Sometimes you realize you need more than just a night guard for the symptom or issue you have.
Last week, I had some major dental work done. We’ll just call it the first step of the to rebuilding my teeth. Apparently, my dentist never went beyond the observation that I was probably grinding my teeth at night. Just prescribed a night guard. Typical protocol.
But much to my dismay, things continued to get worse. Yet, noone looked deeper into the situation…including me as I had no idea. They never asked any more questions. They never really looked for the real reason I was grinding my teeth…now to the point of no enamel left, and fillings on those back molars were starting to fall out.
But no one said anything beyond the normal “oh, you must be grinding your teeth at night!”. So I searched for others to help find the answer.
I did find a holistic dentist, in Chicago, who confirmed what a few others had said “You are grinding with every bite you take.” Your jaw is misaligned now so you are overcompensating with every bite to grind instead of chew. So we started the rebuild, along with repositioning the jaw and teeth so it all becomes right again.
I went to several holistic dentists who just wanted to do the last steps ..but I kept looking. This dentist is taking the first steps needed to have the best outcome. Others failed to do this first step which would just be an expensive guaranteed fail. I would get my teeth rebuilt, but the adjustments would be afterwards so all my onlays would most likely crack and noone talked about repositioning the teeth or jaw…just the clean up and the onlays.
This is much like what I do when I work with clients. I look for the other underlying issue rather than just give you a ‘night guard‘ which is like a band aid for a gushing wound. It may help a bit…but it is not addressing the cause. I also look for the best solution long term and permanently for your issue.
We may just address the symptom… but that would be temporary.
I could get you hooked on supplements….but that would be temporary and expensive potentially.
Would you prefer to do something that has long term results?
I would too.
I like to look for the underlying clues as to how it is you got to this symptom. Like GI distress, fatigue, pain or dehydration issues – they didn’t happen overnight. It usually started with a stressful event months or years prior. There may be an emotional component to it as well.
Then other things got layered on top of it, and what you have now is layers of things to resolve, some of which are the symptoms you came in with. As you get rid of one, another surfaces.
You need to rebuild but you also have to manage a few other steps first to get to true balance again.
We don’t want an epic fail. We both want an epic success!
There is always an underlying reason why your symptoms are there.
Nutrition is only part of the solution as is helping you deal with the stresses differently and helping your body to not react to those stresses in the future. Some imbalance is there, but no one is looking deep enough to find where it is or the right solution with you. Well, I am willing and I do what is needed to get to the root of the symptom to bring the body back to homeostasis (a fancy name for balance) inside the body and the mind.
Omit one aspect, and it is like saying you just need a night guard when your issue is with every bite you chew….it is an easy answer but not much help for on term.
If you have an issue that seems half answered or just keeps lingering, it may be time to schedule a chat to dig deeper into the how you got here….and how we can get your out, re-balanced and back to being fully you – having fun doing everything you want to do without pain, GI distress or fatigue…or extra weight. You may need more than just a night guard!
As I was unable to chew last week….I rediscovered my soup recipes! Bonus, right?
I actually love to cook but stopped the adventures as I ate just mushy food so my teeth wouldn’t get worse. They all take less than 30 minutes from start to finish. As my renter said “your soups make my belly feel good. I am less hungry than usual”
The link to the easy mushroom soup is here. You can get the recipe booklet, too. They are perfect timing for this cold snap of winter….and can be made in 30 minutes or less.