March 21, 2024 • 47 mins
In this episode of The Nourished and Thriving Show, hosted by Katie Lovitt, a registered dietitian focused on gut health and alleviating IBS symptoms, we delve into the captivating correlation between oral health and overall well-being alongside esteemed guest Dr. Jill Ombrello. Dr. Jill, a dedicated fourth-generation biological dentist committed to holistic and non-invasive dental practices, shares her unique approach of addressing the underlying causes of dental issues rather than merely treating symptoms. She sheds light on the pivotal role of the oral microbiome in systemic health, highlighting its impact on various health conditions like heart disease and Alzheimer's. Additionally, Dr. Jill emphasizes the importance of reducing toxic exposure through the use of biocompatible materials in dental procedures.
We also explore the significance of dietary choices, behavior modifications, and cultivating gratitude in optimizing overall health. The conversation extends to the empowerment of patients and the advancements in sleep medicine, underscoring their profound implications for both oral and gut health.
00:00 Introduction to a New Perspective on Health
00:28 Welcome to The Nourished and Thriving Show
01:17 Special Guest: Dr. Jill Umbrello, A Dentist with a Difference
03:12 The Philosophy of Biological Dentistry
06:39 Personal Health Journeys and Patient Empowerment
21:23 The Importance of Oral Health in Overall Well-being
24:49 Unlocking the Secrets of Oral Microbiome Health
25:42 The Impact of Breathing and Oral Health on Digestion
28:52 Exploring the Connection Between Sleep, Jaw Development, and Overall Health
42:50 The Power of Mindset and Gratitude in Health Transformation
Find Katie:
Website - www.nourishthrivewellness.com
Instagram - @the_healthygut_dietitian
Facebook
Find Dr. Jill:
Website - https://www.centraldentist.com/
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Find Katie:
Website - www.nourishthrivewellness.com
Instagram - @nourish.thrive.nutrition
Facebook
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jill Ombrello (00:00):
The fact that I meet so many patients who have
(00:02):
defined their reality as beingnormal, um, has been really fun
to maybe provide a differentinsight, while that may be
common.
While it may be common that yourkid has these symptoms, or while
it may be common that you havethese symptoms, that's not
normal, and blasting that andreframing They can accept a
better reality has been is myfavorite thing to do because
(00:23):
ultimately people just thrive inthe environment of thinking that
they could be better orhealthier.
Hey, everyone.
Welcome to The Nourished andThriving Show.
I'm your host, Katie Lovitt.
I'm a registered dietitian on amission to help you increase
your impact and legacy on theworld while healing your gut and
reducing your IBS symptoms.
(00:44):
I'm so grateful to have youhere.
Each week I'll inspire you tolive vibrantly and provide
valuable resources andinformation that empowers you to
take bold action towards yourhealth goals.
Before we dive in, make sure youfollow or subscribe to my show
wherever you're listening so younever miss an episode.
(01:04):
Ready?
Let's go!
Katie Lovitt (01:06):
All right, everybody.
Welcome back to the Nourishedand Thriving show.
I am so excited about today'sepisode.
And if you aren't, you shouldbe.
I'm about to tell you why I havesitting here in a zoom room with
me, Dr.
Jill Umbrello, who is, um, mydentist and my family's dentist.
(01:30):
And she is actually a fourthgeneration dentist.
She also has four crazy kids.
I like that you have the numberfour a lot.
She says that they motivate herto learn more and be better,
which I think is one of the bestthings about being a mom, right?
Is we want to do better for ourkids and inspire them and have
(01:50):
them be inspired by us.
And she's a huge Beyonce fan,which is on your short list of
like most important things aboutyou.
Jill Ombrello (02:00):
Well, I think it is important.
And that is one of the mostimportant things because I did
pull up at a stoplight one timeafter work and I had Beyonce
just windows down.
I was dancing, changing myenergy after work before I went
home and a patient pulled up andsaw me and I thought they were
going to wreck their car.
They were laughing so hard at meand I'm like, don't laugh at me.
Roll your windows down.
Join the dance party.
(02:21):
But yeah, it's my jam.
I love it.
I love it.
So thank you so much for takingtime out of your day.
Of course.
Thank you.
I'm a fan of the show and I'mjust really excited to be here
and hope I have something to addto the conversation.
Katie Lovitt (02:35):
Yes.
Oh, don't hope you absolutelydo.
I'm so excited.
I think that this is aconversation that not many
people even know is aconversation or no needs to be a
conversation whenever it comesto overall health, but got
health too.
And it's something I reallywanted to dive in and learn a
lot more about.
And so I believe in.
(02:55):
Efficiency.
And so going to the experts andasking them what they've learned
and all of that is always thebest way to get at least first
information right before likedigging into rabbit holes.
So super excited.
Yeah, I totally agree.
So awesome.
So tell us, what do you do?
Like, what, how is the dentistrythat you practice different than
(03:19):
like any other regular dentistthat somebody might go to?
Jill Ombrello (03:22):
Yeah, for sure.
So there's a couple of differentterms that would describe the
type of dentistry I, I practiceand I am proud to practice.
A biological dentist is kind ofmy favorite, a holistic dentist
is another one, um, a noninvasive early intervention are
other ones, but basically welive in the most amazing of
times.
There is so much information outthere and I, I love having a
(03:46):
more holistic, less invasive,more natural approach to things.
That being said, I also love myWestern education and there is a
time and a place for Westernmedicine.
We're not in a third worldcountry where we have to rely on
the roots and the, I mean,sometimes I wish we were, but
that's a whole other topic.
But, um, and so I think what abiological dentist does and what
we really focus on is root causedentistry and making sure we
(04:08):
recognize.
Why there's a need for afilling.
If there is disease orinflammation, why it's there
rather than putting a bandaid onit and doing a filling or, or,
um, uh, pulling a tooth, etcetera.
Yes, we also do those thingsbecause we want to focus on
eliminating and stabilizingdisease, but we really want to
dig into what the root causes.
(04:29):
And I think there's another hugefocus in biological dentistry,
um, focusing on the materialbiocompatibility, which is just
kind of a fancy way of saying,Hey, if I put something in your,
in your body that is foreign,will your body accept it?
Or if I put this in your body,even though we know it's a good
material and it's okay, willyour body reject it causing a
(04:49):
cascade of symptoms that nowwe're trying to chase?
and cure.
So, um, exactly.
You know what my grandfatherpracticed, um, you know, back in
the sixties and the seventiesand things were so different
back then.
I mean, the toxic load was quitedifferent back then.
Right.
What, what the air that he wasbreathing and the water that he
(05:10):
was drinking and his patientswere drinking and the food was
quite different than now in2024.
Even then they didn't realizethat taking mercury amalgam
fillings and rolling it in yourhand without a glove, right?
I mean, it just in your barehand, what that could do
neurologically and what thatmercury would do to your body
overall, which is why a lot ofdentists that age were very
(05:32):
similar to my grandfather anddeveloped a hand tremor, right?
So there's things that we'relearning and, and the major.
Focus of a biological dentist ishow do we decrease that toxic
load and how do we look for rootcauses, address those to reduce
the overall toxic load.
And what's been really excitingis I think this has become more
of a conversation as peoplerecognize that the mouth is kind
(05:53):
of the, you know, the, thebeginning of the body of
systemic health.
And not only what we put in ourmouths, but the health of our
mouths.
And then we can also recognize,um.
Early, you know, early symptomsof other diseases in your body
when they come to the mouthfirst.
So it's been exciting to seepeople feel very empowered about
their oral health and verymotivated to, um, to have a
(06:14):
nice, healthy oral microbiome.
And, and ultimately be our, welike to call them our healthy,
boring patients.
They come in and the oralmicrobiome is healthy.
They're all hygiene is good.
And, and we're not, you know,quote, quote, unquote, drilling
and filling every time they comein.
That's an ideal patient.
Katie Lovitt (06:30):
Yeah, absolutely.
I like being that kind ofpatient.
I know those are my favorite.
Those are my favorites.
The healthy, boring, gorgeoussmile.
Yes.
So I love like you are justsinging to my soul here whenever
you're saying that you loveconventional medicine for what
it does and it has a place andactually reading your bio on
your website.
(06:51):
I love it.
I didn't realize we both hadheart conditions diagnosed in
our twenties and had life savinginterventions that are
conventional Western medicine.
And so I'm with you, like itabsolutely has a place and it
saves lives every single day.
But is it the best approach forthese more chronic conditions
(07:11):
where you have multiple systemsinvolved in, in all of that?
I don't think so.
And I think that's where, youknow, your approach and my
approach are really great.
So,
Jill Ombrello (07:21):
and, and, you know, it's, it's interesting if,
if a, if a patient comes in witha mouthful of cavities and yes,
we can drill and fill those, butcould we do some nutritional
counseling?
Could we figure out, Hey, isthere a high frequency of
processed foods contributing tothat?
Is their mouth breathing and theway that they breathe at night
while they sleep is lowering thepH of their saliva causing these
demineralizations.
Yeah.
(07:41):
What can we do rather than justslapping a bandaid on it?
Um having that heart conditiondiagnosed in my early twenties
was the Um was the mostformative thing I would say that
happened to me in my life.
Um For a very long time I livedI mean I had a congenital birth
defect So from the time I wasborn until the time I was 20 Um,
I lived with the symptoms ofthat condition thinking that it
(08:02):
was normal And and having littledizzy spells where I lost vision
was not normal.
It was common for me, but itwasn't normal so The fact that I
meet so many patients who havedefined their reality as being
normal, um, has been really funto maybe provide a different
insight, while that may becommon.
While it may be common that yourkid has these symptoms, or while
(08:24):
it may be common that you havethese symptoms, that's not
normal, and blasting that andreframing They can accept a
better reality has been is myfavorite thing to do because
ultimately people just thrive inthe environment of thinking that
they could be better orhealthier.
Um, and, and, and to do thatthrough non invasive ways or
holistic ways, just aligningtheir body with the way that
(08:45):
they're supposed to work, notreinventing the wheel.
The body is miraculous andbeautiful and healing and all of
the things with the properingredients.
And so empowering people to feelthat way about their bodies
rather than shame or guilt or,you know, almost feeling like a
victim, um, is, is somethingthat I'm very proud of, um, that
Katie Lovitt (09:05):
we, that we work towards in my office.
I love all of that so much.
And the same is true for gutissues.
Like, I think it's kind of thesame.
Like people don't really talkabout mouth issues other than
like, if they have to get aprocedure done or something, but
they're not, that's not a partof the dinner conversation,
except maybe at your house andmy house.
And like the same is true forgut issues.
(09:25):
Like people just think that whatthey're experiencing is normal
because it's normal for them andit's all they've ever known.
And so really helping them to.
step back, zoom out, understandwhat that optimal function, how
their bodies were designed andcreated to work and heal is
really a cool perspective shift.
I love it.
Jill Ombrello (09:44):
It is.
And I think as, as a mom, um,you know, I, when I get in my
mom's circles of friends andwe're talking and we'll, what's,
Summer camps or what, what isyour kid doing?
And we kind of talk to eachother to see, are we having
similar experiences?
Can we learn from each other?
I remember when my first, her,my first child, her name's
Franny.
I was at the playground.
She's three years old and allthe moms were talking about how
their kids pooped once a week.
(10:06):
And I was like, Oh, hold on,hold on a second.
No, no, no, no, no.
Like I understand everyone inthis circle of, you know, five
or six women are experiencingthat, but like, it's common, but
it's not normal.
And then, you know, I don'tknow.
I got invited to less playdates.
I have to be honest.
Cause I always just kind of had,I was like, Whoa, what do you
mean?
Okay.
We're talking about poop.
We're doing this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
have a conversation.
(10:26):
Yeah.
So I just think there's so muchmisinformation out there.
Um, For, for, for moms and it's,it's challenging because, um, I
think as moms, we all just wantthe very best for our kids and
we want them to be thehealthiest versions of
themselves.
And I think that's beautiful,but I think there's also a lot
of pressure on moms to want thatfor their children.
And one thing that I'd like toshift the conversation and say,
(10:48):
Hey, but we also want that forourselves.
We want our children to behealthy, but we want that for
moms too.
Like I want to be 120 years oldand vibrant and on the floor
playing with my great grandkids.
And full of energy, like I, butI also want them to be healthy.
And so looking out for ourselvesis also something that, um, that
we really talk
Katie Lovitt (11:06):
about in my office as well.
Yeah, absolutely.
I just did an episode on likethe hot mess mom culture causing
a hot mess, got issues.
And it so does.
And I think we're just as womenso fast to carry a heavy burden
and be dismissive of issues thatmaybe we're dealing with when.
If you flipped that and youasked if my child were dealing
(11:27):
with this, would I beapproaching this in the same
way?
And we would all immediately sayno, like, heck no.
So, I've
Jill Ombrello (11:35):
definitely experienced that with, um, you
know, even like, uh, mentaltalk.
I have so many patients that arejust so hard on themselves.
So, um, my, I love all of mykids, right?
Obviously it depends on the day.
I love some more than others,
Katie Lovitt (11:47):
but
Jill Ombrello (11:50):
you know, my sweet little.
My sweet little six year oldEloise is just the light, I
mean, she's just the sweetest.
And so sometimes when I getcaught in my head and I'm like,
ah, that wasn't good enough or Ididn't do this, would I ever say
those words outside to Eloise,to her?
And of course I wouldn't.
So why would I say that, saythat to myself?
So yes, this is outside thescope of dentistry, right?
It's outside of what we'redoing, but when we meet these
(12:12):
patients who are looking forsolutions to some chronic
issues, sometimes, um, you know,the conversations go in this
way.
Why?
Like, why do you think?
think that you broke a tooth?
Why do you think that you haveall these systemic health
issues?
You're not a mental patient.
I mean, we see some of thosetoo, but most of these patients
are just, are chasing symptomsand so confused as to where to
start and how to be better that,you know what, as, as a
(12:35):
biological dentist, here's onething that we can do.
We can get some more informationand then empower you with that
information to be very strategicand persistent.
purposeful about next steps andvery slowly, um, get better and
better and better.
And I think our patients respondto that, especially in, in the
culture of so much informationthat moves very quickly.
Katie Lovitt (12:54):
Yeah, because we know that our thoughts and our
beliefs drive our actions, whichultimately drive our results.
So you have to start with themindset and that's, I love it.
Um, so tell me how you got intothis field.
Like were the three generationsbefore you biological dentists
or biologic dentists, or likewhat caused you to kind of go in
this direction?
(13:14):
I'm really curious.
Yeah, this is a great one of
Jill Ombrello (13:17):
my favorite questions.
Um, so growing up, we werealways extremely healthy.
We always had, we had smoothiesevery day and that was before
kind of smoothies were a thing.
So we always, uh, my parents, wereally trended towards a very
outdoor lifestyle.
I had a very idyllic childhoodwhere I rode my bike and I was
home when the streetlights cameon in our neighborhood and, um,
you know, all the neighbors knewus.
And so if we did somethingnaughty, they would tell our
(13:38):
parents, you know, it was justthis kind of, you know, Cults of
people raising villages, right.
You know, raising, not actuallya cult, that's the wrong word,
but a village, you know,raising, raising children in a
small neighborhood.
So it was fantastic, but, um, itreally came down to my heart
surgery in my twenties thatreally projected, put me on
this, on this path.
Um, I did have a congenitalbirth defect that was fixed
surgically incorrectly the firsttime.
(13:59):
So I was in dental school andhad an open heart surgery that
was botched.
And so I had a year where I wasreally very sick and the
solutions I was given, um, froma very well known.
Um, doctor who's, you know,number one in all the magazines,
number one, D best doctor, allthose things.
Um, reputable doctor didn't,didn't, he wasn't listening to
(14:20):
me when I said, here's what'shappening.
Here's how I feel.
It was a very cookie cutterapproach.
And I got very, very angry aboutthat.
Um, I ended up having a secondopen heart surgery that resolved
it.
And I am very healthy.
I've had.
For beautiful Children, but I'vehad other health issues related
to that.
Um, you know, it's not veryinvasive procedure.
And so rather than become veryangry, um, I did for a while,
(14:43):
don't get me wrong, but I turnedthat into just being very
grateful for that experiencebecause it's made me the type of
provider that really listens tomy patients.
And as I started out in dental,um, practice about 20 years ago,
you know, when a filling wouldfail or if a tooth would crack
and, you know, I would, I wouldhave to ask questions why, why,
why it's not because I'm a baddentist, there's something,
there's a root cause there.
(15:04):
So really, um, it stems fromhaving a medical experience
where I didn't feel like I waslistened to.
And I don't feel like I was, um,Uh, treated with respect or
empowered with additionalinformation.
And quite honestly, I didn'thave the skill set to equip
myself with that information.
That was before Facebook andbefore the internet and before a
(15:25):
lot of this, not as an excuse,but I just wasn't equipped with
that.
So, um, it really has made thedifference.
made that a core value of mineto truly listen to the patient.
Everyone is different andeverybody has different
priorities.
Hey, if you have a cavity inyour tooth, but you're also
fighting, you know, you're alsodoing a parasite cleanse.
We got to prioritize.
We can't do everything at once.
And, and so that's reallycreated the core value within
(15:47):
myself.
And then just really looking tomy patients To learn, to learn
from them and to continue and,and to be a source of, Hey, I
have some really nicheinformation.
I love dentistry.
I love biological dentistry.
So in my free time, that's whatI'm reading about.
Use me for this information thatI can pass to you to empower, to
make the decisions that areright for you and your family,
and I think patients reallyappreciate the approach of I'm
(16:09):
not a dictator and telling them,but just providing information
that align with what their corevalues are.
And, um, it's been fun becausepatients get healthy and they
accept a new reality.
And, and, um, what their healthcould look like.
And then they send their otherfriends and they get healthy
too.
So what you do is build just acommunity of like minded people
who want to help each other andwho want to educate and empower.
(16:31):
So it's just a really beautifulthing.
Every day at work is, is areally nice thing surrounded by
like minded people who are justeager to be the best versions of
themselves.
And so every day it justcontinues to feed that fire and
feed that passion that, um, yes,there are some really sick
people out there and there'ssome people that have been taken
advantage of, or that are new tothe path and don't know
anything.
(16:51):
They're eating their Cheetos andsmoking their cigarette before
they come in to the people thatare much smarter than me when it
comes to diet and nutrition andsupplementation.
So we get to see, have theprivilege of treating all of
those patients.
So it just continues to feedthat fire, the healthier people
get and the more positively theyrespond to what we're offering.
Katie Lovitt (17:06):
I love it.
I love it.
And you guys, if y'all havenever been to Dr.
Jill's office, you are like aray of sunshine in your office
and you make everyone feel sospecial.
And just everyone in your officeis so kind and uplifting.
And I've never really had a badexperience at a dentist, but I
know a lot of people do.
And so if you've ever had thatlike bad experience, or you hate
(17:27):
going, like, Go, go see centraldentist.
Jill Ombrello (17:33):
It is a happy place and we do one of our core
values in our office is yes,it's fun.
Like you're at the dentist andwho, but we want to have fun,
but you know, we do have daysthat we don't necessarily make
the phone call at the exactright time or don't send the
email that we should.
But, um, another core value isjust transparency.
And I feel like in this day andage, people really respond to,
um, Even having a difficultconversation of, Hey, you're
(17:54):
right.
We, we didn't exceed yourexpectation.
We're really sorry.
How can we make it better movingforward?
And, and I think that thatpeople just really appreciate
that there's, there's no egohere that we're really just here
to help.
And sometimes we do a great joband I'm, thank you so much for
saying that.
I'm glad we've done a great jobwith you.
And sometimes we do the best wecan.
And in those moments, we, wetake feedback and we're eager to
be better as well.
Katie Lovitt (18:15):
Right.
I mean, I think we're all humansand graciousness is really great
going both directions.
I will
Jill Ombrello (18:24):
also say too, there's been one thing that's
just been really excitingbecause I've been in practice
for about 20 years.
And, and, you know, of coursethings have, have changed over
20 years with the social economyand political, all of the
things, but what's been reallyinteresting over the last four
or five years that I haven'tseen previous to that is
people's un, um, unwaveringcommitment to understand their
(18:46):
own health and be in charge oftheir own health and find
sources of authority about theirhealth that they really trust.
And that's not necessarily thedoctor, you know, the doctor in
the white coat used to be theauthority.
So if you went and saw mygrandfather or even my dad, you
know, if they have their whitecoat on, then You do what they
say and you don't reallyquestion it, right?
I mean, there's exceptions, butthat's the way it is.
(19:08):
And now I don't even own a whitecoat.
I have a black coat becausewe're in this together.
Here's all the information Ihave, and now we can discuss it
together.
And having patients that aretheir own advocates is super
challenging and it forces me tobe better every single day.
But patients really appreciatethat more team minded.
Hey, I'm here to help supportyou.
(19:28):
I'm here for you.
How can I serve?
And rather than just being kindof a dictator and say, well, you
do this because this is becauseI know more than everybody,
right?
So that's been a reallyinteresting shift in the last
four to five years.
And, and the most interestingpart of it is, you know, People
being their own advocates isgreat.
They're making their owndecisions.
What's best for them and theirfamily.
Is that what's best for me orwhat I would do for my family
(19:49):
sometimes, but sometimes not.
And that's okay too.
And so that mutual respect andunderstanding is just been so
fun.
And I see that commitment tobeing your own advocate,
becoming stronger and strongeras I have the privilege of
meeting new patients.
And I hope that continues.
Katie Lovitt (20:05):
Absolutely.
I agree.
And I think people like that whoare really invested in
advocating for themselves tendto get the best results because
they're really own up.
They're not that victim mindsetlike you were talking about.
They're really, you know,holding themselves accountable
and responsible for their ownhealth within reason, you know,
understanding that sometimesthings do happen, you know, that
(20:26):
we can't control, but what can Icontrol and what can I change
and how can I do that?
And I think Taking a minute andnot very many people, healthcare
providers do this because theydon't have a minute a lot of the
time, right?
But taking a minute to reallyunderstand what is this client's
goals and how can I meet themwhere they're at versus this is
(20:46):
what I would do with my familyor what even worse sitting
there, you know, even infunctional medicine, I see this
where people sit there at theirdesk and prescribe this, you
know, let's say it's anelimination diet or a super,
super strict diet to follow.
Well, it's so easy to tellsomebody to do that, but like,
are they going to do it?
Is that really even helpingsomebody if they're not able to
(21:08):
follow through because of wherethey're at?
Jill Ombrello (21:10):
Right.
Right.
And then, and then being okaywith the fact that an
elimination diet with family ofsix is not reasonable.
Okay, great.
Here's our next solution.
Here's the next thing we coulddo.
Yeah.
You can still help.
I love that.
Katie Lovitt (21:23):
Let's talk a little bit about, you mentioned
it a minute ago, the oralmicrobiome.
Tell me all the things, oralmicrobiome, how does it, I mean,
obviously affect mouth dentalhealth, right?
But also gut health, you know,it's the gatekeeper, like you
said, of where food first entersour body.
It's so important in my work.
(21:45):
I talk mostly about the otherend of things, but we do
incorporate the oral microbiomeand all of that.
So I'm super curious to hearyour hot take on all of it.
Jill Ombrello (21:55):
Yeah, for sure.
So I think, um, you know, withthe oral microbiome, people
sometimes forget that the firststep of digestion is by putting
the food in your mouth and thenletting that saliva, uh, Start
to digest it.
It drives me crazy when myteenage sons like inhale their
food, right?
This was like, Oh, they just eatit.
No, you have to chew your foodto start it.
And so the population, the oralmicrobiome is basically who
(22:16):
lives in your mouth.
Who's in there.
There's good bacteria.
There's bad bacteria.
Um, things can be acidic.
Things can be basic.
And so, um, you know, what isthat environment?
What does that saliva look like?
And as you swallow, we introducethat into our body.
So there was a lot of studiesthat came out after COVID, which
caused an uproar at dentaloffices that, you know, that
bacteria, um, and periodontaldisease or gum disease in your
(22:39):
oral microbiome contributes toincreased pulmonary infections.
And so when people were veryscared of COVID, they wanted to
come get their teeth cleaned toeliminate that, to decrease the
chances of having a more severecase of COVID.
Um, we also know that thebacteria at a negative
microbiome can, um, affect yourheart health, um, your lung
health.
Like I said, there's alsostudies that show it can
(23:01):
contribute to early all setAlzheimer's and contribute to
low birth weight and pregnantwomen.
So it's a pretty serious thing.
So as we take that That conceptof how important your oral
microbiome is, thesepharmaceutical companies now
prey on that fear, right?
Well, you know what you need?
You need products to make itbetter.
You need to put all theseproducts in there.
And so, um, There's a lot ofproducts out there that actually
(23:24):
negatively affect your oralmicrobiome.
Some of these mouthwashes thathave a lot of alcohol, um, or
some of the blue dyes or reddye, you know, all of these
things that make it look prettyin the bottle actually make your
oral microbiome more acidic.
And so the, I like to thinkabout your teeth, bear with me,
not a great example.
I think I used this with yourkiddo.
(23:44):
Think about your tooth like apeanut M and M.
We have the candy coated shell,the chocolate and the peanut,
right?
If we have demineralization ofthat candy coated shell, that's
something that the body can,that's like the enamel of the
tooth.
The body can actually healitself with the right
ingredients.
Once that demineralization getsinto the chocolate of the tooth,
it's a cavity and it needs to berestored.
If it gets to the peanut.
Okay.
(24:04):
That's when we start hearingthings like.
Abscess, root canal extraction,et cetera.
But more in that, in that, um,candy coated shell in the
enamel, we can actually changethe oral microbiome of the mouth
and have it remineralize andheal it and prevent having to
have a cavity filled.
How great would that be?
You come into the office and weevaluate, um, your microbiome
(24:27):
through some of your habits.
through what we see the wear ofour teeth, of your teeth.
We have an ITARO scan, which isa non radiation, um, picture.
It's kind of a fancy camera, um,that shows it so we can look at
patterns.
If you're
Katie Lovitt (24:38):
out there, if you remember and watch the entire
thing, because they're sofascinating, by
Jill Ombrello (24:42):
the way, she did that.
Um, so, um, yes, absolutely.
That, that is so important.
So patients love the idea of,Oh, okay.
If I use the right products,then I can take control of my
oral microbiome.
And so we talk a lot about thatand the products are not fancy.
If you think about what's in theouter layer of that tooth, it's
enamel.
(25:03):
It's made of hydroxyapatite.
A lot of Western doctors reallytalk about, um, they really push
fluoride and they think that thetooth will absorb the fluoride
and make it stronger, butfluoride is actually not a
component of the tooth.
Um, and, and there's a lot of,there's a big lawsuit right now.
Actually the EPA is suing, um,all the different counties to
try to get fluoride taken out ofthe water because We're all over
fluoridated, but that's a wholeother topic.
(25:24):
So, um, using thathydroxyapatite, which can be
found in mineral basedtoothpaste, if we use that on a
daily basis, when that candycoated shell gets weak because
of the oral microbiome, itbuilds it back up and it
populates that spit, thatmicrobiome.
to be healthy, to be basic.
So we don't have thatdemineralization.
The other part is how webreathe.
If we breathe through our mouthversus breathing through our
(25:46):
nose like we're supposed to, wecan then have a more acidic
saliva.
That acidic saliva, acidicmicrobiome can create breakdown
of the teeth.
So that's how that's how itaffects the mouth.
If we now introduce that intoour GI system, that's going to
affect how our whole bodydigests food and how it absorbs
food.
Patients that have leaky guthave ulcers, all kinds, you
(26:08):
know, gastric reflux, all typesof GI issues.
We see that bacteria in themouth.
as well as the bacteria in theoral microbiome in the mouth,
that's not appropriate.
We see how that transfers to thegut.
So we have a lot of patientsthat'll, that'll come to us
with, you know, that have done alot of work on their gut health
and they've done, you know,protocols or they've changed
their diet.
(26:29):
They don't anything.
And they're just missing thatlast piece to the puzzle, which
usually comes from the mouth, orwe have the pillaging meeting
patients.
First and addressing the oralmicrobiome, but we're still
seeing issues and then we haveto go work on the gut.
It's only when the, themicrobiomes of the gut and the
mouth are, are positive thatthey can live in harmony and
both are healthy.
Katie Lovitt (26:49):
Absolutely.
I love that.
And it just goes back toEverything's connected.
Our bodies are systems ofsystems.
You can't look at any one partof the body in isolation and
expect to get 100 percentresults.
You have to look at all thepieces of the puzzle.
And I love that you're saying,you know, that mouth is a piece
of the puzzle, you know,
Jill Ombrello (27:08):
Yeah, I will say too, cause people sometimes
reach out about products andthat's another thing I'm
obsessed with.
If you go to my website, centraldentist.
com, it says recommendedproducts.
You can click on that.
It has all these mineral basedtoothpaste and you can actually
click it and read all about it.
If you like it, it adds it toyour Amazon.
shopping cart.
So it's pretty easy to lookthrough that, but also to be
(27:28):
very thoughtful with it.
Um, if you're looking for aspecific toothpaste or, um,
mouth rinses or those things,um, there's some really good,
good ideas.
I do change those quite oftenbecause sometimes a company
sells out one of my favoritetoothpaste companies just sold
out to Procter and Gamble andthey actually lowered the pH of
the product and put all theseadditives in it.
And so, hey, I can't recommendthat product anymore for lower
(27:50):
pH is more aesthetic for peoplewho, yeah, it's more aesthetic.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Sometimes I get too nerdy and itgoes far.
So yeah, if it lowers, if itlowers that, it makes it more
acidic and more likely to breakdown, break down the teeth.
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Katie Lovitt (28:04):
Big issue.
Right.
I'm really curious.
Um, whenever you see the pHchanges in the saliva, do you
see a change in those digestiveenzymes too, that are helping to
break down those Thecarbohydrates mostly in the
mouth.
Jill Ombrello (28:19):
Yes,
Katie Lovitt (28:19):
absolutely.
So we
Jill Ombrello (28:20):
see that, um, we do, we recommend patients do pH
strip testing, so you can getthose on Amazon as well.
And just test the pH of theirsaliva throughout the day and,
and see when it trends moreacidic or more basic and it's
color coded.
Um, there's also a test that youcan do a salivary test where you
spit into a little cup and itanalyzes the microbiome of your
(28:41):
mouth.
which is ever changing, but, um,that absolutely coincides.
I'm not running testing on, ongut health, but, um, yes, it
coincides when we work withtheir functional providers.
Um, that does go together.
I'll also tell you when we see alot of patients that have, um,
underdeveloped lower jaws.
And when their lower jaws areunderdeveloped, it pushes their
tongue back into their airwaypotentially, so they have oxygen
(29:03):
disruption at night when theysleep.
So if that means their oxygenisn't completely stable, um,
when we see interruptions inthat, we can also see major
issues in their digestiveenzymes and their insulin
sensitivity because they'resleeping in a more sympathetic
fight or flight mode, trying tonormalize that oxygen.
Um, so we see that from both,from both sides of that.
Katie Lovitt (29:24):
Yeah, that's so interesting.
And I've shared on Instagramabout my journey with that and
how I was like, mind blownwhenever we realized that that
was happening.
Because if anyone would ask mebefore we did the sleep study, I
would have said, Oh yeah, Isleep great.
Like I fall asleep within 15minutes.
I sleep through the night unlessone of my kids wakes me up or my
old dog, like.
(29:45):
I wake up feeling fine in themorning.
And again, it goes back to thatconversation around what's
normal for you versus what'sactually optimal.
Um, that was how I'd felt mywhole life.
Whenever I woke up, you know, itwas normal.
And so we did that sleep studyand found, I remember how low my
oxygen was dropping.
It was like 85 or something likeseveral times an hour.
Uh,
Jill Ombrello (30:06):
and Yeah, it's pretty significant, but you, you
know, you look at yourpersonality and you're the type,
your glass is half full andyou're going to get up.
And even if you don't feelcompletely rested, the kids will
get breakfast and we'll go aboutour day, which is a fantastic
part of your personality.
And we love you for that.
But also if we're truly honestwith ourselves, you weren't
getting restorative sleep whereyou were having proper oxidation
(30:28):
all night long.
And so your body wasn'tnecessarily resting and
recovering from the beautifullife you lived during the day.
It was compensating and kind ofpushing through.
So you were never takingadvantage of that.
the deeper levels of sleep.
Um, yeah, absolutely.
And I think that's true to havea lot of people.
Katie Lovitt (30:43):
Yeah.
And it was funny.
I was talking to the friendabout it, um, who she's really
interested.
Like she's a great advocate forher own personal health, like
one of those people.
And she was like, well, that'sso weird that you never noticed
it before.
Did you dream?
Like, didn't you dream?
And I was like, well, yeah, Idid.
I did not dream like I dreamnow.
Like I have the most vividdreams like all night long, but
(31:04):
I remember when I wake up, like,it's crazy how much I dream now
versus like before, like beforeI love that every once in a
while I'd have a dream I'dremember.
But again, that was what Ithought was normal.
Um, and I'm really excitedbecause I know we had
hypothesized if, so my heartissue for people who don't know
is have complete heart blockwhere my heart would randomly
(31:25):
stop beating, which is.
Not fantastic.
If, if you want, not ideal, notideal.
Um, but I really have this.
So it happened after my sistersuddenly passed away is really
whenever these symptoms startedcoming on.
And so I just have this gutfeeling, ha ha gut feeling about
it being connected to trauma andlike a mental emotional trauma
(31:46):
there and fight or flight typeof response.
So I'm actually going to my, um,electrophysiologist in April.
So I'm really curious.
Um, you look at my pacemakerrecordings, if there's been any
change or reduction in thepercentage of time I'm being
paced or anything.
So I'll report.
Jill Ombrello (32:02):
Yeah, I can't wait to hear that.
And I do love, I just rememberthe first time I met you, um,
when, when you were in my officeand how just transparent and
lovely and, um, factual you wereand how much healing you had
gone through to be able to talkabout it.
And I really applaud you forbeing so open about it because I
think you're sharing your storywill help other people.
And even just knowing that.
(32:23):
Hey, when, when you go somethingthrough something horrific, that
doesn't even begin to sum it upmore than horrific, what that
can do to your body.
And that's okay because you loveso much.
Right.
And that's okay.
And what you can do to recoverand get better from that.
I just think that's such animportant message that in my
circle, I don't hear thatenough.
And I just really, um, I mean, Ijust adored you from the first
(32:44):
time I met you and you sharedthat story.
It's really incredible.
Katie Lovitt (32:47):
Thank you.
Yeah.
And what you said about, youknow, your tough time that you
went through and using it forgood, you know, and using it to
grow and help others grow andhelp others be better.
And I think it was spot on withmy mission.
Um, exactly.
But really interesting with thesleep is what you were saying,
the fight or flight, right?
Where you're not getting goodsleep.
So let's, let me like walkthrough this chain of events
(33:10):
here for a second.
So, Lower jaw is undeveloped orunderdeveloped.
Not undeveloped.
It's underdeveloped, which ispretty much a pretty chronic
situation here in the U.
S., right?
Jill Ombrello (33:22):
Yeah.
And there's some really, um,brilliant doctors that are, um,
you know, that are researchingthis every day and looking at
it.
And what they're finding is, isIt's multifactorial.
So it's, there's a geneticcomponent, there's an
environmental component.
There is a dietary component,bottle fed versus breastfed.
I mean, there are so manydifferent things that can
(33:43):
contribute to theunderdevelopment of that lower
jaw up until the onset ofpuberty, which is where it's
really kind of locked in.
That's where you are, um, tryingto intervene in that, um, is, is
key.
Early intervention is keybecause you can use the natural
pressures of the tongue andteeth to expand everything.
Um, When we get that full jawwhere the tongue can live, then
you're able to take air inthrough your nose and filter,
(34:05):
purify, humidify it, and youhave a proper size airway, which
is the tube that connects theoutside world to the inside
world.
If patients or people take airin through their mouths, they
force their tonsils and adenoidsto filter that air.
It's not their job.
There are lymphatic organs.
They can help if it gets thesystem gets overloaded, but it's
not their job to filtereverything.
So I see so many patients thathave enlarged tonsils and
(34:27):
adenoids or have had repetitivesurgeries.
Tonsils aren't like fingers.
Like you take a finger off, it'sgone forever.
Tonsils are tissue.
So if you take out the, theenlarged tissue, if you don't
fix the root cause or addressthe root cause, the tonsils can
get big again.
I just saw a little girl lastmonth who's had her tonsils out
six times, right?
I mean, it's, it's horrible.
And now we're going to addressthe root cause, which is her
(34:47):
mouth breathing and change that.
But when we take that air inthrough the mouth and force the
tonsils and adenoids to filterit, and that's not their job
when it gets to the lungs, thelungs, it's not ready for the
body.
So the lungs have aninflammatory response.
That inflammatory response canbe a stuffy nose that can be
misdiagnosed or mislabeled asallergies or, um, something like
that.
And we can't breathe through ourmouth or we can't breathe
(35:09):
through our nose because it'sstopped up.
Well, now what, now how do weaddress it?
Right.
But when we have, um, a lot oftimes with adults that are, that
are concrete in that they willclench or grind their teeth or
they'll, you know, they wake upwith headaches in the morning
because they've had this drop inoxygen.
Um, so, um, Um, they'reclenching and grinding their
teeth, not because they'restressed, but because they're
bringing that lower jaw forwardto bring the tongue, which is
(35:32):
attached the jaw forward to keepit out of the airway.
And so every time that happens,if there's a drop in oxygen, our
survival instinct to breathe isstronger than anything else.
That it's out there.
And so your body will dowhatever it takes.
So at night when you'resleeping, you go from a
parasympathetic, which is a restand digest and repair mode into
a cortisol induced sympatheticfight or flight.
(35:55):
Ah, I need more air.
And that transition fromparasympathetic to sympathetic,
which driven by that stresshormone, can make your body more
inflamed.
More acidic.
Um, and, and again, those deeperlevels of sleep, restorative
sleep, which is where we needdetoxing sleep where the brain
detoxes, where the liver detoxesis so important that we take
(36:17):
advantage of that during thenight, especially with this, the
life that we live during theday, there's more, we're exposed
to more toxins.
It's harder to get clean water.
It's harder to get clean food.
We also, there's so muchinformation for all the reasons
we've talked about.
We absolutely want to need toget into that parasympathetic
rest and digest mode.
And, and a lot of people havethose disturbances.
And so they just never rest.
(36:38):
And if your cortisol is goingall night, your adrenals get
tired.
If you're needing to burn.
Carbohydrates for quick energy,um, rather than burning that
protein and fat at night, whichis long, sustainable energy.
If we're burning those carbs,your insulin kind of gives up on
you.
They're like, what do you wantfrom me?
I digested your food all daylong.
Should I send more of the foodall day?
Cause we're going to need it atnight.
Should we crave sugar and saltall day?
(37:00):
Cause we know we need thisenergy at night.
And then the insulin just says.
Whatever.
I'm insensitive to this wholesituation.
So I'm done.
So patients who have, you know,really tried to lose weight or
really their diets are in lineand they're not seeing the scale
go in the way that they'd like,or their body composition
change.
This sleep component is a reallybig part of it because their
insulin is just kind of givingthem, even though they're doing
everything right during the dayat night, their body's just
(37:24):
trying to keep that oxygen.
So it's, it's having tocompensate.
Katie Lovitt (37:27):
I think that's such good information.
And then taking it one stepfurther from what you were
saying about you're not sleepingwell at night, you're going into
fight or flight.
Um, well, guess where the vagusnerve, every listener is housed.
It's in the same part of yourbrain where the fight or flight
response is housed.
(37:47):
So the vagus nerve is Um, andit's maybe my favorite thing
about the human body whenever itcomes to gut health.
It's pretty cool.
It goes from your brain and itgoes down into your abdomen and
it, um, has all theseintersection points with your
heart, with your lungs, withyour digestive tract.
And whenever you're talkingabout gut health specifically,
it's what's controlling gutmotility.
(38:08):
So if you're struggling withrecurring SIBO, that is part of
the issue is that that vagusnerve is not working properly.
If you're dealing withconstipation or diarrhea.
That vagus nerve is not workingproperly is part of the issue.
Um, and it can lead to all kindsof microbiome issues also.
So you're seeing how it can comefrom multiple places.
(38:29):
And that's why you can't justtake one single supplement or do
a, you know, certain eliminationdiet and fix all these issues.
They're way more complex thanthat.
And there's a lot more movingparts.
Um, but so if you're notsleeping well at night, because
your airway isn't, you know,open at night, It can then
really lead to gut issues withmotility stuff too.
(38:50):
So, and you're creating a moreacidic mouth environment, which
Dr.
Jill just said, you know,impacts our microbiome as well.
Um, so really fascinating.
It is fascinating.
And sometimes I wish there
Jill Ombrello (39:01):
was a magic pill.
Don't you?
Sometimes you get to sit here.
Take this one and everythingwill be good.
But you know, one thing that I,that I think a biological
dentist does, and I pride myselfin doing is, okay, where can we
start to get the biggest bangfor our effort?
Like, what can we attack firstto really, um, do that?
And a lot of times it is diet,making sure we're eating a low
(39:21):
inflammatory, you know, lowinflammatory foods, cutting down
on processed foods.
Sometimes it's as simple asthat.
Sometimes it is behaviormodifications, putting the phone
down, not watching TV rightbefore bed, right?
Like, um, you know, finding joyin your life, listening to
Beyonce on the way home fromwork, if that's what you need to
do, right.
And so just finding actionablesteps that help move the gauge
(39:43):
and the, and, and the directionof health, I think is what
people are looking for, becauseit is so very complicated.
And, and what I like to say withpatients too, as you know,
especially yes, your cranialnerve 10 and the way you breathe
and the way you sleep and theway you think, and the way you,
all of these things as complexas our body is, and as
multifactorial as it is, thebody is equally.
(40:04):
complicated in the way that itcan heal itself and the way that
it can get you back where you'resupposed to.
We're not actually reinventingthe wheel.
We're just putting the body in aplace to function the way it's
supposed to.
And once it functions the wayit's supposed to, hopefully you
won't need intervention anymore.
Your body will just be healthyand happy and you can pay
attention to those things.
So patients under, or peopleunderstanding this isn't like
(40:27):
This isn't pharmaceuticals.
This isn't something thatsomeone invented in a lab or
brought out of thin air.
This is just restoring factorysettings, getting you back to
where it was.
And, and, and sometimes thinkingabout it that way, I, in my
experience, I've found thatpatients are a little less
overwhelmed with the multitudeof, of areas that we could focus
on to get that ideal health.
Katie Lovitt (40:47):
Yeah, I think so too.
I think that's a really great,great perspective.
And, you know, I think too,going back to the magic pill,
um, I think, you know, Growththrough struggles and through
trials is so powerful because ifall you did was take a pill, you
know, to set everything rightagain, you would miss out on
(41:08):
learning so many things aboutwhat your body does need to
thrive and get set back on acourse towards healing and stay
there that you'd be having totake pills all the time, right?
That's basically how medicine isin a nutshell.
That's so true.
Jill Ombrello (41:21):
I'm reading a book right now that talks about
like your mind is just waystronger, um, than you think it
is.
So I have three teenagers rightnow, so I really need, I need a
strong mind, right?
So I've started cryotherapy anddoing, you know, um, cold
plunges because yes, it's verycold and who really likes cold
water?
No, but I mean, if you do great,but not me.
(41:42):
But realizing that.
With the difficulty of the coldwater, how strong my mind is.
And I don't have to have asympathetic reaction.
I can be the, the anti forceagainst the force of the cold
water.
So I think that that's what youjust said is so brilliant
because, um, yes, through,through these trials, we do
become stronger and we realizehow amazing our bodies are and
(42:02):
how they can heal themselves.
And that's really empowering.
Cause you don't need, you don'tneed anybody for that.
You just need yourself.
And that's really exciting.
Katie Lovitt (42:10):
Wow, it is.
You're not having to find thenext expert to tell you what to
do, you know, for yourself, youknow.
Jill Ombrello (42:16):
And we don't want our patients to be dependent on
us.
We want them to use us for theinformation that they need and
then, and then move on to thenext stage that gets them better
health.
And, and I think thatphilosophy, I know you and I
share that philosophy, but Ithink that philosophy is, is new
or, or unique.
When.
When you're talking abouthealthcare providers and
patients really resonate with,oh, you don't want me to come
(42:38):
every two months for the rest ofmy life.
No, I mean, you can come by andsay hi, but like, I don't, I
don't want to have to treat you.
I don't want to continue
Katie Lovitt (42:45):
having problems for sure.
Absolutely.
Oh, I love that so much.
Um, so if somebody were to startout on this path of like, Hey,
I'm really interested in this.
And this is, you know, somethingnew and different that I haven't
ever thought about before.
Where would you have them start?
Like, what would you have themdo first?
Well,
Jill Ombrello (43:04):
Yeah.
So I think, um, you know, reallyjust being honest and sitting
down and not having your glasshalf full.
Right.
And just saying, okay, realitystarts.
How do I really feel age?
Isn't necessarily a number.
It's energy.
So what is my energy?
Like, um, what is my digestion?
Like, and really looking at it.
For through that lens andcreating a list of the current
state of affairs, right?
(43:25):
Kind of rating yourself.
I like to do that.
Sit down and rate myself on ascale of one to 10.
I'm not to be harsh with myself,but just to have a check in, um,
when we have patients that comein with various levels of guilt
or shame or confusion abouttheir teeth or, or even fear or
anxiety.
We like to sit down and reallyhave that conversation with
them.
So when, if, if the mouth iswhere you'd like to start, um, I
(43:48):
would welcome people, um,patients in my practice, um,
central dentist.
And while I have a lot ofsolutions and a lot of
information, I'm not thegatekeeper.
I don't have the end all end ofeverything, but what I'm really
proud of is that the team oflike minded providers that I've
had the absolute privilege ofmeeting and working with.
So.
When we don't have the solutionhere in my office, Hey, here's a
(44:08):
great person to go work with, orhere's someone who can, um, who
can give you more insight onto,onto what you're looking for.
But, um, I would, I would, andI'm absolutely love welcoming
new patients.
So they're always welcome here.
Um, if, if that's not it, Iwould, you know, social media is
fantastic in a lot of ways, butin a lot of ways it can be
overwhelming.
(44:28):
I'd find somebody.
Um, on Instagram to follow who,who is like minded and you like
the content, you like howthey're living their life,
right?
Um, there's someone on Instagramwho I just adore and she lives
in a, she lives in a PuertoRican, um, like jungle and she
homeschools her kids and they'rebarefooted all the time.
I love that, but like, I'm notin, I'm not doing that.
(44:50):
I'm like driving carpool inDallas and wearing shoes.
Right.
And, and no judge, I thinkthat's amazing.
She's doing it, but it doesn'twork for me.
So finding someone who kind ofresonates with.
Uh, with what you would like todo and what works with your
family in an effort to get moreinformation, but then also in
the simplest and the hardestthing is just be grateful.
Take moments for gratitude tothank your body for being so
(45:10):
strong and to thank yourselffor, you know, listening to
fantastic podcasts like you havein an effort to get more
information to learn more.
And so really just coming from aposition of gratitude, I think
is the absolute best thing thatpeople can do, um, to start off.
Katie Lovitt (45:25):
I love it.
It all goes back to the mindsetand the heartset, right?
Absolutely.
Well, thank you so much for yourtime.
You're, you know, justperspective sharing your laughs
and your love with people.
It's just so apparent how muchyou love people.
You love doing what you do.
You love inspiring andempowering other people.
(45:47):
So I really appreciate you beinghere.
Thank you.
Jill Ombrello (45:50):
You are, um, you are, you're one of those people
that I would follow.
I love, I mean, you're abrilliant mother.
You're so smart.
Your children are fantastic.
I just, um, I have so muchrespect for you.
So thank you so much for, forinviting me on and giving me an
opportunity for us to chat.
I think the first time I metyou, I said, we should just go
to lunch and be best friends.
So this is, this is another stepin my path to becoming best
(46:11):
friends.
Yeah.
This is
Katie Lovitt (46:14):
how we
Jill Ombrello (46:15):
come friends, right?
Exactly.
So thank you so much for thisopportunity.
It sincerely means so much.
Katie Lovitt (46:20):
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you so much.
And we'll talk with you guysnext week.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for listeningto the entire episode.
I hope you are feeling inspiredand empowered to take bold
action towards your healthgoals.
If you enjoy what you heard,don't forget to follow my show
(46:41):
so you never miss a new episode.
And it would mean the world tome, if you left me a review, so
others know what to expect frommy show.
Last, get in touch.
Let me know what bold actionyou're taking.
Let me know how you're inspired.
Follow me on Instagram@the_healthygut_dietitian.
(47:02):
I've put a link in my show notesfor you, so you can simply click
and follow.
Come say hi, I respond to all mymessages and I can't wait to get
in touch.
The fact that I meet so many patients who have
(00:02):
defined their reality as beingnormal, um, has been really fun
to maybe provide a differentinsight, while that may be
common.
While it may be common that yourkid has these symptoms, or while
it may be common that you havethese symptoms, that's not
normal, and blasting that andreframing They can accept a
better reality has been is myfavorite thing to do because
(00:23):
ultimately people just thrive inthe environment of thinking that
they could be better orhealthier.
Hey, everyone.
Welcome to The Nourished andThriving Show.
I'm your host, Katie Lovitt.
I'm a registered dietitian on amission to help you increase
your impact and legacy on theworld while healing your gut and
reducing your IBS symptoms.
(00:44):
I'm so grateful to have youhere.
Each week I'll inspire you tolive vibrantly and provide
valuable resources andinformation that empowers you to
take bold action towards yourhealth goals.
Before we dive in, make sure youfollow or subscribe to my show
wherever you're listening so younever miss an episode.
(01:04):
Ready?
Let's go!
Katie Lovitt (01:06):
All right, everybody.
Welcome back to the Nourishedand Thriving show.
I am so excited about today'sepisode.
And if you aren't, you shouldbe.
I'm about to tell you why I havesitting here in a zoom room with
me, Dr.
Jill Umbrello, who is, um, mydentist and my family's dentist.
(01:30):
And she is actually a fourthgeneration dentist.
She also has four crazy kids.
I like that you have the numberfour a lot.
She says that they motivate herto learn more and be better,
which I think is one of the bestthings about being a mom, right?
Is we want to do better for ourkids and inspire them and have
(01:50):
them be inspired by us.
And she's a huge Beyonce fan,which is on your short list of
like most important things aboutyou.
Jill Ombrello (02:00):
Well, I think it is important.
And that is one of the mostimportant things because I did
pull up at a stoplight one timeafter work and I had Beyonce
just windows down.
I was dancing, changing myenergy after work before I went
home and a patient pulled up andsaw me and I thought they were
going to wreck their car.
They were laughing so hard at meand I'm like, don't laugh at me.
Roll your windows down.
Join the dance party.
(02:21):
But yeah, it's my jam.
I love it.
I love it.
So thank you so much for takingtime out of your day.
Of course.
Thank you.
I'm a fan of the show and I'mjust really excited to be here
and hope I have something to addto the conversation.
Katie Lovitt (02:35):
Yes.
Oh, don't hope you absolutelydo.
I'm so excited.
I think that this is aconversation that not many
people even know is aconversation or no needs to be a
conversation whenever it comesto overall health, but got
health too.
And it's something I reallywanted to dive in and learn a
lot more about.
And so I believe in.
(02:55):
Efficiency.
And so going to the experts andasking them what they've learned
and all of that is always thebest way to get at least first
information right before likedigging into rabbit holes.
So super excited.
Yeah, I totally agree.
So awesome.
So tell us, what do you do?
Like, what, how is the dentistrythat you practice different than
(03:19):
like any other regular dentistthat somebody might go to?
Jill Ombrello (03:22):
Yeah, for sure.
So there's a couple of differentterms that would describe the
type of dentistry I, I practiceand I am proud to practice.
A biological dentist is kind ofmy favorite, a holistic dentist
is another one, um, a noninvasive early intervention are
other ones, but basically welive in the most amazing of
times.
There is so much information outthere and I, I love having a
(03:46):
more holistic, less invasive,more natural approach to things.
That being said, I also love myWestern education and there is a
time and a place for Westernmedicine.
We're not in a third worldcountry where we have to rely on
the roots and the, I mean,sometimes I wish we were, but
that's a whole other topic.
But, um, and so I think what abiological dentist does and what
we really focus on is root causedentistry and making sure we
(04:08):
recognize.
Why there's a need for afilling.
If there is disease orinflammation, why it's there
rather than putting a bandaid onit and doing a filling or, or,
um, uh, pulling a tooth, etcetera.
Yes, we also do those thingsbecause we want to focus on
eliminating and stabilizingdisease, but we really want to
dig into what the root causes.
(04:29):
And I think there's another hugefocus in biological dentistry,
um, focusing on the materialbiocompatibility, which is just
kind of a fancy way of saying,Hey, if I put something in your,
in your body that is foreign,will your body accept it?
Or if I put this in your body,even though we know it's a good
material and it's okay, willyour body reject it causing a
(04:49):
cascade of symptoms that nowwe're trying to chase?
and cure.
So, um, exactly.
You know what my grandfatherpracticed, um, you know, back in
the sixties and the seventiesand things were so different
back then.
I mean, the toxic load was quitedifferent back then.
Right.
What, what the air that he wasbreathing and the water that he
(05:10):
was drinking and his patientswere drinking and the food was
quite different than now in2024.
Even then they didn't realizethat taking mercury amalgam
fillings and rolling it in yourhand without a glove, right?
I mean, it just in your barehand, what that could do
neurologically and what thatmercury would do to your body
overall, which is why a lot ofdentists that age were very
(05:32):
similar to my grandfather anddeveloped a hand tremor, right?
So there's things that we'relearning and, and the major.
Focus of a biological dentist ishow do we decrease that toxic
load and how do we look for rootcauses, address those to reduce
the overall toxic load.
And what's been really excitingis I think this has become more
of a conversation as peoplerecognize that the mouth is kind
(05:53):
of the, you know, the, thebeginning of the body of
systemic health.
And not only what we put in ourmouths, but the health of our
mouths.
And then we can also recognize,um.
Early, you know, early symptomsof other diseases in your body
when they come to the mouthfirst.
So it's been exciting to seepeople feel very empowered about
their oral health and verymotivated to, um, to have a
(06:14):
nice, healthy oral microbiome.
And, and ultimately be our, welike to call them our healthy,
boring patients.
They come in and the oralmicrobiome is healthy.
They're all hygiene is good.
And, and we're not, you know,quote, quote, unquote, drilling
and filling every time they comein.
That's an ideal patient.
Katie Lovitt (06:30):
Yeah, absolutely.
I like being that kind ofpatient.
I know those are my favorite.
Those are my favorites.
The healthy, boring, gorgeoussmile.
Yes.
So I love like you are justsinging to my soul here whenever
you're saying that you loveconventional medicine for what
it does and it has a place andactually reading your bio on
your website.
(06:51):
I love it.
I didn't realize we both hadheart conditions diagnosed in
our twenties and had life savinginterventions that are
conventional Western medicine.
And so I'm with you, like itabsolutely has a place and it
saves lives every single day.
But is it the best approach forthese more chronic conditions
(07:11):
where you have multiple systemsinvolved in, in all of that?
I don't think so.
And I think that's where, youknow, your approach and my
approach are really great.
So,
Jill Ombrello (07:21):
and, and, you know, it's, it's interesting if,
if a, if a patient comes in witha mouthful of cavities and yes,
we can drill and fill those, butcould we do some nutritional
counseling?
Could we figure out, Hey, isthere a high frequency of
processed foods contributing tothat?
Is their mouth breathing and theway that they breathe at night
while they sleep is lowering thepH of their saliva causing these
demineralizations.
Yeah.
(07:41):
What can we do rather than justslapping a bandaid on it?
Um having that heart conditiondiagnosed in my early twenties
was the Um was the mostformative thing I would say that
happened to me in my life.
Um For a very long time I livedI mean I had a congenital birth
defect So from the time I wasborn until the time I was 20 Um,
I lived with the symptoms ofthat condition thinking that it
(08:02):
was normal And and having littledizzy spells where I lost vision
was not normal.
It was common for me, but itwasn't normal so The fact that I
meet so many patients who havedefined their reality as being
normal, um, has been really funto maybe provide a different
insight, while that may becommon.
While it may be common that yourkid has these symptoms, or while
(08:24):
it may be common that you havethese symptoms, that's not
normal, and blasting that andreframing They can accept a
better reality has been is myfavorite thing to do because
ultimately people just thrive inthe environment of thinking that
they could be better orhealthier.
Um, and, and, and to do thatthrough non invasive ways or
holistic ways, just aligningtheir body with the way that
(08:45):
they're supposed to work, notreinventing the wheel.
The body is miraculous andbeautiful and healing and all of
the things with the properingredients.
And so empowering people to feelthat way about their bodies
rather than shame or guilt or,you know, almost feeling like a
victim, um, is, is somethingthat I'm very proud of, um, that
Katie Lovitt (09:05):
we, that we work towards in my office.
I love all of that so much.
And the same is true for gutissues.
Like, I think it's kind of thesame.
Like people don't really talkabout mouth issues other than
like, if they have to get aprocedure done or something, but
they're not, that's not a partof the dinner conversation,
except maybe at your house andmy house.
And like the same is true forgut issues.
(09:25):
Like people just think that whatthey're experiencing is normal
because it's normal for them andit's all they've ever known.
And so really helping them to.
step back, zoom out, understandwhat that optimal function, how
their bodies were designed andcreated to work and heal is
really a cool perspective shift.
I love it.
Jill Ombrello (09:44):
It is.
And I think as, as a mom, um,you know, I, when I get in my
mom's circles of friends andwe're talking and we'll, what's,
Summer camps or what, what isyour kid doing?
And we kind of talk to eachother to see, are we having
similar experiences?
Can we learn from each other?
I remember when my first, her,my first child, her name's
Franny.
I was at the playground.
She's three years old and allthe moms were talking about how
their kids pooped once a week.
(10:06):
And I was like, Oh, hold on,hold on a second.
No, no, no, no, no.
Like I understand everyone inthis circle of, you know, five
or six women are experiencingthat, but like, it's common, but
it's not normal.
And then, you know, I don'tknow.
I got invited to less playdates.
I have to be honest.
Cause I always just kind of had,I was like, Whoa, what do you
mean?
Okay.
We're talking about poop.
We're doing this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
have a conversation.
(10:26):
Yeah.
So I just think there's so muchmisinformation out there.
Um, For, for, for moms and it's,it's challenging because, um, I
think as moms, we all just wantthe very best for our kids and
we want them to be thehealthiest versions of
themselves.
And I think that's beautiful,but I think there's also a lot
of pressure on moms to want thatfor their children.
And one thing that I'd like toshift the conversation and say,
(10:48):
Hey, but we also want that forourselves.
We want our children to behealthy, but we want that for
moms too.
Like I want to be 120 years oldand vibrant and on the floor
playing with my great grandkids.
And full of energy, like I, butI also want them to be healthy.
And so looking out for ourselvesis also something that, um, that
we really talk
Katie Lovitt (11:06):
about in my office as well.
Yeah, absolutely.
I just did an episode on likethe hot mess mom culture causing
a hot mess, got issues.
And it so does.
And I think we're just as womenso fast to carry a heavy burden
and be dismissive of issues thatmaybe we're dealing with when.
If you flipped that and youasked if my child were dealing
(11:27):
with this, would I beapproaching this in the same
way?
And we would all immediately sayno, like, heck no.
So, I've
Jill Ombrello (11:35):
definitely experienced that with, um, you
know, even like, uh, mentaltalk.
I have so many patients that arejust so hard on themselves.
So, um, my, I love all of mykids, right?
Obviously it depends on the day.
I love some more than others,
Katie Lovitt (11:47):
but
Jill Ombrello (11:50):
you know, my sweet little.
My sweet little six year oldEloise is just the light, I
mean, she's just the sweetest.
And so sometimes when I getcaught in my head and I'm like,
ah, that wasn't good enough or Ididn't do this, would I ever say
those words outside to Eloise,to her?
And of course I wouldn't.
So why would I say that, saythat to myself?
So yes, this is outside thescope of dentistry, right?
It's outside of what we'redoing, but when we meet these
(12:12):
patients who are looking forsolutions to some chronic
issues, sometimes, um, you know,the conversations go in this
way.
Why?
Like, why do you think?
think that you broke a tooth?
Why do you think that you haveall these systemic health
issues?
You're not a mental patient.
I mean, we see some of thosetoo, but most of these patients
are just, are chasing symptomsand so confused as to where to
start and how to be better that,you know what, as, as a
(12:35):
biological dentist, here's onething that we can do.
We can get some more informationand then empower you with that
information to be very strategicand persistent.
purposeful about next steps andvery slowly, um, get better and
better and better.
And I think our patients respondto that, especially in, in the
culture of so much informationthat moves very quickly.
Katie Lovitt (12:54):
Yeah, because we know that our thoughts and our
beliefs drive our actions, whichultimately drive our results.
So you have to start with themindset and that's, I love it.
Um, so tell me how you got intothis field.
Like were the three generationsbefore you biological dentists
or biologic dentists, or likewhat caused you to kind of go in
this direction?
(13:14):
I'm really curious.
Yeah, this is a great one of
Jill Ombrello (13:17):
my favorite questions.
Um, so growing up, we werealways extremely healthy.
We always had, we had smoothiesevery day and that was before
kind of smoothies were a thing.
So we always, uh, my parents, wereally trended towards a very
outdoor lifestyle.
I had a very idyllic childhoodwhere I rode my bike and I was
home when the streetlights cameon in our neighborhood and, um,
you know, all the neighbors knewus.
And so if we did somethingnaughty, they would tell our
(13:38):
parents, you know, it was justthis kind of, you know, Cults of
people raising villages, right.
You know, raising, not actuallya cult, that's the wrong word,
but a village, you know,raising, raising children in a
small neighborhood.
So it was fantastic, but, um, itreally came down to my heart
surgery in my twenties thatreally projected, put me on
this, on this path.
Um, I did have a congenitalbirth defect that was fixed
surgically incorrectly the firsttime.
(13:59):
So I was in dental school andhad an open heart surgery that
was botched.
And so I had a year where I wasreally very sick and the
solutions I was given, um, froma very well known.
Um, doctor who's, you know,number one in all the magazines,
number one, D best doctor, allthose things.
Um, reputable doctor didn't,didn't, he wasn't listening to
(14:20):
me when I said, here's what'shappening.
Here's how I feel.
It was a very cookie cutterapproach.
And I got very, very angry aboutthat.
Um, I ended up having a secondopen heart surgery that resolved
it.
And I am very healthy.
I've had.
For beautiful Children, but I'vehad other health issues related
to that.
Um, you know, it's not veryinvasive procedure.
And so rather than become veryangry, um, I did for a while,
(14:43):
don't get me wrong, but I turnedthat into just being very
grateful for that experiencebecause it's made me the type of
provider that really listens tomy patients.
And as I started out in dental,um, practice about 20 years ago,
you know, when a filling wouldfail or if a tooth would crack
and, you know, I would, I wouldhave to ask questions why, why,
why it's not because I'm a baddentist, there's something,
there's a root cause there.
(15:04):
So really, um, it stems fromhaving a medical experience
where I didn't feel like I waslistened to.
And I don't feel like I was, um,Uh, treated with respect or
empowered with additionalinformation.
And quite honestly, I didn'thave the skill set to equip
myself with that information.
That was before Facebook andbefore the internet and before a
(15:25):
lot of this, not as an excuse,but I just wasn't equipped with
that.
So, um, it really has made thedifference.
made that a core value of mineto truly listen to the patient.
Everyone is different andeverybody has different
priorities.
Hey, if you have a cavity inyour tooth, but you're also
fighting, you know, you're alsodoing a parasite cleanse.
We got to prioritize.
We can't do everything at once.
And, and so that's reallycreated the core value within
(15:47):
myself.
And then just really looking tomy patients To learn, to learn
from them and to continue and,and to be a source of, Hey, I
have some really nicheinformation.
I love dentistry.
I love biological dentistry.
So in my free time, that's whatI'm reading about.
Use me for this information thatI can pass to you to empower, to
make the decisions that areright for you and your family,
and I think patients reallyappreciate the approach of I'm
(16:09):
not a dictator and telling them,but just providing information
that align with what their corevalues are.
And, um, it's been fun becausepatients get healthy and they
accept a new reality.
And, and, um, what their healthcould look like.
And then they send their otherfriends and they get healthy
too.
So what you do is build just acommunity of like minded people
who want to help each other andwho want to educate and empower.
(16:31):
So it's just a really beautifulthing.
Every day at work is, is areally nice thing surrounded by
like minded people who are justeager to be the best versions of
themselves.
And so every day it justcontinues to feed that fire and
feed that passion that, um, yes,there are some really sick
people out there and there'ssome people that have been taken
advantage of, or that are new tothe path and don't know
anything.
(16:51):
They're eating their Cheetos andsmoking their cigarette before
they come in to the people thatare much smarter than me when it
comes to diet and nutrition andsupplementation.
So we get to see, have theprivilege of treating all of
those patients.
So it just continues to feedthat fire, the healthier people
get and the more positively theyrespond to what we're offering.
Katie Lovitt (17:06):
I love it.
I love it.
And you guys, if y'all havenever been to Dr.
Jill's office, you are like aray of sunshine in your office
and you make everyone feel sospecial.
And just everyone in your officeis so kind and uplifting.
And I've never really had a badexperience at a dentist, but I
know a lot of people do.
And so if you've ever had thatlike bad experience, or you hate
(17:27):
going, like, Go, go see centraldentist.
Jill Ombrello (17:33):
It is a happy place and we do one of our core
values in our office is yes,it's fun.
Like you're at the dentist andwho, but we want to have fun,
but you know, we do have daysthat we don't necessarily make
the phone call at the exactright time or don't send the
email that we should.
But, um, another core value isjust transparency.
And I feel like in this day andage, people really respond to,
um, Even having a difficultconversation of, Hey, you're
(17:54):
right.
We, we didn't exceed yourexpectation.
We're really sorry.
How can we make it better movingforward?
And, and I think that thatpeople just really appreciate
that there's, there's no egohere that we're really just here
to help.
And sometimes we do a great joband I'm, thank you so much for
saying that.
I'm glad we've done a great jobwith you.
And sometimes we do the best wecan.
And in those moments, we, wetake feedback and we're eager to
be better as well.
Katie Lovitt (18:15):
Right.
I mean, I think we're all humansand graciousness is really great
going both directions.
I will
Jill Ombrello (18:24):
also say too, there's been one thing that's
just been really excitingbecause I've been in practice
for about 20 years.
And, and, you know, of coursethings have, have changed over
20 years with the social economyand political, all of the
things, but what's been reallyinteresting over the last four
or five years that I haven'tseen previous to that is
people's un, um, unwaveringcommitment to understand their
(18:46):
own health and be in charge oftheir own health and find
sources of authority about theirhealth that they really trust.
And that's not necessarily thedoctor, you know, the doctor in
the white coat used to be theauthority.
So if you went and saw mygrandfather or even my dad, you
know, if they have their whitecoat on, then You do what they
say and you don't reallyquestion it, right?
I mean, there's exceptions, butthat's the way it is.
(19:08):
And now I don't even own a whitecoat.
I have a black coat becausewe're in this together.
Here's all the information Ihave, and now we can discuss it
together.
And having patients that aretheir own advocates is super
challenging and it forces me tobe better every single day.
But patients really appreciatethat more team minded.
Hey, I'm here to help supportyou.
(19:28):
I'm here for you.
How can I serve?
And rather than just being kindof a dictator and say, well, you
do this because this is becauseI know more than everybody,
right?
So that's been a reallyinteresting shift in the last
four to five years.
And, and the most interestingpart of it is, you know, People
being their own advocates isgreat.
They're making their owndecisions.
What's best for them and theirfamily.
Is that what's best for me orwhat I would do for my family
(19:49):
sometimes, but sometimes not.
And that's okay too.
And so that mutual respect andunderstanding is just been so
fun.
And I see that commitment tobeing your own advocate,
becoming stronger and strongeras I have the privilege of
meeting new patients.
And I hope that continues.
Katie Lovitt (20:05):
Absolutely.
I agree.
And I think people like that whoare really invested in
advocating for themselves tendto get the best results because
they're really own up.
They're not that victim mindsetlike you were talking about.
They're really, you know,holding themselves accountable
and responsible for their ownhealth within reason, you know,
understanding that sometimesthings do happen, you know, that
(20:26):
we can't control, but what can Icontrol and what can I change
and how can I do that?
And I think Taking a minute andnot very many people, healthcare
providers do this because theydon't have a minute a lot of the
time, right?
But taking a minute to reallyunderstand what is this client's
goals and how can I meet themwhere they're at versus this is
(20:46):
what I would do with my familyor what even worse sitting
there, you know, even infunctional medicine, I see this
where people sit there at theirdesk and prescribe this, you
know, let's say it's anelimination diet or a super,
super strict diet to follow.
Well, it's so easy to tellsomebody to do that, but like,
are they going to do it?
Is that really even helpingsomebody if they're not able to
(21:08):
follow through because of wherethey're at?
Jill Ombrello (21:10):
Right.
Right.
And then, and then being okaywith the fact that an
elimination diet with family ofsix is not reasonable.
Okay, great.
Here's our next solution.
Here's the next thing we coulddo.
Yeah.
You can still help.
I love that.
Katie Lovitt (21:23):
Let's talk a little bit about, you mentioned
it a minute ago, the oralmicrobiome.
Tell me all the things, oralmicrobiome, how does it, I mean,
obviously affect mouth dentalhealth, right?
But also gut health, you know,it's the gatekeeper, like you
said, of where food first entersour body.
It's so important in my work.
(21:45):
I talk mostly about the otherend of things, but we do
incorporate the oral microbiomeand all of that.
So I'm super curious to hearyour hot take on all of it.
Jill Ombrello (21:55):
Yeah, for sure.
So I think, um, you know, withthe oral microbiome, people
sometimes forget that the firststep of digestion is by putting
the food in your mouth and thenletting that saliva, uh, Start
to digest it.
It drives me crazy when myteenage sons like inhale their
food, right?
This was like, Oh, they just eatit.
No, you have to chew your foodto start it.
And so the population, the oralmicrobiome is basically who
(22:16):
lives in your mouth.
Who's in there.
There's good bacteria.
There's bad bacteria.
Um, things can be acidic.
Things can be basic.
And so, um, you know, what isthat environment?
What does that saliva look like?
And as you swallow, we introducethat into our body.
So there was a lot of studiesthat came out after COVID, which
caused an uproar at dentaloffices that, you know, that
bacteria, um, and periodontaldisease or gum disease in your
(22:39):
oral microbiome contributes toincreased pulmonary infections.
And so when people were veryscared of COVID, they wanted to
come get their teeth cleaned toeliminate that, to decrease the
chances of having a more severecase of COVID.
Um, we also know that thebacteria at a negative
microbiome can, um, affect yourheart health, um, your lung
health.
Like I said, there's alsostudies that show it can
(23:01):
contribute to early all setAlzheimer's and contribute to
low birth weight and pregnantwomen.
So it's a pretty serious thing.
So as we take that That conceptof how important your oral
microbiome is, thesepharmaceutical companies now
prey on that fear, right?
Well, you know what you need?
You need products to make itbetter.
You need to put all theseproducts in there.
And so, um, There's a lot ofproducts out there that actually
(23:24):
negatively affect your oralmicrobiome.
Some of these mouthwashes thathave a lot of alcohol, um, or
some of the blue dyes or reddye, you know, all of these
things that make it look prettyin the bottle actually make your
oral microbiome more acidic.
And so the, I like to thinkabout your teeth, bear with me,
not a great example.
I think I used this with yourkiddo.
(23:44):
Think about your tooth like apeanut M and M.
We have the candy coated shell,the chocolate and the peanut,
right?
If we have demineralization ofthat candy coated shell, that's
something that the body can,that's like the enamel of the
tooth.
The body can actually healitself with the right
ingredients.
Once that demineralization getsinto the chocolate of the tooth,
it's a cavity and it needs to berestored.
If it gets to the peanut.
Okay.
(24:04):
That's when we start hearingthings like.
Abscess, root canal extraction,et cetera.
But more in that, in that, um,candy coated shell in the
enamel, we can actually changethe oral microbiome of the mouth
and have it remineralize andheal it and prevent having to
have a cavity filled.
How great would that be?
You come into the office and weevaluate, um, your microbiome
(24:27):
through some of your habits.
through what we see the wear ofour teeth, of your teeth.
We have an ITARO scan, which isa non radiation, um, picture.
It's kind of a fancy camera, um,that shows it so we can look at
patterns.
If you're
Katie Lovitt (24:38):
out there, if you remember and watch the entire
thing, because they're sofascinating, by
Jill Ombrello (24:42):
the way, she did that.
Um, so, um, yes, absolutely.
That, that is so important.
So patients love the idea of,Oh, okay.
If I use the right products,then I can take control of my
oral microbiome.
And so we talk a lot about thatand the products are not fancy.
If you think about what's in theouter layer of that tooth, it's
enamel.
(25:03):
It's made of hydroxyapatite.
A lot of Western doctors reallytalk about, um, they really push
fluoride and they think that thetooth will absorb the fluoride
and make it stronger, butfluoride is actually not a
component of the tooth.
Um, and, and there's a lot of,there's a big lawsuit right now.
Actually the EPA is suing, um,all the different counties to
try to get fluoride taken out ofthe water because We're all over
fluoridated, but that's a wholeother topic.
(25:24):
So, um, using thathydroxyapatite, which can be
found in mineral basedtoothpaste, if we use that on a
daily basis, when that candycoated shell gets weak because
of the oral microbiome, itbuilds it back up and it
populates that spit, thatmicrobiome.
to be healthy, to be basic.
So we don't have thatdemineralization.
The other part is how webreathe.
If we breathe through our mouthversus breathing through our
(25:46):
nose like we're supposed to, wecan then have a more acidic
saliva.
That acidic saliva, acidicmicrobiome can create breakdown
of the teeth.
So that's how that's how itaffects the mouth.
If we now introduce that intoour GI system, that's going to
affect how our whole bodydigests food and how it absorbs
food.
Patients that have leaky guthave ulcers, all kinds, you
(26:08):
know, gastric reflux, all typesof GI issues.
We see that bacteria in themouth.
as well as the bacteria in theoral microbiome in the mouth,
that's not appropriate.
We see how that transfers to thegut.
So we have a lot of patientsthat'll, that'll come to us
with, you know, that have done alot of work on their gut health
and they've done, you know,protocols or they've changed
their diet.
(26:29):
They don't anything.
And they're just missing thatlast piece to the puzzle, which
usually comes from the mouth, orwe have the pillaging meeting
patients.
First and addressing the oralmicrobiome, but we're still
seeing issues and then we haveto go work on the gut.
It's only when the, themicrobiomes of the gut and the
mouth are, are positive thatthey can live in harmony and
both are healthy.
Katie Lovitt (26:49):
Absolutely.
I love that.
And it just goes back toEverything's connected.
Our bodies are systems ofsystems.
You can't look at any one partof the body in isolation and
expect to get 100 percentresults.
You have to look at all thepieces of the puzzle.
And I love that you're saying,you know, that mouth is a piece
of the puzzle, you know,
Jill Ombrello (27:08):
Yeah, I will say too, cause people sometimes
reach out about products andthat's another thing I'm
obsessed with.
If you go to my website, centraldentist.
com, it says recommendedproducts.
You can click on that.
It has all these mineral basedtoothpaste and you can actually
click it and read all about it.
If you like it, it adds it toyour Amazon.
shopping cart.
So it's pretty easy to lookthrough that, but also to be
(27:28):
very thoughtful with it.
Um, if you're looking for aspecific toothpaste or, um,
mouth rinses or those things,um, there's some really good,
good ideas.
I do change those quite oftenbecause sometimes a company
sells out one of my favoritetoothpaste companies just sold
out to Procter and Gamble andthey actually lowered the pH of
the product and put all theseadditives in it.
And so, hey, I can't recommendthat product anymore for lower
(27:50):
pH is more aesthetic for peoplewho, yeah, it's more aesthetic.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Sometimes I get too nerdy and itgoes far.
So yeah, if it lowers, if itlowers that, it makes it more
acidic and more likely to breakdown, break down the teeth.
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Katie Lovitt (28:04):
Big issue.
Right.
I'm really curious.
Um, whenever you see the pHchanges in the saliva, do you
see a change in those digestiveenzymes too, that are helping to
break down those Thecarbohydrates mostly in the
mouth.
Jill Ombrello (28:19):
Yes,
Katie Lovitt (28:19):
absolutely.
So we
Jill Ombrello (28:20):
see that, um, we do, we recommend patients do pH
strip testing, so you can getthose on Amazon as well.
And just test the pH of theirsaliva throughout the day and,
and see when it trends moreacidic or more basic and it's
color coded.
Um, there's also a test that youcan do a salivary test where you
spit into a little cup and itanalyzes the microbiome of your
(28:41):
mouth.
which is ever changing, but, um,that absolutely coincides.
I'm not running testing on, ongut health, but, um, yes, it
coincides when we work withtheir functional providers.
Um, that does go together.
I'll also tell you when we see alot of patients that have, um,
underdeveloped lower jaws.
And when their lower jaws areunderdeveloped, it pushes their
tongue back into their airwaypotentially, so they have oxygen
(29:03):
disruption at night when theysleep.
So if that means their oxygenisn't completely stable, um,
when we see interruptions inthat, we can also see major
issues in their digestiveenzymes and their insulin
sensitivity because they'resleeping in a more sympathetic
fight or flight mode, trying tonormalize that oxygen.
Um, so we see that from both,from both sides of that.
Katie Lovitt (29:24):
Yeah, that's so interesting.
And I've shared on Instagramabout my journey with that and
how I was like, mind blownwhenever we realized that that
was happening.
Because if anyone would ask mebefore we did the sleep study, I
would have said, Oh yeah, Isleep great.
Like I fall asleep within 15minutes.
I sleep through the night unlessone of my kids wakes me up or my
old dog, like.
(29:45):
I wake up feeling fine in themorning.
And again, it goes back to thatconversation around what's
normal for you versus what'sactually optimal.
Um, that was how I'd felt mywhole life.
Whenever I woke up, you know, itwas normal.
And so we did that sleep studyand found, I remember how low my
oxygen was dropping.
It was like 85 or something likeseveral times an hour.
Uh,
Jill Ombrello (30:06):
and Yeah, it's pretty significant, but you, you
know, you look at yourpersonality and you're the type,
your glass is half full andyou're going to get up.
And even if you don't feelcompletely rested, the kids will
get breakfast and we'll go aboutour day, which is a fantastic
part of your personality.
And we love you for that.
But also if we're truly honestwith ourselves, you weren't
getting restorative sleep whereyou were having proper oxidation
(30:28):
all night long.
And so your body wasn'tnecessarily resting and
recovering from the beautifullife you lived during the day.
It was compensating and kind ofpushing through.
So you were never takingadvantage of that.
the deeper levels of sleep.
Um, yeah, absolutely.
And I think that's true to havea lot of people.
Katie Lovitt (30:43):
Yeah.
And it was funny.
I was talking to the friendabout it, um, who she's really
interested.
Like she's a great advocate forher own personal health, like
one of those people.
And she was like, well, that'sso weird that you never noticed
it before.
Did you dream?
Like, didn't you dream?
And I was like, well, yeah, Idid.
I did not dream like I dreamnow.
Like I have the most vividdreams like all night long, but
(31:04):
I remember when I wake up, like,it's crazy how much I dream now
versus like before, like beforeI love that every once in a
while I'd have a dream I'dremember.
But again, that was what Ithought was normal.
Um, and I'm really excitedbecause I know we had
hypothesized if, so my heartissue for people who don't know
is have complete heart blockwhere my heart would randomly
(31:25):
stop beating, which is.
Not fantastic.
If, if you want, not ideal, notideal.
Um, but I really have this.
So it happened after my sistersuddenly passed away is really
whenever these symptoms startedcoming on.
And so I just have this gutfeeling, ha ha gut feeling about
it being connected to trauma andlike a mental emotional trauma
(31:46):
there and fight or flight typeof response.
So I'm actually going to my, um,electrophysiologist in April.
So I'm really curious.
Um, you look at my pacemakerrecordings, if there's been any
change or reduction in thepercentage of time I'm being
paced or anything.
So I'll report.
Jill Ombrello (32:02):
Yeah, I can't wait to hear that.
And I do love, I just rememberthe first time I met you, um,
when, when you were in my officeand how just transparent and
lovely and, um, factual you wereand how much healing you had
gone through to be able to talkabout it.
And I really applaud you forbeing so open about it because I
think you're sharing your storywill help other people.
And even just knowing that.
(32:23):
Hey, when, when you go somethingthrough something horrific, that
doesn't even begin to sum it upmore than horrific, what that
can do to your body.
And that's okay because you loveso much.
Right.
And that's okay.
And what you can do to recoverand get better from that.
I just think that's such animportant message that in my
circle, I don't hear thatenough.
And I just really, um, I mean, Ijust adored you from the first
(32:44):
time I met you and you sharedthat story.
It's really incredible.
Katie Lovitt (32:47):
Thank you.
Yeah.
And what you said about, youknow, your tough time that you
went through and using it forgood, you know, and using it to
grow and help others grow andhelp others be better.
And I think it was spot on withmy mission.
Um, exactly.
But really interesting with thesleep is what you were saying,
the fight or flight, right?
Where you're not getting goodsleep.
So let's, let me like walkthrough this chain of events
(33:10):
here for a second.
So, Lower jaw is undeveloped orunderdeveloped.
Not undeveloped.
It's underdeveloped, which ispretty much a pretty chronic
situation here in the U.
S., right?
Jill Ombrello (33:22):
Yeah.
And there's some really, um,brilliant doctors that are, um,
you know, that are researchingthis every day and looking at
it.
And what they're finding is, isIt's multifactorial.
So it's, there's a geneticcomponent, there's an
environmental component.
There is a dietary component,bottle fed versus breastfed.
I mean, there are so manydifferent things that can
(33:43):
contribute to theunderdevelopment of that lower
jaw up until the onset ofpuberty, which is where it's
really kind of locked in.
That's where you are, um, tryingto intervene in that, um, is, is
key.
Early intervention is keybecause you can use the natural
pressures of the tongue andteeth to expand everything.
Um, When we get that full jawwhere the tongue can live, then
you're able to take air inthrough your nose and filter,
(34:05):
purify, humidify it, and youhave a proper size airway, which
is the tube that connects theoutside world to the inside
world.
If patients or people take airin through their mouths, they
force their tonsils and adenoidsto filter that air.
It's not their job.
There are lymphatic organs.
They can help if it gets thesystem gets overloaded, but it's
not their job to filtereverything.
So I see so many patients thathave enlarged tonsils and
(34:27):
adenoids or have had repetitivesurgeries.
Tonsils aren't like fingers.
Like you take a finger off, it'sgone forever.
Tonsils are tissue.
So if you take out the, theenlarged tissue, if you don't
fix the root cause or addressthe root cause, the tonsils can
get big again.
I just saw a little girl lastmonth who's had her tonsils out
six times, right?
I mean, it's, it's horrible.
And now we're going to addressthe root cause, which is her
(34:47):
mouth breathing and change that.
But when we take that air inthrough the mouth and force the
tonsils and adenoids to filterit, and that's not their job
when it gets to the lungs, thelungs, it's not ready for the
body.
So the lungs have aninflammatory response.
That inflammatory response canbe a stuffy nose that can be
misdiagnosed or mislabeled asallergies or, um, something like
that.
And we can't breathe through ourmouth or we can't breathe
(35:09):
through our nose because it'sstopped up.
Well, now what, now how do weaddress it?
Right.
But when we have, um, a lot oftimes with adults that are, that
are concrete in that they willclench or grind their teeth or
they'll, you know, they wake upwith headaches in the morning
because they've had this drop inoxygen.
Um, so, um, Um, they'reclenching and grinding their
teeth, not because they'restressed, but because they're
bringing that lower jaw forwardto bring the tongue, which is
(35:32):
attached the jaw forward to keepit out of the airway.
And so every time that happens,if there's a drop in oxygen, our
survival instinct to breathe isstronger than anything else.
That it's out there.
And so your body will dowhatever it takes.
So at night when you'resleeping, you go from a
parasympathetic, which is a restand digest and repair mode into
a cortisol induced sympatheticfight or flight.
(35:55):
Ah, I need more air.
And that transition fromparasympathetic to sympathetic,
which driven by that stresshormone, can make your body more
inflamed.
More acidic.
Um, and, and again, those deeperlevels of sleep, restorative
sleep, which is where we needdetoxing sleep where the brain
detoxes, where the liver detoxesis so important that we take
(36:17):
advantage of that during thenight, especially with this, the
life that we live during theday, there's more, we're exposed
to more toxins.
It's harder to get clean water.
It's harder to get clean food.
We also, there's so muchinformation for all the reasons
we've talked about.
We absolutely want to need toget into that parasympathetic
rest and digest mode.
And, and a lot of people havethose disturbances.
And so they just never rest.
(36:38):
And if your cortisol is goingall night, your adrenals get
tired.
If you're needing to burn.
Carbohydrates for quick energy,um, rather than burning that
protein and fat at night, whichis long, sustainable energy.
If we're burning those carbs,your insulin kind of gives up on
you.
They're like, what do you wantfrom me?
I digested your food all daylong.
Should I send more of the foodall day?
Cause we're going to need it atnight.
Should we crave sugar and saltall day?
(37:00):
Cause we know we need thisenergy at night.
And then the insulin just says.
Whatever.
I'm insensitive to this wholesituation.
So I'm done.
So patients who have, you know,really tried to lose weight or
really their diets are in lineand they're not seeing the scale
go in the way that they'd like,or their body composition
change.
This sleep component is a reallybig part of it because their
insulin is just kind of givingthem, even though they're doing
everything right during the dayat night, their body's just
(37:24):
trying to keep that oxygen.
So it's, it's having tocompensate.
Katie Lovitt (37:27):
I think that's such good information.
And then taking it one stepfurther from what you were
saying about you're not sleepingwell at night, you're going into
fight or flight.
Um, well, guess where the vagusnerve, every listener is housed.
It's in the same part of yourbrain where the fight or flight
response is housed.
(37:47):
So the vagus nerve is Um, andit's maybe my favorite thing
about the human body whenever itcomes to gut health.
It's pretty cool.
It goes from your brain and itgoes down into your abdomen and
it, um, has all theseintersection points with your
heart, with your lungs, withyour digestive tract.
And whenever you're talkingabout gut health specifically,
it's what's controlling gutmotility.
(38:08):
So if you're struggling withrecurring SIBO, that is part of
the issue is that that vagusnerve is not working properly.
If you're dealing withconstipation or diarrhea.
That vagus nerve is not workingproperly is part of the issue.
Um, and it can lead to all kindsof microbiome issues also.
So you're seeing how it can comefrom multiple places.
(38:29):
And that's why you can't justtake one single supplement or do
a, you know, certain eliminationdiet and fix all these issues.
They're way more complex thanthat.
And there's a lot more movingparts.
Um, but so if you're notsleeping well at night, because
your airway isn't, you know,open at night, It can then
really lead to gut issues withmotility stuff too.
(38:50):
So, and you're creating a moreacidic mouth environment, which
Dr.
Jill just said, you know,impacts our microbiome as well.
Um, so really fascinating.
It is fascinating.
And sometimes I wish there
Jill Ombrello (39:01):
was a magic pill.
Don't you?
Sometimes you get to sit here.
Take this one and everythingwill be good.
But you know, one thing that I,that I think a biological
dentist does, and I pride myselfin doing is, okay, where can we
start to get the biggest bangfor our effort?
Like, what can we attack firstto really, um, do that?
And a lot of times it is diet,making sure we're eating a low
(39:21):
inflammatory, you know, lowinflammatory foods, cutting down
on processed foods.
Sometimes it's as simple asthat.
Sometimes it is behaviormodifications, putting the phone
down, not watching TV rightbefore bed, right?
Like, um, you know, finding joyin your life, listening to
Beyonce on the way home fromwork, if that's what you need to
do, right.
And so just finding actionablesteps that help move the gauge
(39:43):
and the, and, and the directionof health, I think is what
people are looking for, becauseit is so very complicated.
And, and what I like to say withpatients too, as you know,
especially yes, your cranialnerve 10 and the way you breathe
and the way you sleep and theway you think, and the way you,
all of these things as complexas our body is, and as
multifactorial as it is, thebody is equally.
(40:04):
complicated in the way that itcan heal itself and the way that
it can get you back where you'resupposed to.
We're not actually reinventingthe wheel.
We're just putting the body in aplace to function the way it's
supposed to.
And once it functions the wayit's supposed to, hopefully you
won't need intervention anymore.
Your body will just be healthyand happy and you can pay
attention to those things.
So patients under, or peopleunderstanding this isn't like
(40:27):
This isn't pharmaceuticals.
This isn't something thatsomeone invented in a lab or
brought out of thin air.
This is just restoring factorysettings, getting you back to
where it was.
And, and, and sometimes thinkingabout it that way, I, in my
experience, I've found thatpatients are a little less
overwhelmed with the multitudeof, of areas that we could focus
on to get that ideal health.
Katie Lovitt (40:47):
Yeah, I think so too.
I think that's a really great,great perspective.
And, you know, I think too,going back to the magic pill,
um, I think, you know, Growththrough struggles and through
trials is so powerful because ifall you did was take a pill, you
know, to set everything rightagain, you would miss out on
(41:08):
learning so many things aboutwhat your body does need to
thrive and get set back on acourse towards healing and stay
there that you'd be having totake pills all the time, right?
That's basically how medicine isin a nutshell.
That's so true.
Jill Ombrello (41:21):
I'm reading a book right now that talks about
like your mind is just waystronger, um, than you think it
is.
So I have three teenagers rightnow, so I really need, I need a
strong mind, right?
So I've started cryotherapy anddoing, you know, um, cold
plunges because yes, it's verycold and who really likes cold
water?
No, but I mean, if you do great,but not me.
(41:42):
But realizing that.
With the difficulty of the coldwater, how strong my mind is.
And I don't have to have asympathetic reaction.
I can be the, the anti forceagainst the force of the cold
water.
So I think that that's what youjust said is so brilliant
because, um, yes, through,through these trials, we do
become stronger and we realizehow amazing our bodies are and
(42:02):
how they can heal themselves.
And that's really empowering.
Cause you don't need, you don'tneed anybody for that.
You just need yourself.
And that's really exciting.
Katie Lovitt (42:10):
Wow, it is.
You're not having to find thenext expert to tell you what to
do, you know, for yourself, youknow.
Jill Ombrello (42:16):
And we don't want our patients to be dependent on
us.
We want them to use us for theinformation that they need and
then, and then move on to thenext stage that gets them better
health.
And, and I think thatphilosophy, I know you and I
share that philosophy, but Ithink that philosophy is, is new
or, or unique.
When.
When you're talking abouthealthcare providers and
patients really resonate with,oh, you don't want me to come
(42:38):
every two months for the rest ofmy life.
No, I mean, you can come by andsay hi, but like, I don't, I
don't want to have to treat you.
I don't want to continue
Katie Lovitt (42:45):
having problems for sure.
Absolutely.
Oh, I love that so much.
Um, so if somebody were to startout on this path of like, Hey,
I'm really interested in this.
And this is, you know, somethingnew and different that I haven't
ever thought about before.
Where would you have them start?
Like, what would you have themdo first?
Well,
Jill Ombrello (43:04):
Yeah.
So I think, um, you know, reallyjust being honest and sitting
down and not having your glasshalf full.
Right.
And just saying, okay, realitystarts.
How do I really feel age?
Isn't necessarily a number.
It's energy.
So what is my energy?
Like, um, what is my digestion?
Like, and really looking at it.
For through that lens andcreating a list of the current
state of affairs, right?
(43:25):
Kind of rating yourself.
I like to do that.
Sit down and rate myself on ascale of one to 10.
I'm not to be harsh with myself,but just to have a check in, um,
when we have patients that comein with various levels of guilt
or shame or confusion abouttheir teeth or, or even fear or
anxiety.
We like to sit down and reallyhave that conversation with
them.
So when, if, if the mouth iswhere you'd like to start, um, I
(43:48):
would welcome people, um,patients in my practice, um,
central dentist.
And while I have a lot ofsolutions and a lot of
information, I'm not thegatekeeper.
I don't have the end all end ofeverything, but what I'm really
proud of is that the team oflike minded providers that I've
had the absolute privilege ofmeeting and working with.
So.
When we don't have the solutionhere in my office, Hey, here's a
(44:08):
great person to go work with, orhere's someone who can, um, who
can give you more insight onto,onto what you're looking for.
But, um, I would, I would, andI'm absolutely love welcoming
new patients.
So they're always welcome here.
Um, if, if that's not it, Iwould, you know, social media is
fantastic in a lot of ways, butin a lot of ways it can be
overwhelming.
(44:28):
I'd find somebody.
Um, on Instagram to follow who,who is like minded and you like
the content, you like howthey're living their life,
right?
Um, there's someone on Instagramwho I just adore and she lives
in a, she lives in a PuertoRican, um, like jungle and she
homeschools her kids and they'rebarefooted all the time.
I love that, but like, I'm notin, I'm not doing that.
(44:50):
I'm like driving carpool inDallas and wearing shoes.
Right.
And, and no judge, I thinkthat's amazing.
She's doing it, but it doesn'twork for me.
So finding someone who kind ofresonates with.
Uh, with what you would like todo and what works with your
family in an effort to get moreinformation, but then also in
the simplest and the hardestthing is just be grateful.
Take moments for gratitude tothank your body for being so
(45:10):
strong and to thank yourselffor, you know, listening to
fantastic podcasts like you havein an effort to get more
information to learn more.
And so really just coming from aposition of gratitude, I think
is the absolute best thing thatpeople can do, um, to start off.
Katie Lovitt (45:25):
I love it.
It all goes back to the mindsetand the heartset, right?
Absolutely.
Well, thank you so much for yourtime.
You're, you know, justperspective sharing your laughs
and your love with people.
It's just so apparent how muchyou love people.
You love doing what you do.
You love inspiring andempowering other people.
(45:47):
So I really appreciate you beinghere.
Thank you.
Jill Ombrello (45:50):
You are, um, you are, you're one of those people
that I would follow.
I love, I mean, you're abrilliant mother.
You're so smart.
Your children are fantastic.
I just, um, I have so muchrespect for you.
So thank you so much for, forinviting me on and giving me an
opportunity for us to chat.
I think the first time I metyou, I said, we should just go
to lunch and be best friends.
So this is, this is another stepin my path to becoming best
(46:11):
friends.
Yeah.
This is
Katie Lovitt (46:14):
how we
Jill Ombrello (46:15):
come friends, right?
Exactly.
So thank you so much for thisopportunity.
It sincerely means so much.
Katie Lovitt (46:20):
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you so much.
And we'll talk with you guysnext week.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for listeningto the entire episode.
I hope you are feeling inspiredand empowered to take bold
action towards your healthgoals.
If you enjoy what you heard,don't forget to follow my show
(46:41):
so you never miss a new episode.
And it would mean the world tome, if you left me a review, so
others know what to expect frommy show.
Last, get in touch.
Let me know what bold actionyou're taking.
Let me know how you're inspired.
Follow me on Instagram@the_healthygut_dietitian.
(47:02):
I've put a link in my show notesfor you, so you can simply click
and follow.
Come say hi, I respond to all mymessages and I can't wait to get
in touch.
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