Meet Candace Bruno, DMD

Passionate about continual learning and growth in all aspects of her life, Dr. Candace Bruno strives to be the best person she can be as a dentist, health advocate, friend, and mom. She is an adventurer, optimist, and free spirit who feels most at peace in nature, connecting with the energies around her, and in yoga or on her bicycle
She believes that the best way to learn is to listen always and be critical of the information given without being close-minded. Growth and innovation demand it. As she likes to say, “We know what we know until we realize that we never really knew what we thought we knew.”

Dr. Bruno holds a BS in biology from UNC Chapel Hill and her doctorate of dental medicine from Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry, where she graduated summa cum laude. Yet it was only 8 months after that achievement that she realized how much more there was to know about dentistry and began advanced continuing education courses with world-renowned Spear Education. This was where she learned to understand the stomatognathic system (teeth, jaws, and related soft tissues) far more comprehensively. It’s also where she learned cutting-edge information about dental materials, how to plan dentistry with intention, and how to execute dentistry with a high level of attention to detail.

Dr. Bruno has also made a special study of the relationship of the jaw joints and airway with dental health. She was blessed to find expert guidance from clinicians such as Dr. Jeff Rouse on the airway and Drs. Jim McKee and Mark Piper on the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). She also brings her own experience to the care she provides her patients in these areas. She herself was once a kid with airway problems that led to TMJ breakdown and the destruction of teeth that follows. Knowing what it’s like helps her understand what patients with these problems may be experiencing and their options for correcting them in a way that supports whole body wellness.

From Conventional to Biologic Dentistry

Both her parents had died from cancer – her father in 2000 (pancreatic) and her mother in 2009 (ovarian). At the time of her mother’s stage three diagnosis, Dr. Bruno was still an undergrad and still subscribed to the mainstream Western medical model as her mother shifted to a macrobiotic diet and explored alternative treatment options, shedding light on an area that Dr. Bruno still considered a little “woo-woo” at the time.

Dr. Bruno didn’t want her own children to suffer her parents’ fate, so once she became pregnant with her twins, she focused intently on establishing a nontoxic, organic, holistic way of life for them. It was only a matter of time before being a holistic mom intersected with her dental training. The trigger for her practice’s transformation was reading Carol Vander Stoep’s Mouth Matters in 2015. Immediately, she contacted a local dentist listed on her website to learn more. Life circumstances meant her transition to this new, more robust kind of dentistry took a little longer than it otherwise might have, but once she did, she knew she had found her passion.

And as they say, when you practice your passion, you never go to work. This is also true for the team she built at Bruno Integrative Dentistry.

Dr. Bruno is now a member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology, through which she is also SMART-certified in the safe removal of “silver” mercury amalgam fillings. She continues to learn as much as possible about the connections of toxins to health and how to intercept disease and bring as little harm to the body as possible.

She is proud to say that she has become a true advocate for health in all she does.

Happy Patients

We understand that no one really enjoys going to the dentist, but we’re proud to say that each of our patients is happy to be at our office. They tell us so every day. That speaks volumes to us as we strive to make biologic dentistry as easy, safe, and accessible for all of our patients.