Toxic Time Bombs
in your mouth

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

June 29, 2020

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They’re ticking, but you can’t hear them. They’re ticking, but you can’t feel them. They’re ticking, but you are completely unaware of the impending consequences. Toxic time bombs are in your mouth that might go off any second.

My discussion below will be welcomed by many dentists, especially those whom have been trained in biological or holistic dentistry. They will see this as another educational tool for their patients.

However, some in my profession will scorn my conclusions. Those dentists and dental hygienists refuse to read the science and refuse to investigate the systemic impacts of toxic materials in the mouth on the immune system and on overall chronic diseases. I encourage all who want to review detailed peer-reviewed medical science to search Google Scholar and PubMed for in-depth publications. Then, draw your own informed conclusions.

 

Ticking Culprits

I’ve investigated several potential explosives, which may exist in your mouth. Here are three:

  1. Mercury in amalgam fillings
  2. Dead teeth with failing root canals
  3. Infectious holes in the jawbone

Toxic substances from these culprits are stressful to the entire body. The major problem with these toxic exposures is that they are not a “one time” thing. Each of them stays in your mouth indefinitely. The constant “irritation” from them maintains a chronic state of inflammation in your immune system. So, your body never can get rid of them, and the stress to your total system may become unbearable.

In addition, chronic inflammation can break down your own tissue proteins. Then, your adaptive immune system could get confused and start attacking your own body’s cells. This can develop into any of a number of autoimmune diseases.

 

Analogy

If you had a splinter in your finger, would you just leave it there? Probably not! If you did everything to make your body healthy, but you did not remove that splinter, what do you think would happen?

The splinter (this foreign irritant) would continue to infect your finger. And this infection would affect your immune system, spreading to all parts of your body near and far. But if you removed that splinter, the irritant would be gone, and your body would prepare to heal itself.

However, if you continued to stab that splinter into the original puncture wound, the area would never heal.

So, if these toxic substances exist in your mouth, they could travel many pathways to weaken your immune system and infect the body. Mercury, infection, and inflammation can pass to other body organs by way of nerves. They can leak into the bloodstream through tiny capillaries. And also, they can penetrate the lymph to connect eventually to the circulatory system. All 30 trillion human cells and 38 trillion microbial cells can be affected by these toxic substances.

The proactive course to follow would be to get rid of these irritants completely and forever.

 

3 Toxic Culprits

1. Mercury: If you have “amalgam fillings” in your mouth, you have mercury vapor being released 24/7 from that tooth. Mercury is one of the most toxic nonradioactive materials known to man.[1] It has a high affinity towards proteins and amino acids in the tissues of the human body. Experiments have demonstrated that mercury vapor is ten times more toxic than lead. In addition, tissues such as the liver, kidney, brain, and the spinal cord are the primary targets for accumulation of this heavy metal. I’ve written about mercury toxicity in the past (HERE, HERE). Also, HERE are resources from the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) on mercury.

2. Failing root canals: If you have root canals in your teeth where abscesses have seeped into the surrounding bone, species of dangerous bacteria could migrate through the bone causing serious complications.[2] Even teeth already treated with root canals may continue to create infection from the root surfaces adjacent to the jawbone.[3] The reason is that there are numerous microscopic “tunnels” within the root of the tooth that could harbor bad bacteria which could not be sterilized with the most perfect root canal procedure. Therefore, a continuing source of infection might be present that would affect the immune system and spread disease.[4] HERE are resources from the International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine (IABDM) on root canals.

3. Infected extraction sites: If you had a tooth extracted without the dentist preparing the tooth socket and your body for proper healing, then microscopic toxic elements might be stuck in the bone where the tooth was. These irritating particles might include bacteria, pieces of tartar, fragments of filling materials, and broken bits of the extracted tooth. Then, the jawbone would heal around these substances. Eventually, this toxic stuff caught up inside the healing bone will cause inflammation and infection to fester. I wrote about these lesions called “cavitations” HERE. In addition, HERE is an article from the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) on jawbone cavitations.

 

All this toxicity plays havoc in your body by affecting the gut microbiome and overstimulating the immune system. I wrote about this interaction in three previous blogs. (HERE, HERE, HERE)

 

Identifying These Irritants

It’s easy to see amalgam fillings in teeth. They are “silvery”, “metallic” or “black” in appearance. So, a biologically trained dentist can remove these fillings correctly and replace them with biologically compatible fillings. Thus, this will remove the source of continuous insult from mercury vapor.

But it is not easy to see inflammation and infection in the jawbone as a result of an infected root canal tooth or a bone lesion (i.e. cavitation), each of which can foment disease.

Up until now, the best way for a dentist to visualize damage in the bone related to a root canal or a cavitation was to use a Cone Beam CT (CBCT) Scan. This is a 3-dimensional x-ray, but it emits ionizing radiation. As a matter of fact, the CBCT delivers a higher dose of radiation to the patient than a typical panoramic radiograph by 5–16 times.[5] But to diagnose active infection and inflammation in the bone, the biological dentist must be well-educated in reading the CBCT Scan. In addition, the dentist must take a thorough medical and dental history. And generally, the dentist may need to perform some type of surgical exploration to determine if there is actual inflammation and infection.

However, there is a new medical device invented by Dr. Johann Lechner in Germany and will be available in the US soon. It is called a CaviTAU. The beauty of this device will be twofold:

(1) It will not produce radiation like dental x-ray machines, and

(2) It will show inflammation that cannot be seen on a CBCT Scan.

Being an ultrasound instrument, there are no negative medical side effects. The CaviTAU not only will confirm areas of bone changes similar to the Cone Beam CT Scan but also will identify areas of inflammation – all in 3-D. Therefore, there may not be a need for surgical exploration to diagnose inflammation and infection.

 

Be Proactive

Here are my basic questions to you:

  • Should you be concerned about the potential harm from mercury vapor in your mouth?
  • Should you be concerned about the potential inflammation and infection from of an extraction site or a root canal tooth?

To me, there is evidence that mercury, inflammation, and infection can damage my body in many ways that may take years to manifest. That concerns me. There also is evidence that the resulting damage could be life-threatening. For sure, that concerns me.

Certainly, not everybody with amalgams or root canals or extraction sites will develop medical problems. The number may be relatively small. But your body’s overall wellness could be compromised if you have these toxic culprits.

At least, do some investigation to determine if you have dental amalgams, failing root canals, or infected extraction sites. Personally, if I had these risks, I would to be as proactive as I could within reason.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6466133/

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28621285/

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16640632/

[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29163211/

[5]  https://bmcoralhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12903-018-0592-5

 

 

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Fears of Tooth Extractions </strong

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

June 24, 2019

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Fears of Tooth Extractions

 

I have been providing Skype consultations for several years. People have reached out to me with their dental and nutritional questions as far away as Australia. Questions have ranged from eating the perfect diet for dental health to complex questions about surgical procedures. One of the most frequent questions I have been asked recently is, “How can I be sure that my dentist extracts my tooth correctly?” These people have fears of tooth extractions because they have heard of some serious complications from improper surgical techniques.

 

So, let me give you my opinions. I’ll explain in detail what I think a dentist should or should not be doing when removing a tooth from your jaw.

 

 

Removing a Tooth

Basically, when a tooth is removed correctly, the bone will heal without complications. Obviously, the area is thoroughly numbed so that the patient will feel no discomfort. After the area is numb, here is how most conscientious dentists will remove a typical tooth:

 

An instrument called a “periotome” is wiggled around the tooth where it is attached to the bone. This dental tool loosens the fibers that attach the tooth root to the bone. Then a “forceps” and an “elevator” may be used to slowly put pressure on the tooth, which eventually loosens it further. The tooth should come out with minimal trauma to the bone.

 

The dentist then will completely clean out the socket with “curettes” to make sure no root fragments or unhealthy soft tissues are sticking to the bone surface lining the tooth socket. A normal “blood clot” will form in the socket naturally, and the area will heal with little to no discomfort. Sometimes, the dentist will place a “plug” of collagen into the socket to help the clot form.

 

If an implant will be used later to replace the missing tooth, a “bone graft” might be placed into the socket at the time of the extraction to strengthen the bone The dentist may want to protect the socket area while healing by inserting over the socket a “membrane”, which is sutured in place. Usually, these membranes and sutures will melt away slowly over time.

 

But if the extraction is done improperly, several bad outcomes could occur. Here are a couple of problems and how the dentist might avoid them:

 

 

Problems

“Cutting” the tooth out and producing excess heat

 

Sometimes the tooth is anchored so tightly in the jawbone that it must be “cut into sections” with a drill to remove it. If the “cutting” procedure generates too much heat, bone surrounding the tooth socket could burn and die. The result could be a “dry socket”[1], which is extremely painful.

 

A dry socket is when a normal blood clot does not form naturally in the socket immediately after the tooth is extracted. The reason could be infection in the healing socket or dead bone lining the socket’s inner surface. Living bone then becomes exposed with no blood clot. This causes pain, which could be excruciating.

 

The solution to prevent heating the tooth and the adjacent bone is for the dentist to bathe the area with copious amounts of saline during the “cutting” procedure to keep the area cool.

 

If a dry socket occurs, research has reported that raw honey placed into the socket area will improve healing and reduce pain.[2] Also, the dentist could re-enter the area, clean it out appropriately, place Platelet Rich Fibrin (PRF), and allow the socket to heal. Platelet Rich Fibrin is obtained from the patient’s blood. Medical research has shown that PRF will hasten the healing process.[3]

 

 

Removing the tooth but leaving unhealthy tissue inside the socket area

 

After the tooth is extracted, the dentist must “curette” or scrape the surface of the socket completely. If soft tissues or tooth fragments are allowed to remain in the socket, there is a significant risk that this dead tissue will cause various problems.

 

One problem would be infection developing in the socket area. This isolated area of infection might be retained within the bone well after the area “heals” creating a bone lesion.

 

Another problem would be chronic inflammation developing as the immune system reacts continuously to the retained dead tissue.

 

None of these problems might cause immediate pain. Unfortunately, it may take months or years after the tooth was extracted for symptoms to manifest locally or in other areas of the body. If these lesions in the bone occur, they will need to be removed ASAP.

 

If the lesion is not removed, the isolated infection could break out of its restricted space in the bone. It could travel through the bone, the lymph tissues, and the blood system creating chronic infection and diseases in other areas of the body. Also, chronic inflammation beginning in this restricted area in the jawbone could spread systemically and affect other organ systems.

 

Sometimes these infected areas or lesions are called “cavitations”. To prevent these “lesions” from occurring, the dentist should clean out the socket thoroughly immediately after the tooth is removed as I have described.

 

To remove these lesions, the general dentist or oral surgeon will need to enter the area surgically.

 

First, the inner surfaces of the bone lesion must be “curetted” or scraped to remove unhealthy tissues. Then, some dentists might use a laser light or ozone to help “sterilize” the bone lesion. When necessary, a “bone graft” could be placed into the damaged hole inside the bone to strengthen and help remineralize the area. On some occasions, the dentist might insert PRF into the space in the jawbone to help healing.

 

 

Be Proactive

You probably will not tell your dentist how to extract your tooth. But you could ask your dentist to explain the procedure. Ask specific questions. If you don’t hear what you want to hear, ask more questions. If you are not satisfied with the dentist’s responses, find another dentist!

 

You may have your general dentist perform the extraction, or you may want an oral surgeon to extract your tooth. Oral surgeons, who are dental specialists, usually perform more complicated extractions than general dentists. No matter who removes your tooth, most extractions will not cause excessive discomfort, pain, or other complications when performed correctly.

 

[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dry-socket/symptoms-causes/syc-20354376

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4178352/

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6502748/

 

 

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