know what that was, like I shared about that in part one of this mini series, but how do people experience the first couple of hours with your practice? Because that is very different. And I want people who listen to this that are piqued and interested and what that might be like to kind of know a little bit more what is that going to look like for them?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 44:11
Yeah. So typically, we will have gathered a lot of information. So like prior to that first visit ever occurring. A lot of the people who come to see us they're they're traveling from a distance whether you know they're driving as you do from banned or Santa Cruz depending on where you are. Or they're flying from, you know, Florida or Boston or whatever. Many of them are like, hey, if I'm coming out, I would love to do my new patient experience as you do on your Mondays. But then I'd like to get care on Tuesday or Wednesday as well since I'm there and, you know, get to come in every day do the supportive therapies, the IV, vitamin C, the path, the red light, all that good stuff. Ozone therapies So they're typically going to work with one of my two new patient coordinators, either Heidi or Kaylee. And we're going to get very clear on some things like what are your goals? And what what is your budget and, you know, be helpful for people to know there'll be investing about $1,000. And approximately two hours, if not a little bit more of their time to go through the what I call the new patient experience with our oral health specialists. So we have intentionally done away with the concepts of assistants and hygienists? You know, it's like we have this hierarchical categorization of who who does what we don't have, we don't have that in our practice. We have oral health specialists, what do they do? They help you with your oral health, that's their specialty, go figure, right? So we've kind of redefined everything about what it looks and feels like to become a dental patient. To a space where I'm now I'm not a dental patient, I'm a human being. I'm being listened to my own thoughts and feelings are being considered my goals. I mean, what a concept, what are your goals? And when people scratch your head, because they've never been asked that I said, Well, you know, 10 years from now? Is this the smile that you want to have? Is this the bite that you want to have? Do you want to have dead teeth in your jaws? You know, yada, yada? Then we get into? What is it? Well, ultimately, I just want to be really healthy. And I don't I don't ever want to lose a tooth. Okay, great. Let's talk about that, you know, how can we help you accomplish that? Because I find that when we are fulcrum being or centering might be a better way, centering our recommendations based on the goals of that unique human being, the motivation will always be pure, because it's about giving them what they want. It's not about an intentionally, by the way, in, in the new patient experience, or let me hope that in all the communications within my practice, my team members are trained not to use the word need or should, because nobody needs teeth, you know, like I patient with dentures. So, you know, how can anybody need a root canal or need a crown? It's an option. You could consider this and based on your goal of wanting to keep your teeth, you might choose x, y, or z, right? So the language, the time the space, which probably the most unique thing about the new patient experience, which which you are patient before this even happen, is the fact that we only see new patients on Mondays, we don't do anything else. There's no dental drill going. There's no lasers firing. It just What's it Sound Like spa music and peace. You know, it the energy is super chill. There's no rush, nobody's rushing around, do it. It's so totally centered and intentional. And it's, it is totally re reworked. How we're able to help people I, I hope, you know, as I'm moving on in my career, it's one of the things I intend to do this fall is to teach my first New Patient Experience Class to practices that want to learn how to do this. You know,
Toréa Rodriguez 48:28
It's amazing.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 48:29
Yeah, it's, it takes full critical effect.
Toréa Rodriguez 48:32
It's going to start.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 48:34
I hope so.
Toréa Rodriguez 48:35
Yeah.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 48:36
Human beings deserve this.
Toréa Rodriguez 48:39
They do. Dentistry, unfortunately, has been a bit archaic, in terms of its procedures for a very long time. And so, you know, to have people that are forward thinking such as yourself, and then you going out and teaching other practitioners on how to do this work. The last couple of years, you've been doing this thing called the toxic tooth Tour, where you've been meeting other dentists all over the country to kind of talk about what what you do but to take it to that next level and start teaching other dentists how you're doing this, that's really gonna have quite a ripple effect. So thank you so much for changing the face of dentistry that we know it today. I really appreciate it.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 49:20
For sure. Thank you for for mentioning. It's funny. You know, when I started the toxic tooth tour in 2022, that's a lot of teas, by the way. My intention has always been like this is about human beings. This is about the patients, you know, so it's like, I just put it out on social media for anybody who wanted to come and learn what's been so interesting over the last two years as I've done this, it has just naturally drawn in healthcare professionals. So like when we were in Chicago, half of the room was filled with nurse practitioners functional nutritionists As acupuncture has dentists, then we have people in Chicago, coming from Minnesota coming from Iowa, because they wanted to learn more about how to better serve their patients. I think there's a lot of interest and desire for health care providers along all arms of healthcare. There's just not a lot of mentoring in there's a lot of mentoring in like how to run a better business. The interesting thing is you can make a massively, more effective and profitable business by focusing on treating human beings like human beings. And it unfortunately, like that's not the general way that it's done, but I hope to change that. Yeah, it's, I've seen the light, you know, like, by loving on people and focusing on what they want. Man magic happens, you know, to the point that you know, you and I can have this conversation, I see you're smiling and beaming with confidence. And it's like, my heart is so warm seeing you with a smile that, you know, like, that's you. That's the warmth to read that people know and love. And I'm so grateful to be a part of your journey.
Toréa Rodriguez 51:19
Yeah, it's been such an amplification. I can't thank you enough. Is there anything else that you would like to say? Or how can people find you? I know, we've done this in the previous episode, but let's wrap it up with how people can find you if they're interested in, you know, taking their dental care to a completely different dimension, dare I say?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 51:39
Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, I would encourage anybody listening, please follow us. If you're not already on Instagram. It's @Blodgettdentalcare. Same thing on Facebook, I've been on probably 50 podcasts, if people want to go back and listen to these things on Spotify, or Apple or anything like that. And they can, the best thing they can do is share my handle with every human being that they know. Because this is going to improve through a grassroots effort. I mean, it was kind of interesting, you know, the first toxic tooth tour stop we did this year was in Miami, Florida. And there were two functional nutritionist who came, and they brought their good friend Cindy, and Cindy is a root canal specialist. I don't think she had it. She had and she had a she had no idea what she was getting into. No, but but but Cindy and I have now you know, it's like, I look at the ripple effect of how it caused her to think it more intentionally, like she's still doing root canals. But she's able to communicate with people more effectively about the pros and the cons of doing it not doing what are your other options. And like if we can at least better and for human beings about what they're choosing, instead of coming from a point of a perspective of dogma, like you need this because I told you so then people are human beings are better served. So please share our handle with every living human that you know and love and care about because that's how we're going to change this profession. One human being at a time.
Toréa Rodriguez 53:18
Totally great. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me again on the podcast. And gosh, just thanks for everything. It's been amazing.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett 53:26
Thank you, Toréa.
Toréa Rodriguez 53:27
Hey, thanks for joining me for this episode of the Wildly Optimized Wellness podcast. If you're looking for new ways of thinking about your wellness, you can check out my website torerodriguez.com. Want to have a peek into what it's like to work with me? Check out the Wellness Curiosity Collective or any of my other programs or retreats. And if you found something helpful in today's episode, don't forget to leave a review hit that follow button or share it with a friend because they're gonna love that you thought of them. Until next time, See You Outside.
