Alice’s (er, I mean Adrienna’s) Journey: Down the Rabbit Hole
As the universe works in magical ways, I, along with twelve others, was laid off three weeks after my thermography scan. It was the absolute best thing that could have happened to me as it saved my life. Truly! It was an undeniable gift! I had just received the thermography scan results and was trying to figure out how and when to make my follow-up appointments with the ‘biologic’ dentist where I was referred and boom, I was given the gift of time! I booked an appointment with this dentist for the end of February 2020, which started me on down the mercury rabbit hole.
I went to my appointment and before I met with the actual dentist they performed a CT scan of my head, which I’m sure you know, is not a normal scan at the dentist office. This was the only diagnostic image they did, and it revealed a list of issues. Typically, you only have x-rays done at the dentist, which don’t capture these infected areas. The CT scan showed infection at the base of all three of my root canals (which had seated crowns above), major infection in all four cavitations where my wisdom teeth were but had been removed when I was 19 years old during Christmas break while I was home from college, four amalgam fillings, and a metal implant. Of course, I knew about the fillings and implant but had no idea of the severity of infection elsewhere in my mouth and jaws. It was overwhelming news, to say the least. A few weeks later I received the treatment plan to correct all these issues and again, I was overwhelmed. The cost. The dread of more surgery – I’ve had quite a few! The time away from home to have this completed. While I was contemplating, the world as we knew it took a big turn. The COVID-19 pandemic struck. This change in our world gave me more time to evaluate my options and where to turn next.
Luckily, I was en route to Arizona for Spring Break with my family, which changed from a quick week away to getting stuck there and eventually driving home nearly five weeks later since flights were still not operating. It was one of the best five weeks of my life. I had my own personal ‘health intensive’ with time to dig in and understand the layers of information, dental plans, and treatment needed in my mouth. I was able to connect with Susan, an epigenetics coach with incredible insight and experience, and eventually planned to have the initial dental work done in June 2020.
At the time, Montana only had two biologic dentists who offered the SMART (Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique) procedure. I haven’t looked into it since so there could be more at the time I am writing this. I ended up choosing Dr. Todd Kinney who, along with his wife, owns Insight Dental in Bozeman, MT. They are an amazing duo with an incredible biologic dentistry practice. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️’s for sure! We connected on the phone during my time in Arizona and constructed my treatment plan.
My upper jaw picture showing four amalgams and two crowned root canals. Notice the gum tissue near the large crown on the left hand side of the image. Amalgam on both sides of this ‘tooth’ and it had a metal seat at the gum line.
