Dr. Supriya Shetty, of Integrative Dental Solutions, fondly remembers her father saying, “The face is the index of the mind, and the mouth is the index of the gut.” Today, her holistic dental practice focuses on not just the health of the mouth, but how it relates to whole person wellness. Shetty’s exposure to holistic care began during her youth in India. Her parents raised her with alternative care only, without medications. “My parents gave me turmeric, garlic and ginger for everything. Those were the things that would cure anything for us,” she recalls.

While Shetty trained at ABSM Institute of Dental Sciences, in Karnataka, India, she disliked working with amalgam tooth fillings—silver, mercury, tin and copper—because they don’t set and can crumble. Shetty later moved to the U.S. and attended the New York School of Dentistry, where she earned a Doctorate of Dental Surgery degree in 2005. But it was when she became an associate of Dr. Ingo Mahn, founder of Integrative Dental Solutions, that she developed an interest in holistic dentistry.

Shetty trained in the Huggins Protocol, an integrated system that incorporates multiple safety factors in order to enhance immune recovery during amalgam removal. She’s also an accredited member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT).

Mahn retired in June and Shetty is continuing his mission of providing biological dentistry, a model that understands the mouth-body relationship. “At Integrative Dental Solutions, dentistry is our core and we remove amalgam and mercury fillings, but we also look at the whole mouth,” she says. Discoloration of the tongue can be a sign of acid reflux, liver problem and gut issues. Shetty also went through extra training to treat temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders and sleep apnea.

Integrative Dental Solutions offers sleep dentistry and orthodontic care for adults and kids. Sleep dentistry addresses snoring, grinding of teeth and even sleep apnea.

“We take care of a lot of kids, and we see that it’s best to solve a problem when they are young, rather than wait until a person turns 30 and his teeth break down because he was grinding and clenching throughout childhood. If we see a child that is grinding his teeth or sucking his thumb, there’s a reason, and we like to nip it in the bud,” she says. Patients that aren’t sleeping well will often be referred to a sleep specialist.

Dr. Udoka Holinbeck joined Integrative Dental Solutions in January 2016. Holinbeck earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Southern California, practiced in Houston, and then took a year off from dentistry after giving birth to her son. Shetty says Holinbeck embraced the natural dentistry model of Integrative Dental Solutions. “She saw our website and was interested and intrigued by how we care for our patients,” says Shetty. “She has really embraced it and has gone for ozone certification. She’s also one of the few dentists in Wisconsin that places ceramic implants. She’s a good fit and also a nice person.”

Holinbeck is a biomimetic-trained dentist who earned Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique certification from IAOMT. She performs complicated tooth extractions following their safety protocols, which involve thorough cleaning of the sockets and treating the area with low-level laser therapy to kill bacteria. Shetty says that, prior to Holinbeck’s arrival, the clinic would usually refer tooth extraction patients to other practitioners and then the patient would return to Integrative Dental Solutions for laser and ozone therapy. Now those services are all under their roof.

Integrative Dental Solutions opened a second location last October in the Green Square Integrative Health Center, a campus that houses other holistic health practitioners. Dr. Aanal Parikh, a dentist who is in the process of training in IAOMT protocols, will soon join the team at the Green Square office. The new location serves patients that live closer to northern Milwaukee and Glendale.

Shetty realizes that people can be intimidated by going to the dentist, but the friendly staff at both locations strives to create a calming ambiance. “We have a great team that always looks forward to taking care of the patients,” she says. “Clinical awareness and science show us that what happens in the mouth is reflected in the body, and what happens in the body is reflected in the mouth. The complex, dynamic relationships of oral health and systemic health within the context of the whole person are inseparable.”

Integrative Dental Solutions is located at 23770 Capitol Dr., in Pewaukee, and 6789 N. Green Bay Ave., in Glendale. For more information, call 262-691-4555 or visit WINaturalDentist.com.

Sheila Julson is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Natural Awakenings magazine.