More Than Teeth Podcast | The Oral Physician..What Does That Mean?

The Oral Physician..What Does That Mean?

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Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode. I'm Dr. Michael Bennett, spending some time with you today. I've been thinking a lot about this topic—the transformation of dentists into oral physicians. And why in the world would I be thinking about this?

Not long ago, a former patient returned to see me after more than ten years. At the time I initially saw him, he was just 10, 11, maybe 12 years old. My brother and I were practicing general dentistry together, seeing patients on regular hygiene recall visits. That meant cleanings, checkups, and routine x-rays—nothing out of the ordinary.

But this visit was different. As we were reviewing a panorex x-ray, my brother noticed an abnormality in the bone structure in the upper left quadrant—right under the cheekbone. It wasn’t the typical trabecular, marrow-containing bone structure. It looked obscure, disorganized.

That finding led us to refer him immediately to his primary care provider and then to an oncologist. A biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma—a serious and aggressive form of cancer often associated with the oral cavity. Thanks to this early detection, the young man received life-saving treatment.

Years later, he came back to see me, newly married, happy, and healthy. That moment stuck with me. Had we been focused only on teeth and gums and not the broader facial structure, we may not have seen that anomaly. He may not have survived to enjoy the life he has now.

So it prompted a deeper question: should dentists think of themselves not merely as “dentists,” but as oral physicians?

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The Shift From "Dentist" to "Oral Physician"

Let’s break down the terminology.

The word “dentist” comes from “dent,” meaning tooth, and the suffix “-ist,” meaning someone who practices or is especially skilled in a particular area—like a florist, who arranges flowers. It evokes the image of a skilled artisan or technician.

In contrast, a “physician” relates to systemic care—a person trained to diagnose, manage, and treat conditions affecting the human body. A dentist may treat one part of the body. But an oral physician? That title implies a whole-body understanding, with the mouth as the starting point.

In the case I just described, we didn’t treat the cancer directly. But we caught it. We connected the dots. We were whole-person focused (W-H-O-L-E), not hole-focused. And that saved a life.

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Why It Matters: The Primary Care Crisis

Let’s zoom out to a national perspective.

The U.S. faces a growing shortage of primary care providers. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, over 8,000 new primary care doctors were already needed by 2014 to close care gaps. A forecast by Petterson and others estimated that by 2025, we’ll need more than 52,000 additional primary care physicians to meet demand.

One solution? Train and empower dentists—oral physicians—to help fill this gap by screening, detecting, referring, and even helping manage systemic diseases beginning with signs in the mouth.

According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2010 report, top public health priorities include:

Substance misuse (including opioids and tobacco)
Community health and economic prosperity
Military readiness
Vaccinations
Oral health

Note that oral health made that list.

Furthermore, the report makes a critical claim: “If a person does not have good oral health, then they do not have good systemic health.”

Let that sink in. Oral health isn’t cosmetic. It’s foundational.

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The Three Most Prevalent Global Health Burdens

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) ranks the following as the three most prevalent burdens of disease worldwide:

Oral disorders (affecting 3.5 billion people)
Headaches (impacting 3.0 billion people)
Tuberculosis (1.9 billion cases)

Let’s unpack that.

Oral disorders include cavities, gum disease, infections, and oral cancers. Headaches—especially migraines—are often connected to jaw disorders, facial pain, or airway issues, which dentists frequently observe. And tuberculosis, a lung disease caused by bacteria, is influenced by respiratory health—which is tied to oral and nasal structure.

Want to know something fascinating?

When the oral cavity is underdeveloped, the nasal cavity is also often compromised. That matters because the nose produces nitric oxide—a powerful, natural antimicrobial and bronchodilator. Breathing through your nose introduces this nitric oxide into your lungs, improving oxygen exchange and killing harmful pathogens like tuberculosis.

So yes, improving airway health through oral expansion could reduce vulnerability to global infections. Dentists can contribute to public health outcomes at scale.

(Read more about nitric oxide’s respiratory benefits)

If oral health has such profound systemic connections, it makes sense for dentists to take on a greater role in identifying and even preventing larger health issues. It’s time we expand our thinking from “mouth mechanic” to “oral physician.”

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Saliva: More Than Just Moisture

One simple but often overlooked indicator of systemic health is saliva—or the lack of it.

Dry mouth is far more than a minor annoyance. It’s often a red flag that something deeper is out of balance, and it can dramatically increase the risk of infection, digestion problems, and even speech difficulty.

Saliva serves several essential functions:

It breaks down food with enzymes that begin digestion.
It emulsifies food for easier swallowing.
It neutralizes acids and helps heal oral tissues.
It acts as a barrier against harmful microorganisms.

If someone’s mouth is consistently dry—especially at night—it might mean they’re breathing through their mouth due to airway restrictions. Or, it could be a side effect of one of the many medications known to reduce saliva flow. Just search “medications that cause dry mouth” and you’ll find seven pages of single-spaced drugs on double columns.

Without saliva:

Microbes can stick to oral tissues more easily, increasing infection risk.
Digestion becomes less efficient.
The immune defenses in the mouth break down.
Speaking clearly becomes harder, especially for public speakers or professionals.

Now add gum inflammation or bleeding into the picture—another open pathway for bacteria to enter the bloodstream, quickly reaching the brain or heart. The proximity of the mouth to critical systems like the brain makes this a serious concern.

Upper molars, for example, are particularly close to venous plexuses that feed directly into the cranial cavity. An untreated infection in these teeth can lead to brain infections. It’s a rare but real risk that again underlines how oral health impacts total health.

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A Dry Mouth and Systemic Risk

If we ignore dry mouth, we’re ignoring an entire cascade of possible consequences:

Poor digestion and nutrient absorption
Chronic fatigue or inflammation due to malnourishment
Elevated risk of infection throughout the body
Speech issues and reduced confidence
Increased rates of dental decay and tooth loss

And it all begins with one small symptom that any dentist—or oral physician—can identify during a routine exam.

This isn’t hypothetical. This is daily reality in the dental chair. By recognizing and addressing dry mouth early, we help patients preserve not just their teeth, but their systemic health and quality of life.

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The Dentist as Primary Care Partner

Here’s something else to consider: in many communities, dentists are the most frequently visited healthcare provider.

People may skip their annual physical, but most still go to the dentist for cleanings, checkups, or tooth pain. That makes the dental office a powerful touchpoint for healthcare screening and referral.

And some programs are taking the lead on this.

At Harvard Medical School, for example, a general practice residency in partnership with Cambridge Health Alliance places dentists in clinical rotations alongside physicians. They spend time in ERs, on hospital wards, and in multi-specialty teams, gaining a fuller picture of how oral health impacts systemic disease.

They also study:

The pathophysiology of chronic illnesses
The oral-facial manifestations of diseases like diabetes, Crohn’s, or cardiovascular disease
The neurophysiological links between jaw pain, digestion, and emotional health

When these connections are made and reinforced through interdisciplinary care, everyone benefits—especially the patient.

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Headaches, Gut Health, and Jaw Pain

Here’s another real-world example.

Many patients come into my clinic with jaw pain, clicking, clenching, headaches, or broken teeth. These symptoms are often blamed on stress or misaligned bites—and sometimes they are.

But just as often, they’re connected to inflammation in the digestive tract, such as from:

Crohn’s disease
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Gluten sensitivity
Chronic stress or gut dysbiosis

These gut issues increase sympathetic nervous system activity—what we know as “fight or flight” mode. When that system is activated chronically, it reduces saliva flow, tightens jaw muscles, increases clenching, and leads to oral tissue trauma.

Now you’re dealing with:

TMJ disorders
Broken fillings
Sensitive teeth
Night grinding (bruxism)
Jaw and neck pain

If we only treat the teeth or the TMJ pain, we miss the root cause—which could be in the gut. But if we collaborate with a GI doctor, reduce the patient’s systemic inflammation, and help calm the nervous system, the jaw pain improves naturally.

It’s a perfect example of the oral-systemic connection in action.

This is the heart of oral physician thinking: rather than chasing symptoms—broken teeth, jaw tension, headaches—we need to trace the symptoms upstream. What’s triggering the nervous system to behave this way? What’s disrupting sleep? What’s drying the mouth? What’s weakening the immune system in the oral cavity?

When we reframe the role of dentistry through this wider lens, we’re no longer technicians focused solely on fixing teeth—we're healing partners contributing to whole-body wellness.

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From Reactive to Preventive Care

There’s an old saying: “The superior physician treats disease before it occurs.”

In the oral health world, this means:

Screening for risk factors before decay, pain, or tooth loss happens
Identifying systemic patterns like airway obstruction, chronic inflammation, or autoimmune flare-ups
Collaborating with other healthcare providers to create whole-person care strategies

This doesn’t diminish the importance of technical excellence in dentistry. Rather, it enhances it.

When oral physicians integrate diagnostics, sleep assessments, airway screenings, and nutritional evaluations into their practice, they’re expanding their impact from the oral cavity to the entire human body.

And again, patients win.

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Collaborative Care: The Future of Health

Some of the most forward-thinking healthcare systems today are pioneering interdisciplinary collaboration between dentists and physicians.

As noted earlier, Harvard’s General Practice Residency includes rotations in emergency rooms and medical departments, allowing oral care providers to:

Identify systemic causes of oral symptoms
Refer patients for deeper testing or therapy
Participate in full-spectrum care for chronic illness
Understand how oral inflammation, airway dysfunction, and nervous system stress feed into conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders

Another example: periodontists are using saliva biomarkers to assess risk for cardiovascular disease. C-reactive protein, for example, is one such marker commonly tested in cardiac patients—and now in dental patients too.

Dentists trained in airway development also recognize that:

Crooked teeth may indicate underdeveloped jaws
Mouth breathing contributes to hypertension and fatigue
Poor tongue posture leads to poor sleep and delayed childhood development

With so many systemic signals originating in the oral cavity, how can we afford not to treat dentists as full-body healthcare providers?

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A Call to Action: Rethink Your Dental Visit

If you're a patient, start thinking of your dentist as more than a tooth expert. Bring up your systemic symptoms:

Chronic dry mouth
Snoring or sleep apnea
Headaches or jaw pain
Gut issues or chronic fatigue
High blood pressure or anxiety

Ask your oral healthcare provider: “Could this be connected to what you’re seeing in my mouth?”

If you're a dentist, take a moment to step back and see the full person in the chair—not just their chart, their x-rays, or their molars. What are they breathing like? Speaking like? Swallowing like? Are they thriving?

And if you're a healthcare provider, don’t hesitate to reach across the aisle. Connect with an airway-aware dentist. Consider oral structures when you’re evaluating sleep disorders, anxiety, digestive health, and neurocognitive decline.

The future of healthcare is interconnected—and oral physicians are an essential part of the puzzle.

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Final Thoughts

This entire podcast and article have been about one central idea: we must transform the role of the dentist from technician to total health contributor.

Not every dental visit will uncover cancer. Not every patient will present with the textbook signs of systemic disease. But many will, and the earlier we catch these issues—by looking at saliva, airway, tongue posture, or jaw function—the better we can prevent long-term illness, cost, and suffering.

As we embrace the identity of the oral physician, we take a vital step toward whole-person healing and truly unleashing the healing power of sleep, breath, and integrative care.

For those of you looking to explore more, visit Newville Wellness where I practice, or review the science and resources at Vivos Life. These platforms offer a wealth of education on the oral-systemic connection, biomimetic therapy, airway development, and more.

Until next time—breathe well, sleep deeply, and don’t underestimate what your mouth may be trying to tell you.

Recommended Links for Further Reading:

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