Breath, Balance, and the Biology of Being: Dr. Bahar Esmaili’s Systems-Based Vision in Bye Ol’ Dentistry

Dr. Bahar Esmaili is trained as a dentist, but her work reaches far beyond teeth. Early in her career, she recognized a fundamental gap in conventional healthcare: while dentistry and medicine address parts, they rarely teach how the human body functions as an integrated system. That realization now places her within “Bye Ol’ Dentistry,” the Lolli Brands Entertainment documentary that challenges reductionist dental models and explores how oral health, breathing, posture, and the nervous system shape whole-body wellness.

“Bye Ol’ Dentistry” reveals how localized dental treatments, when disconnected from airway health, craniofacial development, and systemic regulation, can contribute to long-term dysfunction. Through expert perspectives and patient stories, the film emphasizes a biologic, systems-based approach to care. Dr. Esmaili’s work embodies this philosophy, showing that true oral health cannot be separated from breathing, posture, neurology, and vitality.

From Traditional Dentistry to Systems Thinking

Dr. Esmaili grew up in Iran and immigrated to the United States at the age of 20 to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. She graduated with honors from the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine in 2009. While traditional dentistry formed her clinical foundation, her deeper inquiry began where conventional education stopped. She observed that the allopathic model rarely explains how physical structure, nervous system regulation, and physiology interact as one living system. This insight guided the evolution of her career toward a more integrative understanding of health.

A Clinical Focus on Airway, Sleep, and Craniofacial Development

Dr. Esmaili has since specialized in airway and sleep health, with advanced training in craniofacial development, temporomandibular disorders, and airway disorders. Her work centers on how facial growth, jaw alignment, and breathing patterns influence nervous system regulation and whole-body alignment. She understands that these patterns begin early in life and shape everything from posture and muscle tone to cognitive function and long-term resilience.

A Unique Integration of Movement, Posture, and Neuromuscular Health

In addition to her dental training, Dr. Esmaili is a certified personal trainer and former bodybuilder with specialized education in posture correction. This background gave her a rare perspective on the body as a unified system, connecting head and neck posture, jaw mechanics, facial musculature, gait, and neuromuscular coordination. This systems-based lens allows her to bridge the physical, chemical, and electrical dimensions of the body, uniting structure, energy, and function into one coherent model of health.

Leadership, Education, and Multidisciplinary Innovation

Dr. Esmaili is an international speaker and lecturer and currently serves on the Colorado Dental Board. She previously held the role of one of only 24 North American consultants on 3M’s Council of Innovative Dentistry and served on the Educational Committee of the American Academy of Craniofacial Pain. As Vice President of Clinical Integration at VIVOS Therapeutics, she pioneered multidisciplinary approaches that elevate breathing and posture as central regulators of the nervous system. This work led to the creation of a pilot clinic rooted in her belief that health is vitality, defined as the capacity to remain aligned amid life’s physical, mental, and biochemical challenges.

Reconnecting Dentistry to the Intelligence of the Body

Dr. Esmaili’s vision ultimately took form in the Center for Breath and Beyond, a multidisciplinary clinic she founded to integrate neuroscience, craniofacial medicine, and functional health. The center is grounded in the understanding that the body’s fascial network acts as a living communication system, sustaining electrical charge, vitality, and coherence across billions of cells. Within this framework, breath is not simply respiration, but the central regulator of health, voltage, and life rhythm itself.

“Bye Ol’ Dentistry” echoes this perspective by challenging the notion that straight teeth alone define success. The film highlights how misaligned facial structures, compromised airways, and nervous system dysregulation can undermine health even when smiles appear perfect. Dr. Bahar Esmaili stands at the forefront of this shift, educating patients and practitioners alike on the deeper causes behind chronic conditions. Her mission is to awaken healthcare to the reality that localized treatments create global consequences, and that true healing emerges when the body is supported as an intelligent, interconnected whole.