Dr. Nammy talks about BPA as a cancer-causing agent, how many dental appliances contain BPA, and the alternatives that she uses in her practice.
BPA is bisphenol A, and bisphenol A is actually a cancer-causing agent. And in a lot of dental materials, it tends to exist. And so we, in our practice, make sure that we’re not using any chemicals with bisphenol A in it, mainly because if you have composites which are dental fillings with bisphenol in it, every time you chew and grind, it releases the bisphenol which increases your chance for cancer, which I’m committed to help you avoid.
So then what are the things that you do to prevent using BPA products in your practice?
So the first thing is we don’t use any bisphenol products. We have composites that are alternative materials, and they do not have any bisphenol in it at all, so that when you are having these plastic products in your mouth, it doesn’t cause any sort of reaction nor is it cancer causing. So that’s the first step.
The second step is when we’re doing orthodontics, we actually don’t do little nubs that go on the teeth, like for a lot of patients, when they go through Invisalign, they’ll have little nubs on the teeth to help them move. We actually do our own design without those nubs, so that way there is no composite material at all. Because, bisphenol or not, we’re actually trying to avoid all dental materials and we’re trying to keep your mouth as natural as possible. And that’s really our commitment is, “How can we deliver better products for you, that are longer lasting, more comfortable, and better for your body?”
So then besides being cancer free, or the BPA-free orthodontics helps prevent cancer-causing things released, what are some of the other benefits?
So the other benefits of not using bisphenol or holistic orthodontics is that we actually fix the joint. We move the teeth slowly so that people with headaches end up being resolved. We also do it in a way that there are some teeth with gum recession, so the gum tissue actually is able to heal back, because we’re moving the teeth really slowly.
When you move the teeth really quickly, what happens is there tends to be joint issues. Also, the bone has issues. Also, sometimes the teeth have something called resorption, which they end up just dying on their own, and so we’re really careful about the way we’re actually doing holistic orthodontics so that you’re getting, again, a longer lasting product.
