Wonder Women of Dentistry: Dr. Jimani Mwendo Blackwell, DDS

I am so honored and thankful to introduce to you this week’s “Wonder Woman of Dentistry”, 

Dr. Jimani Mwendo Blackwell, DDS.

 I had the privilege of meeting her and getting to know her at a Dental Conference right before the COVID-19 shutdowns. We just happened to be standing in the same place at the same time and said hello. I asked her if she was sitting at a table already and she said no and I invited her to sit with me. We had a few moments before the lecture and we bonded right away! 

She has a soft and kind spirit, and a caring and loving heart. I asked her where she lives and where her practice was and it so happens to be 45 minutes from where I live. What a coincidence since this conference had hundreds of people coming from all over the country.

We discussed with excitement, the opening of her new startup Dental practice which will be a unique and holistic form of dentistry delivered in a restored antique building in New Orleans. She talked to me about how she wants to help patients with so many hidden conditions that affect their daily life. She really cares!

When she told me about her ideas, my eyes lit up because I am also passionate about the holistic transition of dentistry and to be less toxic and to help patients in a safer way. I want to help in whatever way I can to help push our field forward into the future. 

Because of her outstanding leadership, warm heart, and her passion to change the outdated standards in dentistry, I am so impressed by Dr. Mwendo Blackwell and wanted to highlight her accomplishments today!

Jimani Mwendo Blackwell, DDS has been a practicing dentist for over 10 years.  She is a graduate of Spelman College with a degree in Environmental Science and a Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry in Chapel Hill.  She finished a General Practice Residency at the VA Medical Center in Washington, DC and worked in Northern Virginia for most of her career thus far. She earned a Fellowship with the Academy of General Dentistry which only 6% of dentists achieve.  

After getting married and having kids, she and her husband wanted to move to her hometown, New Orleans, to be with family. During her maternity leave, she became the mother that researched every toxin possible to protect her babies. They switched out all the soaps, cleaning supplies, toothpastes, she began reading more on how the diet can affect pregnancy and breastfeeding.  She wanted to limit as many toxins as she possibly could, but never thought of her career as a major source of toxins. 

Her middle son was born with allergies, atopic dermatitis, a finger sucking habit and by the time he was 1 he couldn’t breathe through his nose. This made her question so much because she supposedly did everything right. When she was pregnant with him she had a rare disorder called pelvic symphysis dysfunction.  Due to this disorder, it was too painful for her to do her regular workouts and sweat. That difference between this pregnancy and the others is that she did not sweat out toxins when she was pregnant with him. She knew something was wrong, so she began to research what could have caused this from the dental practice and found out that dental amalgams were 50% mercury and what mercury can do to your body as well as an unborn child.  She found out that some countries ban amalgam removal on pregnant women and children.  She got her mercury tested by a functional medicine doctor who told her that she had never seen mercury levels this high before. Dr. Blackwell was diagnosed with mercury toxicity and now she is working to reverse the affects from mercury toxicity in her body and her now almost 3 yr old.

Her intention is to practice her passion which is dentistry because she is great at it, but also be safe, keep her family, patients and team safe and not get sick.  So she is doing a startup biological dental practice in New Orleans. Biological dentistry is a philosophy to strive for the safest and least toxic routes to perform modern dentistry.

Her motto is “I cannot do all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good I can do.”

Original Fashion Trends will be creating a signature piece of Jewlery for Dr. Jimani Mwendo Blackwell.