Well, I started out with UCLA as a dental school that I went to I then went through a general practice program, residency program at the Wadsworth VA Hospital or now it’s known as the greater Los Angeles, regional VA Medical Center. And that was an awesome experience, except I didn’t see any women, I didn’t see any children. So it left a little bit to be desired there. But we had extensive training and additional procedures in dentistry, and I still utilize that today.
From there, I went to a practice, I had a practice in Northern California. In a San Francisco suburb, I was practicing there for about seven years, and decided to move through a practice up in the Sierras and lived in north of Lake Tahoe for seven years also, and came back to Colorado. When I got back to Colorado and decided to shift my focus on practice to holistic dentistry. And I attended a number of trainings and seminars with a group that was called the American Academy of Anti-aging Medicine, and seemed to find a niche there that worked well for me, how do we enhance patients longevity? And how do we enhance the quality of their life as well?
So I can do a lot of that in dentistry, I can do cosmetic changes that are awesome to see it’s fun to have patients walk out going “Wow, that’s awesome, Doc, thanks, appreciate that.” It was a whole lot of fun to be able to get that over with, it wasn’t so much fun as he was going through it. But they appreciate the end result. In the American Academy of Anti-aging Medicine, which is mostly a physicians’ group, we would attend the conventions there, you’d have probably about 3000 physicians and maybe five or six dentists showing up, and the dentists that were there were focused on holistic dentistry, how can we improve from the dental realm, patients life, and quality?
And then we found out that most of the patients were having breakdowns in their health systems as a result of things that could be attributed to dentistry, materials that were used that were not healthy in my mind. Following the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology Training. They said that mercury was quite toxic. I also knew that coming in from chemical engineering viewpoint. And the problems associated with that in the body are numerous because mercury affects neurologic tissue. It has an affinity for fat, so it can affect your brain, it can affect all of the nervous system tissue in your body. And I chose not to use it. I wanted to find alternatives as soon as I got out of dental school. And I continue to use those same alternatives today.
Many patients have done their own research. They come in after looking at the community to see what’s out there. Why am I having the problems that I’m having, you’re seeking a functional medicine doctor, they’re looking for naturopaths, they’re looking for alternatives to conventional medicine often because doctors, physicians, sometimes don’t explore those areas just because of lack of training. They don’t know about them. And the doctors who have pursued them are often the people that feed our practice with patients that have concerns.
One of the things I would recommend you consider is you talk to your dentist and see if there’s any way that you can remove some of the toxic materials from your mouth, talk to your dentist and see if there’s any way that he can get your gum tissue in better shape so you’re not putting your heart at risk. There was a physician, Dr. Stephen Sinatra, he was a cardiologist. And he discovered that many of his patients that were coming to him had severe cardiac disease and that it was attributable to bacteria coming from gum disease.
So one of the first things he said to his patients who are coming in, “Get your gums in good shape.” So that’s been a focus in our office. And we use a lot of different treatment modalities to help us with that.
Dr. Craig K. Sommer Cares for Your Whole Body Health With a Holistic Approach
You could call Dr. Craig Sommer a “green” dentist. Early in his career, he became aware of the environmental impact of industrial processes and contaminants. As a result, his thinking is holistic, or whole body in nature. He is acutely aware of your dental health and its connection to your whole body health. This thinking influences every aspect of his practice.
His educational and work backgrounds allow him to approach dentistry with a unique perspective. He received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO, where he earned high scholastic honors and was selected to be a member of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society. While working as an engineer in Los Angeles, he learned about the impact of industrial processes and the potential for contamination. This experience later gave him a critical eye to some of the techniques and materials used in dentistry.
He received his DDS from the UCLA School of Dentistry. While at UCLA, he was appointed a Regents Scholar. He was also selected for a general practice residency program at what is now known as the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare Center on Wilshire Boulevard.
Dr. Sommer successfully operated two thriving practices in Northern California before returning to his Colorado home. He has been caring for the Colorado Springs community from our convenient location since 1992.
His current and previous professional affiliations include:
- American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
- American Dental Association
- Academy of General Dentistry
- Colorado Dental Association
- Colorado Springs Dental Society
- American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
- Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI), where he received cosmetic dentistry training
- International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
- Academy of Biomimetic Dentistry
- International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine (IABDM)