Patient Testimonial

I often read reviews of different things, services and companies which often have an impact on my decisions, but very rarely write one. But when I come across someone who shares their knowledge and expertise simply to help people without expecting anything back, I feel like I owe to make an effort and write a review, so hopefully someone else may benefit from it too.

I thought I will write this summary at the beginning instead of at the end, in case not everyone will read thru my review. Nutritional advices and appointments are quite expensive. Dr Kat Król-Shaffie is a dental surgeon who did my dental implants and as she qualified as a Nutritionist she opened this channel, I suppose for people like me who saved for implants but would not have enough monies for one to one nutrition advices. Even if you would not want to follow the advice it is really worth listening to as a lot of things I was not aware of even though I work in a medical field.

And the reason I recommend it without any bias is because it helped me first hand and if you would like to know how then please read on. I think my story is not an isolated individual account but I believe a lot of people do not really care or have time to care about what our bodies tell us, we are just busy getting on with our lives and work, that we ignore little subtle signs our bodies send us. Then in some cases by the time we realise that something may be wrong, it may also be too late to be able to fix the damage. I did ignore it too, but I was lucky to have Dr Król as a dentist and I am very grateful that she committed 3 years of her life to become a nutritionist to help her dental patients and also everyone else who would be interested to look at the nutrition through a different perspective.

Like a lot of people, I had Covid, fairly bad but I did recover. Or so I thought. Because little I knew was that quietly the illness was still causing the damage, stripping my body of its immunity or rather ability of maintaining and improving my immunity. I went for 2 implants treatment to replace missing teeth and be able to fully smile again. Not for a minute I thought that this will not only fix my smile but also save my body and mind from slowly and unnoticeably deteriorating, and will also give me a new mind set and willingness to take nutrition seriously. What I was advised it wasn't about 'eat fairly healthy and you will be ok' but about explaining 'what and mainly how I should eat and how to supplement it with vitamins and minerals to get the most for my body and mind'. Never in my life I knew or would believe in a very direct link between oral and dental hygiene and the rest of our bodies in physical and mental terms.

I felt I was well and the preliminary scans of my jaw came out ok too, so I went ahead and had 2 implants done. Then after 3 months it turned out that one implant in the lower jaw was fine no problems at all, but the second one in the upper jaw was rejected. I guess like everyone in my position, I was thinking in line that maybe procedure was not done properly but then the other implant done at the same time was fine, so like it or not I had to look elsewhere. But where???

This is where Dr Król and her extensive knowledge of oral health and nutrition stepped in. She immediately saw a link I was blissfully ignorant of because I brushed like I was supposed to, I did not eat to many sweets, used dental floss and mouthwash. Should this be enough? I gave Dr Król a daily routine of my dental hygiene and dent was quite surprised when she said that oral higiene play a small part in impacting our health, and although it is important we need to look at it through the perspective of a whole body. Not only she took interest in what was happening with me after of course first checking if I would not mind sharing this information with her. She also asked me about medication I was taking regularly and on and off, and my general health. Once Covid stepped into the light I could notice that she was onto something. To have a clearer and fact based picture of my health she then asked me to let her know my blood results for certain parameters, and now I was getting curious and determine to know what was going on. My GP requested the blood tests I asked for, Dr Król had a look and immediately knew what were the suspects which contributed to my low immunity and deficiency of vitamins and minerals which are absolutely necessary to bone and gum strength which in turn is required so the implant would not be rejected. She suggested I add few mineral supplements which would not only help with my oral health but primarily they would help and support recovery and strengthening of my immune system, which in turn would benefit my whole body. She also gave me some advice with regards to adapting a diet which would help my body and also aid absorption of the supplements. It wasn't only in a line of what to eat but more importantly how to eat, how to chew how often, size of portions, what to do after eating. Little things which we ignore and think as irrelevant until our body tells us we are wrong by which time we usually start having a symptoms or develop some problems. Dr Król based on my blood results also suggested that I should visit a specialist as I may need to have some additional tests done.

I did see Rheumatologist who confirmed Dr Król's findings and actually praised the choice and combination of vitamins and minerals suggested by Dr Król.

Fast forward few months, I can honestly say that I personally was very ''fortunate'' that the treatment for one of my implants failed. Not only I received a dental treatment but also proverbially speaking 'game changing' nutritional advice which within few months of following made the dental treatment successful, and there was no problem with the second implant staying in. My body had no more excuses to reject it, oh and as a ''side effect'' bonus I lost tiny bit of weight. I can't say that I now eat all that I maybe should, but at least I know how to eat or snack to make the most of what I eat and to make it benefit my oral health and body.

I would recommend listening to at least one of Dr Król's talks on her Instagram channel 'nutritiontosmiles', it may not be for everyone, but you don't need to sign up so would not lose anything. On the other hand you may actually find out something interesting. Something that your own body is trying to tell you but you just simply don't know how to listen and understand it.