Healthy Living Blog: Your Mouth Is Making You Sick: What Biological Dentistry Reveals About Root Canals, Cavitations, and Chronic Disease with Dr. Dominik Nischwitz

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Why Your Mouth May Be the Root Cause of Your Chronic Health Issues

Have you ever done everything right, cleaned up your diet, optimized your sleep, worked on your hormones, addressed your gut, and still felt like something was missing? Like there was one piece of the puzzle that nobody could find? I’ve been there. And I’ll be honest with you: I spent years in the alternative health space talking about root causes, and I completely missed one of the most obvious ones. It was sitting right there in my mouth.

People with gum disease have an 86% higher risk of stroke. A 36% higher risk of heart attack. And if you have tooth loss conditions, your risk of Alzheimer’s triples. These numbers come from the American Academy of Neurology and major cardiology research, not from fringe sources. And yet your dentist and your primary care doctor are almost certainly not having this conversation with you.

That disconnect is exactly why I brought Dr. Dominik Nischwitz onto the show. Dr. Dom is widely considered the world’s leading biological dentist, has placed over 5,000 ceramic implants, and wrote the book “It’s All in Your Mouth.” He has spent more than two decades building what he calls BioDentistry 3.0, a discipline that merges the highest level of dental craftsmanship with functional medicine and health optimization. What he shared completely reframed how I think about chronic illness, and I have a feeling it’s going to do the same for you.

The Mouth Is the Missing Link in Chronic Disease

In traditional medicine, the mouth has been treated as a completely separate system from the rest of the body. It gets its own specialists, its own insurance category, and its own language. And according to Dr. Dom, that separation is one of the biggest mistakes in modern medicine.

The mouth is the entrance to the body. It’s the beginning of the gut. The microbiome inside your mouth is the second most diverse microbial community in your entire body, and roughly half of your gut microbiome is seeded by what you swallow from your mouth every single day. So when your oral environment is inflamed, infected, or chronically burdened by old dental work, that information travels downstream into every system in your body.

Dr. Dom describes this brilliantly by explaining that each tooth is not just a hard biting instrument. Every single tooth is a small organ that sits on a major cranial nerve called the trigeminal nerve, which branches out from your brainstem and connects to the vagal nerve and virtually every other nerve pathway in your body. So any disruption, any chronic infection, any dead tissue sitting on that nerve network, feeds directly back into your brain, your immune system, your hormonal system, and your nervous system.

The question he poses to every audience he speaks to is simple and sobering. Do you have any metal in your mouth? A root canal? Have your wisdom teeth been removed? At health optimization conferences, 90 to 95% of the audience stands up for all three. And yet this area almost never gets examined as part of a chronic illness workup.

What Actually Happens During a Root Canal

With roughly 15 million root canals performed in the United States every year, this is one of the most common dental procedures in existence. And most people have no idea what actually happens during one.

When a tooth becomes severely decayed or traumatized to the point where the nerve is exposed, the dentist removes the interior contents of the tooth: the blood supply, the lymphatic supply, and the nervous system. The hollowed-out shell is then cleaned and filled with a material to preserve its structure for biting. The procedure is genuinely useful in specific situations. Acute pain that is affecting your neurological function, trauma in a young person whose jaw is still developing, these are situations where a root canal can serve an important short-term purpose.

But here is what nobody tells you about what happens next.

Once that tooth has been hollowed out and its living contents removed, it becomes a dead organ in your body. In every other area of medicine, a dead, decomposing structure is not left in the body. A gangrenous limb gets removed because the infection spreads. But the dental world has operated under a different set of rules, one in which function takes priority over the implications for whole-body health.

Inside each root, there are between 30,000 and 75,000 microscopic channels called dentin tubules. These tiny passageways become a perfect hiding spot for anaerobic bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi, things that thrive in the absence of oxygen and cannot be reached by your immune system because the tooth is no longer alive. Your body recognizes the threat and tries to manage it by producing a localized inflammation, often a small cyst or area of hardened bone around the tip of the root. Because this process is chronic and slow-moving, it almost never causes pain. It can go on for 10, 20, 30, even 50 years.

All the while, it is quietly adding to your body’s total toxic burden. Dr. Dom frames chronic illness using the analogy of a backpack: your body can compensate and carry a heavy load for a long time. But eventually the backpack spills over. A root canal may not be the only thing in that backpack, but for many women dealing with complex chronic health issues, it is a piece of the puzzle that has never been examined.

The Problem with Two-Dimensional X-Rays

One of the most important pieces of information Dr. Dom shared is about diagnostic tools. The standard dental x-ray is two-dimensional, and you simply cannot diagnose chronic inflammation or infection around a root canal on a flat image. The technology needed is a cone beam scan, which is a three-dimensional x-ray that allows a practitioner to look all the way around the tip of the root. He estimates that only 10 to 15% of dental clinics have this equipment.

When a cone beam scan is used, Dr. Dom says that in 90% or more of root-canaled teeth, there is visible chronic inflammation. This is rarely painful, because chronic processes do not produce acute pain signals the way an infection does. It is, however, a persistent stressor on your immune system, your nervous system, and your detoxification pathways.

If you have a root canal and a practitioner has told you it looks fine on an x-ray, there is a meaningful chance they were looking at an incomplete picture.

Cavitations: The Health Issue Nobody Is Talking About

If root canals are underexplored, cavitations are almost entirely unknown. And according to Dr. Dom, virtually everyone who has had their wisdom teeth removed likely has them.

Here is what happens. When wisdom teeth are extracted, typically in your teens or early twenties, the surgery is often traumatic and rapid. The body goes into shock, and the surgical site never fully heals. Gum tissue may grow over the area, and a thin layer of cortical bone may form on the surface, but inside, the bone remains dead and mushy. This is called a cavitation, or in newer research terminology, Covered Socket Residue (CSR).

Recent peer-reviewed research from Professor Sharam Ganati at the University of Frankfurt has confirmed that these cavitations form after virtually every tooth extraction. They are sites of chronic low-grade infection, harboring bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, mold spores, and other pathogens in an environment shielded from your immune response. And they sit directly within your jaw, affecting your trigeminal nerve, your immune function, your hormonal balance, your thyroid health, your skin, and your sleep.

Cavitations also commonly form around root canals, which is why simply removing a root canal without properly cleaning the surrounding bone is not enough.

Dr. Dom discovered his own cavitations at age 30, despite having no other dental work beyond his wisdom tooth extractions. He had been dealing with elevated cortisol, hyperactivity, skin eczema, shaking hands, gut issues, and back pain. After a three-dimensional scan identified the cavitations and they were surgically cleaned, his nervousness resolved the day after surgery. His skin cleared within two weeks. His gut and back pain resolved as well. For him, this was not just a clinical finding. It became the moral foundation of his life’s work.

The Link Between Root Canals and Breast Cancer

One of the most striking pieces of research that came up in the conversation involves the meridian system, which connects specific teeth to specific organs through the autonomic nervous system. Dr. Thomas Rau of the Paracelsus Clinic in Switzerland conducted an epidemiological analysis of breast cancer patients and found that in 90 to 95% of cases, the patients had a root canal on the exact meridian connected to the breast, specifically the upper molars and lower premolars, which run along the stomach-spleen-thyroid pathway that passes directly over the breast.

Dr. Dom describes this connection using the metaphor of a circuit breaker. A root canal on this meridian is like pulling the circuit breaker for that entire electrical pathway in the body. When the root canal is removed and the circuit is restored, many patients report immediate and dramatic shifts in how they feel.

Metals, Implants, and the EMF Problem

Three of the most common sources of metal in the mouth are amalgam fillings, titanium implants, and porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns, which often look ceramic from the outside but contain metal underneath.

Amalgam fillings are particularly concerning because they contain mercury, the most toxic non-radioactive element known to science. Mercury vapors off-gas continuously from amalgam fillings over time, adding to the body’s ongoing toxic burden. As of last year, amalgam fillings have been banned throughout Europe.

Titanium implants, which remain the gold standard in the vast majority of dental practices worldwide, present a different issue. Beyond questions of biocompatibility and immune reactivity, every metal in the body can act as an antenna in our increasingly EMF-saturated environment. When you have multiple different metals in the mouth, you can even create a measurable electrical voltage between them. Dr. Dom has measured up to 3.5 volts between a titanium implant and a gold crown in the same mouth.

Ceramic implants, which are made from zirconia, are now the highest-evidenced option available and have been elevated above titanium as the medical guideline standard in Germany since 2023. They are biocompatible, metal-free, and do not interact with EMF fields. Despite this, 99% of dentists globally still place titanium implants, primarily because changing systems takes time and requires significant retraining.

Immediate Ceramic Implants: Why Same-Day Placement Works

One of the questions that generated the most response when this topic appeared on social media was about timing. Does a tooth need to be extracted and left to heal before an implant is placed, or can it be done the same day?

Dr. Dom has been performing immediate ceramic implants for almost 15 years and has placed thousands of them. His approach is to extract the tooth, thoroughly clean the socket using ozone, piezoelectric surgery, and PRF (platelet-rich fibrin), and place the ceramic implant immediately. The implant acts as what he calls a tent pole, preserving the height and width of the surrounding bone and eliminating the need for a future bone grafting surgery.

A temporary is bonded to the adjacent teeth and kept out of direct bite force, functioning as a cast while healing occurs over three to four months. The success rate for immediate ceramic implants across all tooth positions is over 90%, and for front teeth specifically, he reports a 99% success rate.

The key, he emphasizes, is experience. Not every dentist should attempt this. But when performed by a skilled practitioner with sufficient reps, immediate placement is often the superior option in terms of outcome, healing time, and overall cost.

Why the Timing of Your Full Treatment Plan Matters

For anyone listening with chronic health challenges who is wondering whether to just pull a problematic tooth and deal with the rest later, Dr. Dom offers an important caution. Moving too quickly without a strategic plan can cost far more time and money in the long run.

When a tooth is extracted without an immediate implant, the bone in that area begins to collapse through a process called alveolar atrophy. A follow-up cone beam scan three months later may reveal significant bone loss, which then requires a bone grafting surgery, additional healing time, more appointments, and more cost before an implant can even be placed. What seems like a fast solution becomes a longer and more complicated road.

His clinic operates on a two-phase model. Phase one involves removing all sources of chronic infection and inflammation, including metals, root canals, and cavitations, placing immediate implants where needed, and beginning a comprehensive health optimization protocol that includes hyperbaric oxygen, IV therapy, red light, ozone, and targeted supplementation and nutrition. Patients are prepared for surgery for one to two months in advance so that the body is primed for systemic bone healing. Phase two, performed four to six months later, addresses aesthetics, bite, and function. After these two phases, the goal is that a patient never needs to return for repairs.

Oral Care That Actually Supports Your Microbiome

Conventional oral care products deserve serious scrutiny. Most commercial mouthwashes are alcohol-based and highly acidic, designed functionally to kill bacteria. The problem is that your oral microbiome, the second most diverse in your body, is not something you want to eliminate. When you kill off the good microorganisms daily, you ultimately create conditions for worse breath and more dysbiosis over time.

Standard fluoride toothpaste is another area Dr. Dom challenges. Fluoride, he explains, is a band-aid addressing the symptom (tooth decay) rather than the root cause. Tooth decay is not a fluoride deficiency. It is a reflection of nutritional imbalances, poor diet, and an overwhelmed remineralization system. Fluoride also classifies as a neurotoxin, and standard toothpaste instructions warn not to swallow it. Given that everything placed in your mouth is absorbed through the mucosa, this is worth reconsidering.

The alternative he recommends is hydroxyapatite-based toothpaste. Hydroxyapatite is the actual mineral that makes up tooth enamel (calcium and phosphorus bonded together) and remineralizes from the outside in. He formulated his own product, called “More Than a Toothpaste,” which launches in the United States in May 2026 and contains hydroxyapatite, xylitol, a specific probiotic, lactoferrin for gum health, and a coconut oil base.

For mouthwash, the recommendation is oil pulling with extra virgin coconut oil or MCT oil for 5 to 15 minutes daily. This Ayurvedic practice balances the oral microbiome, removes fat-soluble toxins, and supports gum health without disrupting the microbial community. Adding ozonated oil takes it a step further.

Additional simple practices that support oral health include tongue scraping with a copper tongue scraper each morning to remove overnight bacterial debris, waiting 30 minutes after eating before brushing to allow saliva to remineralize enamel and restore pH balance, and using interdental brushes or a water pick if you have had previous dental work.

How to Start This Journey

Dr. Dom’s recommendation for prioritizing this work is clear. Foundation first. Before addressing anything in the mouth, focus on the basics: sleep, nutrition, movement, sunlight, stress management, and community. Once those foundations are as solid as you can make them, and especially if you are still dealing with chronic symptoms despite doing everything else right, that is the time to seek out a qualified practitioner for a full oral assessment.

To find a practitioner trained in his protocols, you can direct message the word “biodentist” on his Instagram account for access to a directory. His handle is @drdome1. For those interested in working with his clinic directly, the process begins with a current two-dimensional panoramic x-ray and an application through the link in his Instagram bio. Most of his patients travel internationally for treatment.

His clinic is located in Tübingen, Germany. The work he is doing there, and through the training program he is building, the BioDentistry Global Standard (BGS), represents something genuinely new: a category of care that holds the technical excellence of elite cosmetic dentistry alongside the systems-level thinking of functional medicine.

The mouth is not separate from the body. It never was. And for many women who have been searching for the missing piece of their health puzzle, this conversation may be exactly the piece they have been looking for.

 
 

 
 

The contents of the Midlife Conversations podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider. Some episodes of Midlife Conversations may be sponsored by products or services discussed during the show. The host may receive compensation for such advertisements or if you purchase products through affiliate links mentioned on this podcast.

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