Hi! I’m Dr. Shah.
You’re here because you want to take charge of your health. Or you were curious about this A.I.R approach to dentistry. For whatever reason you are here, I want to give you a warm welcome. You may have heard the terms “airway”, “invisalign”, “restorative” the last time you were at the dentist. Or you may have not. The A.I.R approach to dentistry is unique, because it talks about other aspects of health such as your sleep health, your diet, your exercise, your breathing patterns. Wait, what? What does this have to do with dentistry?
To your surprise, it has everything to do with your oral health. If you have poor sleep habits and you’re grinding your teeth at night, you’re chipping away your healthy teeth. If you are not getting good quality sleep and are one of those 40 million Americans who have some form of sleep disordered breathing, your health and your quality of life will suffer. Let’s think about diet. The buzz word nowadays is eating foods to lower “inflammation.” Well, how does inflammation showcase in your mouth – your gums and bone health!
Oral health is a manifestation of your systemic health! My goal is to offer you a unique approach to dentistry. I will talk about the foundation of oral-systemic health, diet, breathing patterns, even how your thoughts affect your oral health (I know!) A fair warning, though, you will learn a lot and you may question some of this content. I will offer you my recommendations, but ultimately, I want to empower you to make the right decisions for your own health. You’ll learn a little bit of biology, chemistry, nutrition and even some physics. But I will make it fun and informational for you. That’s my promise. Before you navigate through the content, I want you to understand why AIR dentistry is my passion. Let me start with my story.
Here’s my story:
Here I was, a general dentist unlike any other. “Drill, fill, bill.” My schedule would look the same everyday. I would come home everyday from work, feeling empty. After dental school and residency, I felt competent to practice ‘bread and <vegan> butter’ dentistry for the rest of my career. But why was I feeling so tired and overwhelmed all the time? I practiced yoga, I followed a plant-based diet, I took my supplements daily. I took care of my health. And yet, I was physically and mentally drained, all the time. A coffee aficionado, I called myself. And I was proud of it.
Fast forward 2 years into practice, I was attending a continuing education course and something had caught my eye. The powerpoint slide was of a woman (a little bit older than me) who had a very similar medical and physical profile of myself. They described this woman whose chief complaint was that she was unable to keep her weight off (me!!), had subclinical hypothyroid, lived a stressful work life, had jaw problems (me! me!). She initially came into the dental office wanting to address the jaw problems. However, the dentist recognized all of these symptoms, and suggested that she get a sleep study done. A sleep study, I thought? What?! I’m sleeping 8 hours every night! What does this have to do with poor sleep? I decided to take a at home sleep study that night myself. To my surprise, I found out that I had poor quality, not because of my lifestyle or choices, but because my airway was compromised because of my tongue, my posture. I was breathing through a very narrow pipe – no wonder I never felt healthy. The oxygen I tried so hard to breathe in through my nose, didn’t make it to my lungs very efficiently!!
Now, I knew that I had to dig in deeper into this topic. So, I dedicated countless hours being trained by dentists, medical doctors, PhD’s to understanding the importance of recognizing the poor sleep and airway to be the root cause of many oral & systemic health problems. I knew that I could help myself and help so many others like me, I would change their quality of life. Addressing the root cause of many oral and systemic health diseases is what airway dentistry entails. It’s seems simple, but a slight change in the way you breathe can make a big different in your life.
Once the airway is addressed and the foundation is stable, malocclusion (crooked teeth) is what Invisalign (or orthodontics) can help address. When all of your teeth are aligned with each other, it will help reduce headaches, jaw problems, the way you eat and even the way you smile. You will look radiant with a well balanced smile. When your teeth are aligned and balanced, it becomes easier for the dentist to work on removing infection and decay from your teeth (the restorative).
So, there it is. A.I.R. Airway – Invisalign – Restorative. A philosophy that addresses the root cause of your symptoms while helping you balance the proper microbiome in your mouth. A healthy mouth is a healthy body. If you can breathe better, you are more likely to reduce the chance of getting systemic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, stroke. If you can align your teeth and balance your smile, you are more likely to reduce the chance of getting teeth wear, headaches or jaw problems. If we can help address and remove decay and infection in your body your oral microbiome will change which will affect the way you eat and digest your feed.
Are you ready to change your life?