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This self-help alternative medicine site offers extensive educational information on the topics of natural healing, holistic and biological dentistry, herbal medicine, cleansing and detoxification, heavy metal detox, diet, nutrition, weight loss, and the finest, tried and tested health equipment and products available for the natural management of health. |
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Natural Dental Health
“The terms oral health and general health should not be interpreted as separate entities. Oral health is integral to general health: oral health means more than healthy teeth and you cannot be healthy without oral health.” —Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services, in Oral Health America: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2000
The renouned German physician Dr. Reinhard Voll estimated that nearly 80% of all illness is related entirely or partially to problems in the mouth. The reason the teeth are such a threat to health is that, in addition to their connection to every organ and gland in the body, they can harbor infections without symptoms. There's no pain or discomfort. Yet, there may be chronic infection eroding the body's immune response-wearing out the immune system. This infection is very difficult to detect. Few people today have escaped the problems of dental cavities and gum infection. About 98% of Americans have some areas of diseased gum tissue in their mouths, over half of these are also experiencing a progressive "bone loss." Fortunately, cavities and pyorrhea (gum disease and bone loss) are both 100% preventable and reversible.
The mouth is a hostile environment. It's warm, moist, and full of nutrient-laden saliva, decaying teeth, and soggy gums, which makes it a haven for bacteria. Teeth are subject to sudden changes of temperature created by extremes such as coffee and ice cream. Mechanical stresses challenge the mouth in the form of a combination of hard and soft foods. It is attacked chemically by foods that are highly acidic and highly alkaline with overtones of salinity and sugar. All these conditions provide corrosive influences, necessitating artificial replacements supplied by the dentist. Mercury amalgam fillings are the major source of mercury exposure for the general public, at rates six-times higher than from fish and seafood.
Oral toxicity has been the cause of much anxiety, depression, hyperactivity and suicidal behavior as well as other psychological conditions. The sufferers then are referred to psychiatric physicians who place them on powerful psychoactive drugs and treat them with electro-shock therapy. These procedures cause the same symptoms that are being addressed, as well as permanent brain damage. Symptoms start in childhood with the treatment of tooth decay, caused by a poor diet and consumption of acid-forming sugar, phosphoric acid in sodas, etc. Kids are given "chrome caps" on their baby teeth, thus starting the sequence of toxic, damaging mayhem. Because the metals affect the nervous system, they are labeled as ADHD, hyperactive, learning disabled, etc. and so starts their demise.
The practice of using mercury to cure syphilis usually killed the patient rather than cured them and is now no longer used. The use of dental amalgams brought dentistry out of the Barber's shop to the highly technical discipline it is today. We are now investigating and recognizing the effects that the mercury from these fillings has had on the health of generations of individuals. Dentistry is now investigating the links between root fillings, dead teeth and systemic health problems. This issue will be as controversial as the mercury amalgam issue and has the potential to reshape dental care into the next century.
A tooth is made of three parts, first is the outer layer of enamel which is inert and is what you see when you look into the mouth.
Secondly the inside of the tooth and most of the root is made of dentine which is a living tissue with its own nerve and blood supply. Dentine is perforated by millions of tiny holes called tubules, there are 3 miles of tubules in a lower front tooth and it is fluid flowing through these tubules which can cause hot and cold sensitivity of teeth and creates a vast market for sensitivity toothpastes.
Thirdly there is the pulp in the middle of a tooth in a space called the root canal. As well as containing nerve endings it contains blood vessels, lymph and connective tissue. There is a constant bathing of the dentine component of the tooth from the pulp with nutrients and fluid flowing out along the tubules into the surrounding periodontal tissues. This is essential to maintain healthy teeth. When the fluid flow reverses then decay starts in teeth.
Any injury, chemical, bacterial or thermal can cause these tissues to swell, but as there is little room for swelling in the center of a tooth, an increase in pressure due to this swelling often cuts off the blood supply to the tooth and all the vital tissue in the tooth dies. You may often experience a throbbing pain as the body tries to pump blood into the tooth to help this inflammatory process.
The pulp and the tissue in the tubules become necrotic and it is now when problems start. With multi rooted teeth it is possible for the pulp in one root to die but other roots stay vital as they have separate blood supplies. This causes problems for dentists trying to diagnose whether a tooth is alive or dead. Eventually the necrotic tissue in the one root will slowly kill off the vital tissue in the other roots and the tooth is then described as dead or non-vital. This may or may not be painful and the degree of pain felt may vary from a slight twinge, to tenderness to bite on, to a full blown toothache which you cannot believe is happening to you.
The pain is dependent on your response to the irritation and whether there is bacterial infection of the pulpal material. Bacteria cause putrefaction of this pulpal material producing gas, which increases the pressure inside a tooth and pain. White blood cells stream into the pulpal area of the tooth attacking the bacteria and producing pus and more swelling and more pain. The inflammation then spreads out of the tooth via the small foramina through which the blood and lymph pass into the tooth and affects the bone holding the tooth. Swelling here causes pressure in the bone which again is painful, and will continue until it perforates into the surrounding soft tissue or the dentist intervenes.
The dentist then has the choice to take the tooth out or to do a root treatment. Today in this technological age the dentist will offer to treat the abscess, deal with the pain and save the tooth. This is where opinions split as to what is best to do. Do we look to save individual teeth or do we look to treat the whole patient.
The standard way to root treat a tooth is to drill a small hole into the tooth to gain access to the root canal. If the tooth is not fully dead or there is a great deal of inflammation then this procedure can be uncomfortable though often the tooth and the pulp are dead so no pain is felt. Through varying techniques of instrumenting the root canal and flushing irritant fluids down the canal the dentist hopes to remove as much of the necrotic tissue and bacteria as he can. Then a sterilizing liquid is sealed into the root for a few days in an attempt to further treat the infection and necrotic tissue. Antibiotics are often given to treat the infection outside the tooth.
If the pain goes, a further visit is arranged where the dentist opens up the tooth again to finish the root treatment. They should first take an X-ray with an instrument down the tooth to establish whether they are fully down the canal and have not left any area untreated. If this is satisfactory they fill up the space where the pulp was with and inert material so no future infection can take place.
Millions of this type of treatment are done every year with an apparent success rate of over 90% (i.e. no pain and healing on x-ray so the dentist and the patient are happy). This unfortunately masks a problem which can still be occurring. It is now recognized by more and more dentists that it is impossible to clean out all of the necrotic tissue or to completely sterilized a tooth. As mentioned before there are 3 miles of tubules in the smallest tooth of your mouth and no dentist claims to clean or sterilize all of these. This then leaves areas of dead tissue in the tooth to continue decomposing and being infected. White blood cells don’t travel into tubules nor do antibiotics filter into these areas so the tubules become a safe haven for bacteria and possibly fungi. They survive and feed off the necrotic tissue and whatever filters into the dentine tubules. The bacteria which colonize these tubules started as normal aerobic bacteria often from the mouth, but when they are sealed into the tooth their environment changes and they pleomorphize to become anaerobic and potentially much more harmful. Their metabolism changes and their waste products become much more toxic.
Until recently there was no scientific way of measuring the toxicity of these teeth but now using photoaffinity labelling, researchers are able to test the toxins from teeth against metabolically important enzymes such as pyruvate kinase, creatinine kinase and the results are disturbing. Of 40 root treated teeth tested 25% showed no toxins. 50% showed toxicity as great as hydrogen sulfide and most worryingly 25% were more toxic than hydrogen sulfide. Research is now looking at what these compounds could be and how we can test for them in the mouth rather than once a tooth has been extracted.
There are many presumptions about root canal therapy which are based in myth rather than science. The philosophy underlying the teaching of dentistry limits its practice to mechanics, pain control and aesthetics. The systemic effects of dental treatment are rarely considered.
The root canal procedure is a fatally flawed procedure. The very nature of the procedure itself prevents it from achieving its supposed primary goal: a non-infected, sterile tooth. There is a high risk of keeping in the mouth a dead tooth that can harbor anaerobic bacteria, viruses and fungi, where neither the body's immune system nor antibiotics can fight them off. Sooner or later the root canaled tooth's bacteria and their toxins can invade the body, weakening the immune system, the nervous system, the heart, etc. yet often without the medical doctor even thinking to suspect the role that is being played by an infected, toxic tooth.
Of equal interest is the relationship of root filled teeth to traditional Chinese medicine and body energies. All teeth are linked to the body via acupuncture meridians and having a root filled tooth, a large amalgam filling, a crown, or anything that is not compatible with the body, on a meridian may set up an interference field, blocking or altering the energy flow ( the chi ') passing through this meridian and cause a disease in an organ or body function remote from the tooth. For example a front upper incisor is on the Kidney/ Bladder meridians and having a root treated tooth here may cause gynecological problems, kidney problems, impotence, and sterility if you follow a Chinese medicine theme. These teeth also relate to spinal segments and joints, the front incisor relates to the coccyx and posterior knee and to L2, L3, S3, and 6.
If the tooth is removed, the energy does tend to pass through it; however, without the tooth in the bone, it is still altered. Without stimulation from a tooth, blood circulation and lymphatic drainage will be impaired, and the bone and tissue surrounding the extraction site can become diseased (cavitations) and die. Infections in the teeth and toxins have no place to go but down; down into the jawbone and into the rest of the body, creating systemic pathologies. Some dentists are trained to look for these areas on X-rays and Cavitat procedures and when these areas are treated they can also bring considerable improvements in patients health. This energetic relationship between teeth and the rest of the body is opening whole new avenues of dental care and the chance for dentists to work with other complementary health workers.
It is assumed in dentistry that the extent of bone loss is a direct indication of the amount of infection present. This is a false assumption because the bone loss may take time to develop. The extent of the bone loss about the end of the root is also a function of the body's immune system being able to isolate the infection process. It has little to do with the degree of infection. Sometimes there is no bone loss, but instead, a condensation of bone about the end of a dead tooth. Dentists are taught that this indicates a lack of infection. The reality is that teeth showing a Condensing Osteitis are demonstrating that the body's immune system is incapable of quarantining the infection locally. These are often the teeth which cause the greatest systemic effects.
The toxins generated by the root canal can combine with the mercury leaching from the amalgams and create new chemicals of a much higher toxicity. Some combinations can be more potent than Clostridiumbotulinum (responsible for botulism). Any time you bite down, you are potentially squirting a few molecules of dental poisons into the bloodstream-and often it only takes a few molecules to create a serious problem.
The four front teeth, on both the upper and lower jaw, are energetically connected (through the meridians or energy channels) to the reproductive system. Research shows that if a man has a root canal done on a front tooth before he is 18, the testicle on that same side of the body will atrophy down to 50% the size of the other one. If a woman has a root canal in the lateral incisor, the second tooth from the midline, she may lose her ability to have a sexual orgasm. Root canals in the front teeth can also influence the onset of endometriosis, excessively long or short menstruation, and infertility.
Kinesiology is one technique where you can localize a problem tooth to see whether it affects overall body strength. If you then hold a remedy for necrotic pulp and the strength returns then there is a good chance that this tooth is affecting health. The use of an Electro-acupuncture or electro dermal screening device can, on an energetic level, determine if individual teeth are stressing that particular person and which tissue or area is being affected.
There are charts available which illustrate the relationship between teeth organs and disease.
If the detrimental effects of root canals on the public health are major, then the effects of jawbone cavitations (osteonecrosis) are even more colossal, given the apparent widespread incidence of jawbone osteonecrosis. The routine manner in which dentists extract teeth, including wisdom teeth, will routinely result in the formations of cavitations. Not a single patient (out of thousands examined) who has had all four wisdom teeth removed was found to be free of cavitations. In fact, most had four, and nearly all the rest had three. extensive cavitations will be found in the jawbones of most of our older citizens who are wearing full dentures. Younger adults should also be checked: cavitations are also routinely triggered by the presence of root-canaled teeth, toxic crowns and other dental toxins, periodontal and other infections, and by accidents and other trauma to the jawbone. Relying on x-rays for the diagnosis of cavitations is inadequate. Injection of Sanum remedies will not remove what is, effectively, gangrene in the jawbone.)
Organized dentistry is filled with statements that vastly underestimate the amount of mercury released from dental amalgams.
In most states a dentist could lose his or her license for recommending amalgam removal. Dr. Hal Huggins, perhaps the best-known anti-mercury crusader in the world lost his license in
Organized dentistry usually claims that amalgam surfaces give off 0.067 to 0.057 micrograms/day/sq cm of surface, but this claim has failed numerous scientific examinations. Professor Boyd Haley, Chair of the Chemistry Department at the University of Kentucky (www.toxicteeth.net), has measured the release of mercury vapor and found the release to be 7.54 micrograms/day/sq cm of surface when undisturbed and 45.49 micrograms/day/sq cm of surface when brushed using a medium bristle toothbrush (758 times higher than the ADA's estimate of mercury emission). The major contributor to mercury body burden of American citizens is from dental amalgam.
Dentists are required to handle dental amalgam as a hazardous material before it goes into teeth, and scrap amalgam must be handled as toxic, hazardous waste when it comes out of teeth. Dental clinics serve as the largest single source of mercury pollution. The mercury from dental fillings can be converted by bacteria in the oral and intestinal cavities into methyl mercury, making it far more toxic to humans and other living things. Another troublesome chemical reaction occurs when methyl-thiol, which is a toxin produced in periodontal disease, reacts with ionized mercury to form extremely dangerous mercury-thiol compounds that behave similarly to methyl mercury and can pass the intestinal and blood-brain barriers.
Mercury harms brain tubulin, the most important protein in the brain, and is severely toxic to neurons. Professor Boyd Haley warns that our brains have no protective mechansim against the damage done by the mercury vapor given off from dental amalgams. Even low levels of mercury exposure can damage human nerve cells, Haley warns, and cause all of the signs of Alzheimer's disease, a leading cause of disability and death. Far more than any other toxin, mercury produces all the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease: greatly decreased glutathione levels, neurofibrillary tangles, abnormally aggregated tubulin, increased hyper-phosphorylation of protein-Tau, and increased production of beta-amyloid protein, which makes up amyloid plaques. Mercury has been linked to Alzheimer's more than any other toxin, including Aluminum, Haley warns, and the rate of Alzheimer's disease is growing and is projected to increase much more in coming decades. Haley, a world's expert on human toxicity issues, urges that dental amalgams, which are half mercury, be banned. Doctors have missed the mercury diagnosis for a long time because they only did a straight blood test and not a chelation challenge test.
Fritz Loscheider, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus in the School of Medicine, University of Calgary and is former head of the Department of Medical Physiology there. Dr. Lorscheider was part of a research team at Calgary that linked low level mercury to rapid neuron death. He presented a stunning video showing a nerve cell dying within a few hours after being exposed to a drop of low-levels mercury solution. The research was published in 2001 in Neuroreports, a peer-reviewed journal. The paper and the video can be viewed on the website www.neuroreports.com/30mar01. That study was just the latest of a series of studies that link mercury in low concentration to impairment and death of nerve cells and that link mercury to all the markers of Alzheimer's disease, a leading cause of disability and death.
Younsters who die of unexplained heart attacks, such as the young athletes that die in high school on exertion during athletic events, have 22,000 times more mercury in their hearts than normal. Autistic babies appear to be a subset of the population that is unable to excrete mercury from nerve cells. Based on the many factors that influence the toxicity of mercury--genetic, hormonal, chemical, and environmental--it is not known what the tolerable level of mercury is for each individual, as it can vary dramatically from person to person. Dental mercury is, by far, the greatest source of mercury entering sewage waste treatment systems, accounting for 40% of the load. One in eight women of reproductive age in the U.S. has blood mercury levels that pose a risk to the developing fetus.
Diabetes, from mercury toxicity, has hundreds of symptoms; it masquerades under many different medical aliases, and its symptoms are treated by many different medical specialists. In 1995 diabetes, then being treated by numerous competing medical specialists, accounted for over 40% of the deaths from all causes according to data reported in American Demographics. In the 1930s and 1940s, many of the medical specialties that we know today emerged from what had been up to then the general practice of medicine. This reorganization was greatly influenced by the emergence of diabetes, now known as hyperinsulinemia. From an incidence of 0.0028% per capita in the late 1800s, diabetes soared over a thousand times to become a serious epidemic by 1950. Thus the "heart specialist," the "endocrinologist," the "hepatic and biliary specialist" as well as many other medical specialists began to compete for market share in the treatment of diabetes. It became fashionable, for example, to declare that diabetes increased cardiovascular risk, where formerly it was well understood that heart failure was a direct consequence of untreated or poorly treated diabetes. Since then, each of the medical specialties have their own proprietary name for their own proprietary symptom set which they recognized as their own proprietary disease and treated with their own ineffective proprietary protocol.
Modern medical includes in their list such symptoms of this disease as atherosclerosis, elevated cholesterol, hypertension, elevated glucose, elevated insulin, stroke, cardiomyopathy, kidney and liver failure, neuropathy, retinopathy, male impotence, blindness glaucoma, gangrene, and many other debilitating symptoms. Several forms of cancer are a result of a failure to effectively treat diabetes in its early stages. None of the treatments by any specialist is directed toward curing the disease. They are all aimed at suppressing the proprietary symptom set, that the attending physician feels responsible for treating. Many of the treatments often leave the patient worse off than before.
Insulin has three sufur-containing cross-linkages and the insulin receptor is a tyrosine kinase-containing sufur bonds, which are a preferred targets for binding by both mercury and lead. The metals inactivate insulin's ability to trigger the naturally occurring hormonal effects which would lower blood sugar. Mercury is causing chronic hyperinsulinemia. As a consequence, blood glucose levels become so elevated that the glucose "spills over" into the urine, and is converted into triglycerides (fat), which contribute to cardiovascular illness. Despite these high blood glucose levels, cells "starve" since insulin-stimulated glucose entry into cells is impaired. This leads to ketosis, which is an acid condition. Since ketone bodies are acids, their high concentration puts a strain on the buffering capacity of the blood and exess hydrogen ions in the urine. Alkaline minerals, including sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, as well as water, are depleted, leading to dysregulation of the thyroid and adrenals, and dehydration, with loss of blood volume, as well as the conditions already mentioned. The mercury burden in the body comes primarily from dental amalgam, or in infants and children, from thimerosol (ethyl mercury), used as a preservative in vaccinations. Mercury fillings are placed in teeth made unhealthy by the refining of foods, particularly flour and sugar.