25. Dentistry Is the Next Frontier in Biohacking with Dr. Ratna Indah

Most people in the biohacking world are doing everything right. They're tracking their labs, testing their sleep, optimizing their supplements, and building morning routines that would make most people's heads spin. And yet something keeps not landing the way it should. The energy isn't quite there. The inflammation markers won't budge. The cognitive clarity they're chasing stays just out of reach.

Nobody told them to look at their mouth.

Dr. Katie recorded this conversation live at Beyond Biohacking 2026 in Austin, Texas, right after holding the first-ever dental room at the conference. Dr. Ratna Indah, biological dentist and founder of California Dental Wellness, was one of the very few dentists in the building. That's part of the problem they came to talk about.

What you'll learn in this episode:

The mouth has been systematically separated from medicine, and patients are the ones paying the price. Dr. Katie and Dr. Ratna talk about what that separation looks like in practice, what it costs patients who never connect the dots, and what both of them are building to change that.

You'll hear why a room full of committed biohackers went quiet when they saw phase contrast microscopy images of what was living underneath crowns they thought were fine. You'll hear about P. gingivalis, the organism already linked to Alzheimer's disease, and why telling patients not to floss to protect their heart may be one of the most well-meaning but harmful pieces of advice in modern medicine. You'll hear Dr. Ratna's personal story of watching her mother's memory decline rapidly, then reverse, through a deeply intentional wellness protocol that started with asking better questions.

And you'll hear what it looks like to leave a group practice, start from scratch in California, and build the dental wellness center model that medicine has been quietly asking dentists to create for years.

Key moments in this episode:

Why the biohacking world keeps missing the mouth, and what changes when it's finally in the room

How silent oral infections drive systemic inflammation for years without causing a single symptom

The cardiologist advice about flossing that Dr. Ratna believes is doing real harm, and what the research actually says

Why "dental insurance" is a language problem, and what happens when you stop using that phrase in your practice

How Dr. Ratna's mother reversed significant memory loss, and the role that light therapy and biological thinking played in getting her there

What a future dental wellness center looks like, and why functional medicine doctors are already asking for it

Dr. Katie's perspective:

"When we're asking them to raise their hand, who had their wisdom teeth extracted, almost the full room, who had root canals in the mouth, majority of them. And then you show them what's growing underneath their crowns, and they realize the mouth has been upstream this whole time, dumping toxicity and inflammation into the system, and nobody ever told them to look there."

The demand for this conversation is real. The packed room in Austin proved it. Dentistry is showing up, and it's bringing the research with it.

About Dr. Ratna Indah

Dr. Ratna Indah is a biological dentist and founder of California Dental Wellness, a practice she built from the ground up after leaving group dentistry to create the whole-body dental center model she believes is the future of the profession. Her background in journalism before dental school shapes the way she thinks about language, patient trust, and how word choice drives health decisions. She has been practicing for over 20 years.

Follow Dr. Ratna:
 Instagram: @drratnaindah
 Practice: californiadentalwellness.com

For Patients

If this episode made you wonder what your own mouth might be telling the rest of your body, Dr. Katie's free patient webinar is the best place to start.

Join here: drkatieto.center/register

For Dentists

If Dr. Ratna's story of building a values-aligned wellness practice from scratch sounds like the direction you've been trying to name, the CORE membership is where that conversation continues.

Learn more at wellnessdentistinstitute.com

Connect with Dr. Katie:
🌐 thewellnessdentist.com
📱 @drkatieto

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only.  Information discussed is not intended for diagnosis, curing, or prevention of any disease and is not intended to replace advice given by a licensed healthcare practitioner.  Before using any products mentioned or attempting methods discussed, please speak with a licensed healthcare provider.  This podcast disclaims responsibility from any possible adverse reactions associated with products or methods discussed.    Opinions from guests are their own, and this podcast does not condone or endorse opinions made by guests.  We do not provide guarantees about the guests' qualifications or credibility. This podcast and its guests may have direct or indirect financial interests associated with products mentioned.

Transcript

Welcome From Beyond Biohacking

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Wellness Dentist Podcast. Join biological and cosmetic dentist Dr. Katie Toe as she explores holistic wellness through trending ideas, real stories, and patient experiences. This podcast will inspire you to make healthy lifestyle choices and take charge of your dental wellness. And now your host, the wellness dentist, Dr. Katie Toe.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Welcome to the Wellness Dentist Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Katie Toe, and we live from Beyond Biohacking in Austin, Texas. Today I have a special guest that is already on the show, but she's here at the Biohacking Conference. So we got to give her back because we are the very few biological wellness dentists at the conference. And so we have a lot to talk about, lots of update. And so welcome back, Dr. Ratna Indi.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Thank you. Thank you, Katie. So very exciting to be here. And like you said, we are some of the few dentists who make it here. And I think it's really important that we are here. We get to see how we've been here a couple of times, a couple of years. And I think this is the first time we

Why The Mouth Gets Ignored

SPEAKER_01 1:10

start seeing the presence of the oral conversation. And we're talking about health, and yet the mouth has been separated from the rest of it. I think it was really exciting. You get to hold the first room here at Beyond Biohacking as a dental room, and that was a packed room. Because everybody had questions about the mouth.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

And everybody was shocked. Yes. Yeah, when we're asking them to raise their hand, who had their wisdom teeth extracted, almost the full room, who had rookinals in the mouth, majority of them, who have metal or amalgam filling.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Those pictures that you have about the how the mold was growing underneath people's crowns, I think that was um, yeah, a lot of hands or eyes really got popped out whenever they saw that.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

So that was because they would try by a hack for better sleep, you know, better supplement, and so many things that they're doing, so many technologies and probably a long routine morning and night. Right. But they forget the mouth isn't upstreams and it's been dumping all this toxicity and inflammation to the system.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

So I think it's the fact that people will spend five figures on biohacking, on health tracking. They're testing their saliva, they're testing their adrenal blood work, but nobody's testing about the mouth bacteria or the oral inflammation that they have. And when it goes on track, that's when it wreaks havoc on the rest of the system. It's kind of go downstream.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Yeah. And most of the time it's silently and it's painless. And that's the reason why if you're having pain somewhere else, you're like, I need to figure this out. This is driving crazy. Even the migraine, people are like, I need to figure this out. However, with like an infection in the jaw, we know it's possible, been there for years or decades, but it's silent and it's painless. And so people don't really know what to look for. And in fact, I just had Dr. Jess on here not um not too long ago, a couple hours, that her patients would not know. And would you know she's making an effort to put the questions on her form? But the fact that people have no idea that was even to look there, because medical school did not teach them anything. And I think that's the sad part.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

It is more of an academic disassociation, it's more of a system separation. It wasn't that a hundred years ago, suddenly the mouth gets separated from the body, but the system to evaluate it, the system to see what the impact has got separated. And I think it's time I want to say dentistry is the next frontier in biohacking. Because I think more and more people become more aware of the inflammation that is in the mouth and has been able to reach out. And then we have more research, and research not just from the dentistry part, but research from the medical side, which makes a difference because you know we're a wet finger clinician.

Hidden Crowns Mold And Silent Infection

SPEAKER_01 3:55

We don't necessarily have the time to run a double blind study. The medical side does, and they track everything. Yes, and I think even they have been surprised finding all these organisms in people's brain, in people's breasts, in um areas and heart. Yes, yeah, you're right. That that's definitely the longest one. I think we've had over two decades of study on that one, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:16

And yeah, yeah, and no one really um arguing about it. They all know the connection and the danger. However, the action is not enough in preventions and interventions, especially with patients that have, say, heart history, you know, run in the family or risk because everyone has stress in these days, right? And so all of that they they ignore the factor that, hey, the mount is been a hidden infections and burden to the system. And I think today a lot of functional medicine doctors actually start asking questions and we see more and more of that connections and tracking. Yeah. And I think that's a great news, but we need more people doing that.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

And I think in dentistry, we do ourselves a disservice when we just tell our patient, hey, go get your deep cleaning, go get your SRP, because it's related to your heart, heart health. But what? Yes, you know, like we already know the name of the organism. So if we are more specific as dentists saying, you know, P. Gingervalis have been actually shown, and then we talk about the mechanism of the actual rupture that happened with the inflammation. And that becomes a story that people can relate to other than like you telling them, well, your insurance doesn't cover this, but you should get a deep cleaning. There's no connection, it doesn't become personal. So I think that conversation, we as dentists definitely have room to become part of the solution of like, this is the specific organism and this is the mechanism, and this is how we're gonna be able to help you. There's so much room that we can do there for the greater good.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

So and that's why when you're having a face contrast microscope in your practice, and people can see the pathogen in the saliva on the screen, and they're like, that's not my mouth, right? No, that that's your mouth. That's the parasite that's swimming in there, and that's the pathogen.

Oral Bacteria Links To Heart

SPEAKER_02 6:05

She is believing, right? So for me, when people don't see it, there's no connection. When people don't know the why, there's no action. Like, funny story, I know you you know my mom, and she has she was scheduled for uh a surgery, and the the doctor was like, uh, you cannot eat, you have to fast, but not not telling her why she had to fast for the surgery. And of course, her surgery would delay from 9 to 1 p.m. And she was hungry. Yeah, and so by the time it's her turn, they're asking her, like, did you eat anything? Did you fast? And she said, Yes. It's like, are you sure? Because you can die on the table if you ate something. Uh-huh. And she said, Yeah, I ate. So when people know that you can have complications and actually will cost you your life, then I guarantee you, if she knows that information the day before or before the surgery, she won't do it. But because they just tell her, okay, fast, and doesn't tell her why, what happened, what the consequences that you said about the heart condition, right? That's why she's like, Oh, I don't think it's gonna hurt because I'm just having a bite or a little bit of sip or something. So um, I think that when a provider assumed, because we know so much, and we assume the patient would understand, oh, you know what, if you don't treat the gum disease, it's gonna go into the heart, go through the blood vessel, and deposit the plaque in the heart or the brain, and that's what's causing it. Then I think they will think twice about not flossing tonight or not brushing.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

I think clarity gives people motivation because the clarity, then you have a vision. You, as the provider and educator, you can kind of guide your patients. We're going to arrive here, and this is how we're gonna help you get there. And without that clarity, like your mom, she's like, Well, I'll just sneak in a little bit of lunch. Right, just a tiny bit, like how's that dangerous can be?

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Yeah, and I think patients think like that. Oh, wait, you know what? I feel really tired today. Like yesterday, a lot of people party right late at night, and they'll be like, Yeah, if not, I'm not brushing for one night. It's not, it's not it's not gonna kill me. We don't know that, right? So we need to make sure that we understand the connections and therefore it get to the motivation and the action. Yes, yes, and I love that you know, you'll be able to show that to your patient every time they come in that yeah, we can see what in your mouth, even though you have no bleeding, right, no pain, right? You think you brush really good with electric toothbrush and you water pick and you floss, but look at the pathogen in your mouth.

unknown 8:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

And I think because the research, we talked about how we've already known for

The Flossing Warning Controversy

SPEAKER_01 8:40

two decades already, very strong research on how oral bacteria affects cardiovascular health. One of the things that has drive me nuts a little bit, but I understand where it's coming from, is I have directly and indirectly heard cardiologists telling their patients, don't floss. These are hard patients and you know, people that have had MI have heart heart attack. And then I've had a patient that come to me and say, Well, I'm not supposed to floss, my cardiologist told me don't floss. And I've actually heard it directly from a cardiologist, we both know who has said that in public. And it frustrates me because the study is there and the cardiologists are very smart specialists who does very, very important work, right? Like it's not heart surgery. I mean, there's a reason why it becomes a phrase. But unfortunately, I think it's because of the system, the silos in medicine. So their advice makes sense in terms of okay, some of these people who are very high risk, when they floss, they might be introducing bacteria, which lead to endocarditis. But when you look into the big picture, we're talking about P. gingivalis, the same organism that we already know affects Alzheimer's. The scientists, I think, is pretty mature on that one. Tons of research on that. Yeah, there's no argument on that. So if you don't floss, you're going to have this organism that continue to grow. And now the patient's going to have so much that affects both their brain and their memory that the only thing safe is don't swallow your saliva. And I mean that's not possible.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

But I think that's we swallow saliva every 30 seconds when we're awake and every minute when we're asleep. We never not swallow our saliva.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

So it's meant well, but because of the silos of how the systems are, it's not connected. Um, it's a shame that dentistry hasn't been part in the room when medicine's talking, I feel, when we're addressing and who gets hurt?

SPEAKER_02 10:30

The patient. So we'll just talk um to Jim quick about that. And he said, Why doesn't it have more? Oh my god, yeah, why don't we have more biological dentists or wellness dentists? And I said, is because this we're not communicating and there's a sick care versus health care, and the person that got hurt is the patient.

unknown 10:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

And so it's that's a reality. And when a third party interferes with the care, the patient let go of the ownership, and the provider gets limited an option, who's get hurt? The patients. So I know you're very passionate about access to care and you know all the possibility that the patient can do for themselves, you know, not just within the system, but obviously they have to take the ownerships of who in charge of my health?

Medical Silos Hurt Patients

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Me. And who am I working with to help me to get there? The right provider, the right healer.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

So I think we discussed it before. My background, I came from journalism, which is not usually your major before middle school.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Not many dentists I know is that's a major. Most of them are biology.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

So there's quite a bit of study about language word choice and how it shapes people's choice. You know, um, a good example is pre-owned car. You know, you can just say it's the used car and it just doesn't have the ring of like certified pre-own. There's actually a study that shows the sales of used car increase and there's more trust in it when they change the name from use to certified pre-own. So in my office, because you were talking about system about people making decisions. I have tried, and I'm still working on it because it's kind of ingrained in my team, um, to ban the word dental insurance. Because it's not thank you. I think you get where I'm going with this. Because it's not a true insurance. Um, when you think of medical insurance, it's something that protects you from catastrophic loss. Okay, you have um brain tumor, it's gonna get surgery. If you talk about car insurance, you're gonna get protected from again a catastrophic thing. Total loss, yes. Yes. Dental benefits is a specific pot of money. And I think even in certain states, you can see the language legally, it's not called insurance. They have to file under benefits because it is a certified benefits, you know, like a limited benefits. I think even the ADA language is dental benefits. But when you say insurance, there's inherently

Stop Calling It Dental Insurance

SPEAKER_01 12:55

the sense that it's going to protect you. Do you really want to go against the word insurance? So doctors don't call it dental insurance, it's a dental benefit. And you do your patients a disservice because when they get a letter that says your SRP isn't covered, you create the mistrust, not you create, but like there's a mistrust in the patient. Well, my insurance that's supposed to protect me is telling me it's not covered. Is my doctor? Can I really trust my doctor? And again, who's at who is at the disbenefit here? You know, we're like the patient loose again, they're not getting what they need. So I I think the word dental insurance should just be gone. Every office, we should stop marketing the word insurance because it's really a limited benefit. Misleading, very misleading.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Yeah. And if we take the ownership and say we stop calling it dental insurance and start calling it what it is, which is dental benefit, yes, and the benefit you use it or you lose it, or the benefit have either a little or a little bit more, you still have to put in your effort and your investment. And so I think that a lot of patients really delegate their ownership to doctors, to dentists who've seen that, yes, and to insurance company. And then when they turn around and have a lot of problem, they realize that the insurance are not for them. $1,500 a year, right? Not keeping up with inflation, which is if they keep up with inflation, I think we should have about what $30,000.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Is that what it is? Because it was the same number from 70s. So what costs $1,500 in the 70s must cost $30.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

It's not 20 cents, right? So we're definitely seeing that the the misleading that creating, just like you said, a trust issue between providers and the patient, but it's also delegate that ownership so patient doesn't think that they have to do any research or understanding why do they need this procedure or why they don't need that procedure, and they and uphend that ownership to the insurance company to decide what they can do or what they cannot do. So whenever we talk to the patient, we always want to empower

Patients As Heroes Providers As Guides

SPEAKER_02 15:00

them and say, you know, this this is a partnership, and you are have 80% power to changing this detractory of wellness. We the guy, and we can do as much as we can, but it's only gonna have to take 20% to change this. So you have the power to do that. And I think when dentists put it that way, patients come to realization that it's not just picking the best dentist or the best doctor, but it's also taking the ownership. And I think that's a big part of you always talk to all your patients about ownership.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Right. I, you know, actually, one of the great metaphors, you taught me this a couple of years ago, and you said, you know, like the patient is the hero. It's really their journey, and we're really the guide. And I try to be the best guide I can be, and at the same time understand that different people are going to take different decisions just because where they are in life. And we have to respect that. And I think early on in my career, it feels really overwhelming of like, oh, they have to take this decision because this is the best option, but it might not be because you don't know their life, you don't know their genetic, you don't know what they face. Maybe there's a reason why that patient was slightly more worried about antibiotics that dentists might want to prescribe for certain infection because they have had certain medical conditions that arise from previous antibiotics. So we really don't know. So I think the respect of, hey, you need to be your own hero, you need to do your research.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

It's yeah, it's definitely and patient also asked me on social, how do I know if my my dentists are the good one? And I'm always saying, asking them what they learned lately. Okay. Because we hear every year, and every year we learn new things. True. And first of all, of course, we learn it so we can apply it to our life and to our health and our family. But then we bring it into our practice. Yes. And we said, this worked for us. We love this. And we want you to try, we want

A Mom’s Memory Loss Reversal

SPEAKER_02 16:50

you to see how it worked for you. That is so true.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Because my personal story, how I got into this journey, is my mom started losing her memory eight years ago. So she's the first bio accidental biohacker. Also a dentist. Yes. Also a dentist. So she does have some medical background. So she started doing protocols or looking at, and I had the privilege of a front row seat of seeing her figure things out and seeing it work. We were able to reverse it, and it was a pretty fast memory loss. She started being not a uh we live in Indonesia. I grew up in Indonesia and that's where she still lives. She forgot how to speak English. She forgot the name of the assistant that were with her for close to a decade. So it was a pretty rapid trajectory toward memory loss. I end up selling my office to a group because thinking I would have to go home to take care of her. But, you know, and this is the clinician in her, she didn't just take it down. She didn't take it lying down. She did her research. And like I said, that's why it's accidental biohacker, really through necessity and maybe some desperation. And one of the things that was interesting was her use of she was sleeping with some light. So light that was going through. So it was basically uh lower-level laser therapy that was going straight into her brain. So kind of reducing inflammation there. And I would roll my eyes and it's like, oh mom, you know, that's, you know, what are you doing? But she would tell me things about how she felt more refreshed when she wakes up. And that's when I start looking into lights or lasers, like, oh, there are things that we can do that we don't think about it. Now, obviously, we understand lower laser level therapy. We use it for our diode has that ability. Obviously, if you have Herbium or other modality on lights, even more. But that was my journey, kind of starting in this whole kind of biohacking with my mom. I don't even think she would ever call herself biohacker. But being able being able to reverse your memory loss, especially as bad as she was, it's I'm really blessed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

So no, I I love it. I met her, she went to the course. And at her age, who most of dentists are already ready to retire, she still traveled across the continent all the way from Indonesia to come to the US to take a hands-on clinical course.

unknown 19:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

It's amazing. It was a really special moment to have both you and your mom in the workshop. I love that. And you just mentioned something that it came to me that when people going through this healing journey, they want quick, quick, fast, easy result, right? And you know, healing takes time. Even your mom's case, right? Even though she successfully, you know, regain her memory, but it's take time. It like takes a lot of time. Right. And that's my conversation with a lot of patients is that yes, you will get better

Healing Takes Time Not Perfection

SPEAKER_02 19:35

if you are consistent with this. There's no one trick wonder.

unknown 19:39

No.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

We wish. People would line up all the way, you know, to the highway from this hotel if someone figured out that one thing and said, you just take this magic pill. This is not matrix. Right. So for me, a lot of time patients want just a quick if I'm taking this infection out, am I gonna regain all this cognitive, uh cognitive decline? And the answer is yes, and you gotta have consistently working on your sleep, your nutrition, your hydration, all of the things that you need to work on. Like Chinquake went over 10 things for the brain. That's overwhelming. Yes. Right? But it's yeah, it's and then no one can do all 10 perfectly. Not even us. And so even for us, it's take time. Exactly. And so I think that's a great reminder from your mom's story, is like healing take time. It did. People try to rush through the process, and in the end, they didn't get to where they want to go because they rush and they give up.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

And I think if you know that it's going to take time, it would give people more that resilience of continue going even when it's not a hundred percent. And I think that was another mentality I have to switch from being a dentist because a margin is either perfect or it's open. You know, the lab will call you, it's like, oh doc, we can't read your margin, reimpress. So it's almost like 100% have to be there. But healing or health, it's a gradation. You have some improvement. And the reality is sometimes you can't improve completely. And any of us who take CBCT and treat TMJ knows you might be able to take care of the symptoms, but the shape of the condyle isn't going to be what it was when this patient was 17 before they flatten it or create um concavities and cys in it. And it's just not 100% sometimes, but it's an improvement. And it's a quality of life question.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

It's a quality of life. Yeah. You don't have to be perfect. I don't think the biohacker here was like anyone there, even the one that you'd be like, wow, that's amazing, number, that's amazing stats, but they're still working on it, right? And that's why I think Dave changed it to beyond biohacking. It's like, okay, it's not just a physical body anymore, it's your consciousness, it's your purpose. Right. And I love like all the presentation here talking about the meaning of life, the purpose, and how to be fully present. I think it's really beautifully curated because people are too obsessed with the physical, right? And then indirectly creates stress in their life. And I know how stressed. For it is to create a new practice. Oh, yes. You mentioned your soul because you thought that you had to go back to New Asia, take care of your mom. And then you realize that that group practice sitting was not for you. Right. Because your vision is different. So share with us that vision. The big one. Don't be, you know, humble and say, oh yeah, this is what I'm doing. I know your big vision. So you have to share with the dentist that listened to the show right now and the patients.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Well, the group practice couldn't work anymore because as I changed, the vision changed. You know, the realization that dentistry, I mentioned about the next frontier. I really felt like we are the last frontier. When we know there's so many

The Future Dental Wellness Center Model

SPEAKER_01 22:40

organisms that live in our mouth that could give hint into what's coming up because it is a predictor of how healthy the system is. It makes sense that we start having health or dental centers that start tracking people longitudinally. So you continue measuring and then you see what happened to the organism. And I don't think it's within, we're addressing calculus. And I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying that's where we were. And it's time that we can rise to the next level, right? Just like the field of medicine has changed, the way you would treat cardiovascular have changed, the way that you would treat cancer has changed. And I think the way we approach health and dentistry could also evolve because we know so much. Like I said, we don't have to do the research. Actually, the functional medicine side has given so much. But I think in the future, when we can see what we are able to do, we're talking now about genetic editing and protein where people can grow teeth. And I'm pretty sure it's actually coming. I might be a little extreme in saying that, but I think it's coming. I don't think it's gonna be 10 years. So I am in that generation. I've been practicing what 20 something years now. I'm in that generation of being able to see in the beginning of so much change, you know, like implant now, ceramic implant, and I think peptide is coming up. Um, for an example, for women, we can see women as we age, we start having recession because of that balance between estrogen and progesterone is changing. We don't really have too much conversation in the oral space, I think, how to help women with that. We talk about the biologics, we talk about the connective tissue grafting. But the more and more health centers or dental centers thinking about that direction, I think there would be more advancement and protocol and even use of peptides that can help our patient. Um, I know I spoke to somebody who has tons of research recently about the oral condition. You know, he's a periodonist surgeon, and then he's like, Oh, haven't you even thought about that? And I'm like, well, as a woman who's going through, you know, a certain age, that's something I think about because I get to see that in my patient.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

So division is basically dental center as being part again of the conversation of medicine where we contribute and even help medicine not to reach certain stage.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Yeah. And I think that is something that a lot of medical doctors were looking for to send patients to. Because I talked to so many medical doctors and they said, I really know how important the mouth is as a part of the whole body, but I cannot find any dentists to understand what I'm looking for, give me a full evaluation and also give me a report and feedback on that patient. And so the fact that you said, no, this group practice is not for me. I'm gonna go open a practice from scratch and build this practice and expand it to make sure that I can serve more patients. And I know you document the process. Yes. Yes, because it is a very difficult, I would say complex and not a simple process because people who build a practice know it's not just construction, it's also patients, logistic team. Building a team that who supports your visions and who understand the why behind it. Because a lot of team members, yes, to dumb is a job, but if turning that job into a purpose and a calling is the job that the leader, they have to believe in your vision. And I know your team do believe in your visions, which is why I know that this model, especially what you're building in California, is gonna be really big.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Thank you. Yes, it was a mind shift on some of the team members, especially those who have had extensive background in dental because they've seen a model of a practice. And then to say, hey, we're gonna have this conversation. Why? Why are we talking about sleep? Why are you checking about airway? Why are we talking about, you know, for an example, elderly women when they come in with darker teeth? I usually ask, have you had any bone scan? Because then immediately my thoughts isn't that, oh, they need they need bleaching, which they still will because they do still want to look pretty in their pictures. But maybe the reason why the teeth are darkening is because mineral is not getting into it. And if the mineral's not getting into teeth, you're not sure that it's getting into the bone eater. It's a bigger structure that needs more mineral. So even for our team members, and I think one of the things that really changed

Building The Practice And Training The Team

SPEAKER_01 26:55

their mind or their life, or maybe their thought process is oh, how is this applicable for my mom, for myself, for my family? So it has been very rewarding to see that switch of them seeing, hey, they're also health providers. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

So how do people follow you if they want to follow this journey that you I know would you just you just celebrate a year? Yes, yeah, recently. Yeah. Uh your brand new baby with the vision starting from scratch. That this is a California Dental Wellness Center. And where do they follow you? What social media handle would they follow and and see the journey, both your practice and your professional account?

SPEAKER_01 27:38

So for Instagram, it would be D-R RatnaInda, so Dr. Ratna Inda. And for the office, it would be at CA Dental Wellness, California Dental Wellness.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

So I'm trying to document. I I need to be better at it, but I do try to document the things that we do because there's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Oh, it's took a lot. Especially you are expanding and growing. So in order to share that on social, you I know it's a lot of time to document, to share. Also respond to all the DMs and the questions that people have during that journey. So I appreciate you taking the challenge to share this journey because I know how busy you are uh with family and kid and travel and lots of CE, lots of growing. And like I said to patient, if you want to find a good dentist, a good specially biological water dentist, you're not gonna ask them, what have you learned lately? And if they said that was 10 years ago, then you run. But if they said, no, I just went to beyond biohacking, or I just went to the IABDM conference, or I just went like any.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Your wellness, um, your wellness summit on December is always very exciting. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

And so they gotta have to keep up with the information. Um, just how your iPhone updated every year. But if your dentist is not updating their knowledge, then that means they are not gonna be able to help you with the best information and the best technology. So even us, we update our protocol actually

How To Find A Great Dentist

SPEAKER_02 29:00

quarterly, right? With all the things that we learn, we start asking about you know, constipations and not just blood work, but now genetic, not just that, but mold testing. Right, we're adding a lot of this question because we know patients are getting those done from their functional doctor.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Your understanding just deepen and deepen every year.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yeah. Yep. So I really appreciate you. Document the journey, sharing the journey, and comment share your philosophy because that's what people want to hear. Like what why biological dentists and what is dentist different from the conventional dentists? It's not because we're doing weird things, it's because we're asking questions and keep learning and knowing that there's a deeper connection than just the mouth. Yeah, definitely. Yes. So uh make sure you follow Dr. Ratna Indad on both her account and her practice. And uh, we want to bring her back because as she's growing, expanding, we have so much to share. And so thank you again to be on the show. And don't forget to subscribe and see you at the next episode.

unknown 29:56

Okay.