Why Dental Care Is Becoming The Next Major Longevity Practice

Longevity practices were once considered niche to a small subset of young and already relatively healthy men. But interest has grown substantially among women, older adults, and Gen Z in the last few years (we broke down that shift in 2024 here). In fact, UBS estimates global longevity spending will surge to $8 trillion annually by 2030. 

While focus in this space has primarily centered around movement, recovery, sleep, and nutrition, a key part of achieving optimal health (and even reversing disease states) actually starts in the mouth. 

And if your goal is to improve your healthspan and lifespan, oral health should be (and will be) on your radar in 2026.

Oral health has been overlooked as a passive hygiene task rather than a therapeutic pathway to improving overall well-being. But did you know the right dental care can actually diagnose why you have problems sleeping, which is raising your stress levels? Or that having certain oral bacteria is linked to chronic conditions like Alzheimer's disease1? 

“When you have chronic inflammation in the mouth, it contributes to systemic inflammation,” says prosthodontist and NYU professor Jonathan Levine, DMD. “There are 57 chronic inflammatory diseases in the body, name one, and you’ll find the [oral] bacteria that drive it.” 

Levine points to seven main inflammatory bacteria strains, with the leading culprit being Porphyromonas gingivalis2 (or P. gingivalis). This bacteria is,“found in the carotid arteries of cardiovascular patients, in the interstitial cells associated with leaky gut, and even in the pancreas in cases of pancreatic cancer,” says Levine.  

So how does the bacteria get to those distant organs? The bloodstream, often via inflamed gums, which is sometimes called “leaky gums3” (do you see a gut health connection coming up?). 

But this translocation of bacteria isn’t the only factor. Functional dentist Staci Whitman, DMD. IFMCP notes that the systemic impact of dysbiosis in the mouth (an undesirable ratio of good to bad microbes) impacts Alzheimer's and dementia, fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and respiratory illnesses. 

The effects don’t stop there. Because the mouth is the gateway to the gut, oral bacteria and inflammation can ripple throughout the digestive system. “The mouth is the beginning of the gut, and we tend to look right past it,” says Whitman. “We swallow 2,000 times a day. So, that's literally seeding the gut4 constantly with different information and bacteria, enzymes, immune cells, etc.” 

Today’s dental care system is still largely reactive and episodic. For most people, a trip to the dentist means a once-to twice‑yearly teeth cleaning, a check for cavities, maybe a filling, and that’s it. 

Levine is bringing an integrated approach into his dental practice, Smile House, via a proprietary diagnostic system called Mouth Mapping®. It’s a framework that evaluates structure, function, biology, and aesthetics of the teeth and mouth together that may help reveal how oral health connects to broader metabolic and systemic patterns.

For example, the use of CBCT scans5 (which is a scan that’s equivalent to seven X-rays) helps oral physicians like Levine spot structural issues like nasal obstruction, a narrow airway, or soft-tissue crowding that can disrupt deep, restorative sleep. We know that poor sleep ricochets into various health problems. 

Often, dentists can fully treat the root cause of the issue, whether that's by expanding the arches to move the tongue forward, coordinating with orthodontic or periodontal specialists, or referring patients to ENT care when sinus or nasal blockages are the real driver.

The mapping process also looks for early signs of gum inflammation or microbial imbalance. 

Identifying microbial imbalance requires salivary diagnostics6. “If you’re looking ahead to the wave of the future, it’s salivary diagnostics,” says Whitman. “It’s going to be dentists and functional medicine providers using these diagnostics, and we’ll keep expanding the information we can get from saliva.” 

Whitman explains that modern salivary tests can assess the overall diversity of the oral microbiome, the balance between beneficial and potentially harmful bacteria, and the presence of yeast or other microbes that may signal imbalance. 

She notes that some newer panels even include genetic markers tied to inflammation or periodontal disease risk. And beyond microbes, salivary biomarker tests can measure things like leukocytes, red and white blood cells, and pH, all of which offer clues about inflammation and oral-systemic health.

Whitman also wants to see gut testing go hand in hand with oral diagnostics. “If you treat the gut but not the mouth, or the mouth but not the gut, you’re never going to reach true optimization,” she says. 

Both Whitman and Levine also highlight the importance of a more connected dental and medical community. Currently, the systems are (by design) quite separate. But by working collaboratively across those disciplines, he says, practitioners can make a far greater impact on patients’ health than either could alone. 

So what does that look like? Possibly a better referral network, or we may see more of it through concierge services. 

It also requires patient health information to be shared more easily between health professionals. Have you ever switched doctors and had to either upload your past medical records or jump through hoops in order to have old records sent to your new physician? It’s not easy. 

Longevity is not only shaped by how you move, sleep, or eat, but by the ecosystem of microbes, structures, and tissues inside your mouth. People and investors are primed to prioritize oral care.

The global dental equipment market is projected to nearly double, going up to $22.1 billion by 2034, driven by rising awareness, innovation, and increasing dental needs. Private equity investment in dental practices is also on the rise, signaling growing recognition of oral care’s role in healthspan and longevity.