Summary
In this podcast, John Maher talks with Dr. Nammy Patel of Green Dentistry about the revolutionary uses of ozone therapy in dentistry. Dr. Patel explains how ozone therapy works to kill harmful bacteria, enhance healing, and prevent dental issues. They discuss the applications, benefits, potential drawbacks, and scientific research supporting ozone therapy. Learn how this innovative treatment can improve dental health and overall wellness.
John Maher: Hi, I am John Maher and I’m here today with Dr. Nammy Patel, founder of Green Dentistry in San Francisco, California. Helping patients recognize the vital connection between dental health and whole body health. And author of the bestselling books, Age with Style: Guide to a Youthful Smile & Healthy Living. And Total Wellness: Understanding the Link between your Teeth and your Health. Today, our topic is ozone therapy. Welcome, Dr. Nammy.
Dr. Nammy Patel: Thank you for having me, John. I’m really excited to talk about ozone therapy. It is the most revolutionary thing there has been discovered in a very long time.
What is Ozone Therapy and How Does It Work in Dentistry?
John: Yeah. It seems to be really popular these days. So what is ozone therapy and how does it work in dentistry?
Dr. Nammy: Ozone therapy is extra oxygen. So think about air, right. Air is great, more air is even better. And the reason why we like oxygen is because oxygen is the currency that our body utilizes. We actually need oxygen in order to live. That’s the one thing we cannot live without is oxygen.
We can live without food. We can live without water for years, yogis do it. But the oxygen is the one thing that our bodies cannot live without. So ozone is fantastic. There are ways to ozonate the blood. There are ways to use ozone in the mouth. There are ways to take ozone insufflation through the nose. Ozone can be put on the skin. It’s really a wonderful, wonderful molecule.
Now, why do we like ozone so much? So one of the things we know is that things that are good for us likes oxygen too. We like oxygen and the good bacteria, that good viruses, they like oxygen too, and they’re healthy for us. So now anytime there is bad bacteria or snake-like bacteria, they are anaerobes, means that they do not like oxygen and they survive in areas where there’s no oxygen.
So you hear about Lyme’s disease in the blood. So if we ozonate the blood, that helps kill off Lyme. If in the mouth there’s snake-like bacteria that cause a lot of gum disease and a lot of other issues. So what we can do is use ozonated water in order to kill these guys off, which is pretty fantastic. Now there’s a lot of SIBO that happens, which is small intestine bacterial overgrowth. Ozone will kill the bad bugs off as well. So it’s really nice to have ozone. We in our practice use it in several forms. We use it in gas form, we use it in liquid form, and we also use it in oil form.
And for example, gas forms we use for injections on root canals that are old. We can go in there and disinfect those root canals to make sure that they’re super clean. So for example, anytime anybody’s going through cancer therapy, we want to make sure the root canals are clean. There’s no problems with them. So we can go in and inject ozone into the roots and disinfect those areas, which works amazingly. If we want to prevent a root canal, we can do that as well. We can inject ozone at the root of the tooth and helps prevent root canals, which is really awesome.
I personally use ozone as well in cleaning teeth or anytime there’s decay. I will place ozone on the teeth before I seal them with a filling. I also use ozone to clean gums, ozonated water cleans out the bacteria. You get a nice good cleaning, which works really, really, really well. We also do ozone insufflation, so through the ear and the nose. And now that is fantastic for people who have been exposure to mold. Who have a lot of sinus issues, who have polyps. Ozone is really fantastic and helping kill off anything that’s really bad that does not like oxygen, which is pretty much anything that’s going to harm us.
Are There Drawbacks to Ozone Therapy?
John: Are there any limitations or drawbacks to ozone therapy?
Dr. Nammy: The only drawback to ozone therapy is when it’s applied and how much of it is applied. So you can overdo it. So you want to be careful is as being controlled. And you have to work with an expert who really knows what they’re doing because somebody doesn’t know what they’re doing, for example, if there’s a lot of ozone that’s used IV, it can cause your veins to pop. We do not want that. If somebody is using ozone insufflation through the ears and the nose, and they’re not handling properly, it can cause bronchitis. It can cause irritation to the lung. So it can trigger a lot of different things.
Now, an ozone in the mouth, if people don’t know how to inject it properly and don’t have experience with it, it can cause a lot of detrimental issues. So it can kill off the good bugs too. So we want to be really careful on how ozone is utilized, where it’s utilized, how it’s utilized, and how often it’s utilized. Too much ozone can also disrupt the microbiome, and we don’t want that. So it’s super important that we know why we’re using it, where we’re using it for how long, and what quantities. Just like any prescription or any medication or anything that we do.
Are There Any Health Conditions That May Have Negative Effects From Ozone Therapy?
John: Right. And are there any people with certain health conditions where it’s maybe inadvisable to use ozone?
Dr. Nammy: Sometimes patients with COPD would be people, because it causes irritation of the lungs. So we would want to be careful with people who have COPD. We’d also want to be careful with patients who are on medications. So any medications the ozone will amplify and magnify. So that’s why the timing of the ozone is really important. For example, let’s say you are on immunosuppressant. So if you took an immunosuppressant and the ozone therapy right away, it would amplify that immunosuppressant about 100 times. Because it would just make it so effective and that would be detrimental for your body because it would start having more side effects.
Scientific Research Behind Ozone Therapy
John: Some people might listen to this and think like, well, that doesn’t sound right to me. It’s just oxygen or something like that. Just adding air. What’s the scientific research behind this and the evidence that ozone therapy really does work.
Dr. Nammy: There’s so much evidence out there that ozone therapy actually works. There’s clinical documents that are seen and actually document that they actually kill off bad bacteria that cause heart attack, diabetes, cancer, and specific ones. It’s specifically documented to help patients with SIBO. It’s specifically documented to help people with sinus issues and mold issues and Lyme issues.
There’s a lot of research that’s out there that actually is there and it actually works, which is really awesome. And in functional medicine, we actually always measure. So we always do pretest and posttest. So again, we can see the sinuses fluids come out of there when we take a CT scan. We can see the difference in the patient’s skin. We can see the frequency of the patients need for the ozone as well because their bodies are not harboring as much bacteria and viruses or mold.
The Future of Ozone Therapy in Dentistry
John: And do you see ozone therapy becoming more widely used as a treatment in dentistry in the future?
Dr. Nammy: Absolutely. I feel like ozone therapy needs to be utilized more and I would like to see it utilized more. I would like for it to be utilized correctly in all aspects of dentistry. Absolutely. It is something that is very valuable. It is something that is really regenerative and healing for the patient so absolutely. And I like it. I’d rather use ozone therapy than use antibiotics. So I feel like it’s localized, it’s specific, it’s titrated, it works really well. So I’m a big fan of ozone and I want to see it utilized in dentistry more often.
John: All right. Well that’s really great information, Dr. Nammy. Thanks again for speaking with me today.
Dr. Nammy: My pleasure, John.
Information About Green Dentistry
John: And for more information about Green Dentistry, you can visit the website at sfgreendentist.com or call (415) 433-0119.