The Meridian System & the Energetic Aspect of the Tooth/Body Connection
Saying that your mouth is connected to the rest of your body should seem common sense, yet it’s taken a while for much of the dental profession to catch on. But while it’s now widely recognized that gum disease, for instance, raises your risk of heart disease and other systemic health problems, this is hardly the only oral/systemic link.
Biological dentistry recognizes that there is a much wider range of oral health situations that can compromise whole body health, such as the impact of “silver” mercury amalgam fillings, hidden infections within “successful” root canal teeth, or well-intentioned interventions like fluoridation.
Nor is the mouth/body connection only physical. There’s an energetic connection, as well – via your body’s meridian system.
What is the Meridian System?
Just as your body has a circulatory system, through which blood moves, it also has a meridian system through which energy – qi (chi) – moves. Known in Ayurvedic medicine as prana, qi is what’s known as a subtle energy.
Like the electrical signals that facilitate communication between body and brain – and between individual cells – qi also conveys information, only vibrationally rather than electromagnetically. It does so along 12 major pathways, running from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, passing through numerous organs, structures, and other tissues along the way.
Because of this, any disturbance or blockage on one of these pathways can affect all of the physiological structures that the path runs through. That includes your teeth. Each one is a unique organ in and of itself, with its hard outer enamel protecting the living tissues within, loaded with blood vessels, nerve endings, and other delicate structures.
In the mid-20th century, a German physician and medical researcher named Reinhold Voll showed how electroacupuncture could be used to assess health by testing the meridians. The technique came to be known as “electroacupuncture according to Voll,” or EAV for short. (You may also hear it referred to as meridian stress testing or analysis.)
In fact, Voll’s work was crucial in paving the way for biological dentistry. It was Dr. Voll who famously taught that up to 90% of all health problems manifest in the mouth as well as the body.
The Tooth/Body Connection
Of course, having a problem in one organ is no guarantee that other ones sharing its meridian will suffer. Whether and how disease or dysfunction arises depends on any number of variables, such as existing toxic burdens or ongoing exposures, immune health, and so on.
Still, having the big picture view on health that the meridian system provides can help you get a clearer sense of your total health situation and shed light on steps you can take to improve and sustain good health going forward.
For instance, let’s consider a single tooth: #11, the upper left canine. That tooth shares a meridian with the heart, liver, and bile ducts; joints in the foot, knee, and hip; and other structures. This meridian is also associated with anger, depression, and moodiness.
Heart problems could point to trouble in the tooth – an emerging infection, perhaps. An amalgam filling in the tooth could create enough of a disturbance or blockage to exacerbate liver concerns. If the tooth were in fact a titanium alloy implant, galvanic currents from the metal prosthetic could mean a future of arthritic issues.
These are just a few possibilities. As mentioned, many variables come into play to affect whether and how subsequent illness develops. A concern in one area doesn’t necessarily sound alarms over others. It does tell you that it can be worthwhile to see what else might be happening elsewhere along its meridian, though.
You can explore this and other tooth/body relationships with the interactive tooth chart here on our website. Keep in mind that the chart is NOT a diagnostic tool. It IS a way for you to learn more about the relationships between your teeth and the rest of your body.
