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Gateway to HealthOral + gut health, in one connected conversation.

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When you don’t feel like yourself, start looking upstream.

I am a dentist. Eighteen years of looking in mouths taught me that the mouth and the gut are part of the same conversation — and that almost nobody is listening to both at once.

Any of these sound like you?

Tick them or do not — the page reads the same either way. They are listed because most people arrive with three or four of them and assume they are three or four separate problems.

Here is the part nobody told you: those are not six complaints. They can be six readings from one connected system. Your mouth is the top of your digestive tract, your gut is the rest of it, and what lives in one ends up in the other — some of it protecting you, some of it quietly making you ill.

So, plainly, before any of the words get long:

  1. 1What this isLow energy, poor sleep, digestive discomfort and inflammation can have connected drivers — and the mouth and gut are part of the same conversation.
  2. 2What you doChoose testing, guided support, or a self-directed plan built around where you are now.
  3. 3What you get backA clearer picture of what may be shaping how you feel, so you can choose your next step with more confidence.

That is the entire thing. If you stop reading here, you already know what we do.

Dr. Elmira Gederi ShojaiDDS · Functional dentistry and oral microbiome science

Now the words, since you will meet them anyway.

Clinicians call the living ecosystem in your mouth the oral microbiome. Our oral test is called Orobiome.

You do not need either of those words to use the test. I am giving them to you here because they are about to turn up on lab paperwork, in the articles further down this page, and in your dentist's mouth — and I would rather you met them from me than from a form.

Oral microbiome
The community of bacteria living in your mouth, and how they are balanced against each other.
Orobiome
Our name for the saliva test that reads that community and tells you which strains you actually have.
Dysbiosis
The wrong bacteria outnumbering the right ones. It is the situation, not a disease you catch.
A stone archway with fine particles drifting through the opening, drawn in ink hatching.
The mouth is the doorway. Almost everything that gets into you comes through it.

Why start here

When your body feels off, the answer may not be where you expect.

You may be dealing with fatigue, restless sleep, digestive symptoms, brain fog, or inflammation, and still not have a clear explanation. Gateway looks upstream at the oral microbiome, gut lining, and gut microbiome to reveal patterns that single-system approaches can miss.

  • Your mouth is more than the beginning of digestion.

    Gums, breath, cavities — and then everything else.

    The oral microbiome is a living ecosystem. When it is out of balance, it may affect more than your teeth and gums. It can become part of your larger health story.

  • Your gut needs more than another supplement.

    Another supplement, another protocol, the same gut.

    The gut lining and microbiome help shape digestion, immune activity, energy, and resilience. Understanding the context can help you make more informed choices.

  • Stop guessing at what your body needs.

    Guessing, then guessing again.

    Gateway brings oral and gut insight together, then gives you a practical path: testing, guided support, or a structured self-directed system.

Choose your starting point

Start where you are. Go where you need to.

Whether you want data, more personalized guidance, or a practical plan you can follow on your own, Gateway gives you a way forward.

  1. Four kits, from $399Get the data behind how you feel.Shop oral, gut, sleep, or paired test kits designed to make hidden patterns more visible.Shop test kits
  2. Clinician-ledGet support turning insight into change.For those who want personalized interpretation, clinician-led guidance, and a more supported plan.Explore guided support
  3. 6 weeks · $499Take a practical reset at your own pace.Upstream is a six-week self-guided system for the mouth, gut lining, microbiome, toxic load, and nervous-system patterns.Explore Upstream

Not sure where to start?Start with the story your body is telling. A short guide — about 90 seconds — points you to the path that fits.

Find your starting point
Photograph pending — a commissioned portrait of Dr. Elmira Gederi Shojai sits in this frame.

Who is telling you this

I have spent eighteen years looking in mouths and finding the rest of the body.

I trained to fix teeth. What I kept running into was patients whose teeth were the least of it — the one with recurring decay who was also exhausted all the time, the one with bleeding gums who was also on her third round of gut protocols and getting nowhere. After enough years you stop filing that under coincidence.

I am not a natural at being a voice on the internet, and I would rather be in clinic. I am doing this because the people who need it are currently being handed either a cleaning or a supplement, and neither of those is an answer to the question they actually asked.

Today I oversee a nationwide network of licensed dentists who read oral microbiome results with people like you, alongside a team of health coaches who help turn what we find into something you can actually do.

Dr. Elmira Gederi Shojai, DDSFounder, Gateway to Health

Who I work on this with

  • Dr. Pedram Shojai, OMD

    Founder

    Pedram works the other end of the same tube. He directs our gut-health programs, so when a mouth result explains a gut that would not settle, he is the one who takes it from there.

  • Lora Hooper, BSDH, RDH, EFDA

    Oral Health Expert

    Lora has spent her career in the part of this that is hands-on and daily — what actually keeps a mouth in balance between appointments, and what quietly wrecks it.

And 2 more oral health experts and 12certified health coaches. Meet everyone

Reading

Everything here starts from the question, not from the science.

The big line on each one is what people actually ask me. The smaller line under it is what the piece is called, for when you need to find it again.

More recent pieces

All 61 articles, with the categories laid out →

Watch

Gateway to Health

Eight episodes, about 5.6 hours in total, made because this is easier to show than to describe. The full series comes with Orobiome testing. Interconnected and GutCheck pick up the gut side of the story.

  1. You will understand why the state of your mouth is a health issue and not a grooming issue.

    Mouth Matters44 minFree to watch

    • The #1 cause of a cavity, and it is NOT sugar.
    • Bleeding gums: these cavity critters can work their way into your heart valves, your gut and your blood flow.
    • How chronic disease begins in the mouth, and what we can do to repair, restore and rejuvenate the oral biome.

  2. You will know how to keep the good bacteria in your mouth alive instead of killing everything and hoping.

    Know Thy Mouth41 minFree to watch

    • How to maintain a healthy oral biome, and the answer is NOT to nuke your mouth with antibiotics.
    • The #1 thing you must do to maintain a healthy pH in your mouth, and why brushing, flossing and the hygienist alone will not cut it.
    • Why the next frontier of medicine can be found in plaque.

  3. You will see your mouth as an environment that can tip one way or the other, and learn what tips it.

    Oral Climate Change39 minFree to watch

    • The harmful bacteria that stick to teeth, secrete acid and break down enamel.
    • The link between gum disease and Type 2 diabetes.
    • Where 70% of your saliva really comes from.

  4. You will understand how bacteria from your mouth reach your gut, your bloodstream, your brain and a pregnancy.

    Beyond the Mouth47 minWith Orobiome testing

    • If the body's largest source of chronic inflammation is not diet or lack of exercise, what is it?
    • Why taking care of your gums is vital for a healthy pregnancy.
    • The great chasm between dentistry and medicine 150 years ago.

  5. You will get straight answers about fillings, root canals and implants, including where the experts still disagree.

    Oral Controversy and Conflict52 minWith Orobiome testing

    • The truth about fillings.
    • What to do if you suspect an infection in an old root canal.
    • The link between jaw injections and heart disease.

  6. You will learn what modern repair looks like when the goal is to protect the biome rather than just patch the tooth.

    Restorative Dentistry43 minWith Orobiome testing

    • The newest science in restorative dentistry.
    • When brushing your teeth can be bad for your health.
    • New technologies that mean we never have to suffer tooth-pulling again.

  7. If the dentist frightens you, this episode shows you what has changed and why the fear is becoming outdated.

    Pain, Fear and the Future40 minWith Orobiome testing

    • Breakthroughs for people whom the dentist fills with anxiety.
    • The new science changing modern dentistry.
    • How non-penetrative lasers will replace the teeth-yanking of old.

  8. You will know how to care for a mouth that is getting older, and why it is never too late to start.

    Bonus: A Lifetime of Your Mouth28 minWith Orobiome testing

    • The golden age of dentistry.
    • The best ways to care for an ageing mouth.

If you want the data

The next step is a small kit and a conversation.

Not a programme you have to join. Pick the kit for the place you want to start — your mouth, your gut, your sleep, or both ends at once — collect it at home, and then decide what you want to do about what it says. A person reads it with you either way.

A small sealed laboratory collection vial standing upright, drawn in ink hatching.
Collected at home. No clinic visit, no doctor’s order.

Four kits, one for each place you might want to start. Pick one, or click any line you want and I will move you to the cheapest kit that includes it — and tell you if that leaves anything out.

A saliva test that maps the bacteria living in your mouth, read by a licensed dentist and walked through with you by an oral microbiome specialist.

Right for you if You are curious whether the mouth and oral microbiome may be part of your larger health story.

$399

$1,144 Save $745

  • Orobiome oral microbiome test A simple saliva swab at home. Sequenced by a CLIA-certified lab; results in 10–14 business days.
  • Licensed dentist results review A licensed dentist evaluates your bacterial profile and flags the clinically significant findings.
  • 1-on-1 oral microbiome specialist consultation A specialist walks you through your results and the dentist's findings, in plain language.
  • Results session with a certified health coach Turns the recommendations into a concrete plan: diet, oral care, supplement priorities, in an order you can follow.
  • Gateway to Health series + Director's Cut The eight-part docuseries on the oral-gut-systemic connection.
  • Five bonus guides Tooth & tonic, natural whitening, the Gateway companion guide, the colored foods chart, natural mouthwash recipes.
Start with this kit — $399

Switching to Look at your gut leaves out orobiome oral microbiome test, licensed dentist results review, 1-on-1 oral microbiome specialist consultation, gateway to health series + director's cut, five bonus guides.

The mouth is the top of the tract. To see the gut at the same time, the complete package runs all three tests in parallel.

What actually happens

  1. Within daysA kit arrives with everything inside and a prepaid return envelope. No doctor’s order, no clinic visit.
  2. At homeA saliva swab for the mouth, a finger-prick for food and the gut lining, saliva over one day for cortisol, or a stool kit for the deep gut map. Most take minutes.
  3. One to two weeks laterYour results, and a session with a certified health coach who turns them into a plan. Orobiome results are also reviewed by a licensed dentist.

There is no countdown on this page and there will not be one in your inbox. The test is the same price next month.