Standard dental practices have come under fire recently as more and more research reveals how these practices may have an unhealthy impact on the rest of your body.
Since the inception of dentistry, teeth have been looked at as being separate from your body rather than a living part of your physiology. As our awareness grows, more people are seeking less invasive dental procedures, as well as improving dental health to help heal other health challenges.
Listed below are 3 of the more common ways that dental procedures could be harming your health.
1. Root Canals
According to Michael Ziff, DDS, 100 percent of root canals result in residual infections. This may be due to the deficient seal that allows bacteria to infiltrate. This causes toxins to build up and leach in to the body because the bacteria undergo changes in this anaerobic (living without air) environment.
It was the research of the late Weston Price, DDS, MS, FACD, which determined that toxins leaching out of root canals may cause systemic diseases of the heart, kidney, uterus and nervous and endocrine systems.
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Active infection (white area represents the “hottest” region) demonstrating dental pathology. The autonomic pattern over the heart (cool blue region) correlates with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). |
Hal A. Huggins, a leading dentist and educator on the dangers of root canals backs this up by stating that when a tooth with a root canal is removed, the periodontal ligament that attaches to the tooth should also be removed, otherwise a pocket of infection may remain. Full removal of the tooth and ligament stimulates the old bone to produce new bone for healing.
New dental practices are now on becoming part of integrative dentistry. Oxygen/ozone therapy is used to help enhance the outcome in all aspects of dentistry. For example, periodontal disease is a chronic gum and bone infection. By utilizing the different application forms of oxygen/ozone such as ozonated water, ozonated oils and placing oxygen/ozone directly into the infected gum pockets, periodontal disease can be arrested without the use of pharmaceutical drugs and associated side effects. Oxygen/ozone treatments can also help with root canals as this substance sterilizes all aspects of the tooth, even into the smallest canals and tubules. This allows for a truly biologic root canal and thus retention of your natural teeth.
2. Infections Under the Teeth
Pockets of infection can persist under the teeth and often not seen by X-rays. This can be particularly true for teeth that have undergone root canals. It is very difficult to remove all bacteria and toxins from the root during this procedure.
These infections can remain in your mouth, undetected by you or your dentist, for years while toxins can leak out and depress your immune system. A depressed immune system can allow for chronic degenerative diseases to develop in other regions of your body. Often, once these infections are detected and treated, symptoms of other diseases will resolve.
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Low level infection can persist for years never seen by routine dental exams. DITI can help identify these acute infections so that further intervention can take place. |
3. Amalgam Fillings
While all metals used in dentistry are toxic, the most harmful are mercury fillings or silver fillings. Unfortunately, this material contains 50% mercury and only 25% silver. Mercury has been a known poison since the 1500s, but it has been used in dentistry since the 1820s. Mercury cannot be put down a sink or thrown in a landfill, yet it has been put in people’s mouths for centuries.
Safe Amalgam Removal
Safe removal of this dental material takes the knowledge of a biological dentist. To find one in your area, click on this link.
Proper and safe removal is not only for the patient, but for the dentist and his/her staff. This is a lengthy process that should include: proper procedure (cut and chunk), keeping the amalgam cool with water, suction, dental dam usage, covering of the skin and hair, supplemental air, etc.
Seek more information at the above website. The site is for the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. There you can locate a biological dentist in your area.
Thermography can help correlate dental findings and illuminate problems that may be missed on routine x-rays. Utilizing both radiographs and DITI can help improve dental health!
Yours in prevention,
Lynda and Brenda Witt
