Mouth Ulcers
some get them; some don’t

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

March 2, 2020 [printfriendly]

 

Mouth Ulcers

 

Hippocrates was a Greek physician who lived over 2000 years ago. Today, he is known as the “Father of Modern Medicine”. Reportedly, he succinctly stated: “All disease begins in the gut.” And most often, mouth ulcers can be traced back to problems in your gut.[1]

It is critical to realize that the mouth is not an island unto itself. Whatever happens to one cell in the body ultimately can affect every other cell in the body. As a matter of fact, the mouth may be one of the first visible areas of the body which can show signs and symptoms of many systemic diseases.

 

Your Gut

Your gut has more beneficial bacteria than you have human cells in your body – about 38 trillion bacteria cells and about 30 trillion human cells. The microbes in your gut perform so many tasks that help you survive and thrive. The bacteria stimulate and enhance the immune system, prevent the overgrowth of harmful bacteria, manufacture various vitamins, and produce short-chain fatty acids from the fermentation of various amino acids and dietary fibers.

Short chain fatty acids are vital to your health. They are a source of energy for the cells making up the wall of the colon (colonocytes). They assist in sugar metabolism, curb your hunger, and help with weight loss. In addition, short chain fatty acids improve the absorption of minerals, reduce systemic inflammation, and improve overall intestinal health. All this is accomplished by the short chain fatty acids that are created by the beneficial garden of bacteria that live in your gut.

But what would happen if these bacteria got out of balance and bad guys began to overgrow?

 

Gut Dysbiosis

The result, which is called “gut dysbiosis”, would be havoc. Havoc in the gut, havoc in the blood system, and havoc in your mouth and other areas throughout your body.

Harmful cascading events occur when there is gut dysbiosis.

The epithelial barrier, which is the outer wall of the gut, starts to break down. This barrier is made up of only one cell layer. These cells are held together by “tight junctions”, which are like hinges that hold a door in place. These “tight junctions” become weakened when there is gut dysbiosis and become unhinged, creating opening between cells. Stuff in the gut that should never leak into the blood system starts passing through these unhinged openings and contaminating the blood system. This is called a “leaky gut”.

At the same time, the unhealthy growing mass of gut bacteria stimulates the immune system leading to an explosion of inflammation. If gut dysbiosis is not treated quickly, the inflammation continues and spreads throughout the body affecting every cell and organ system in the body.

Chronic diseases and autoimmune diseases have their origin in this untreated and unhealthy gut. Some of the specific diseases associated with gut dysbiosis are ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease, allergies, systemic lupus erythematosus, Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, food intolerances, cancer, periodontal disease, and mouth ulcers – just to name a few!

 

Mouth Ulcers and Lesions

Have you had sores on your tongue, sores on the inside surface lining of your cheeks, sores on your gum tissues, or sores in the corners of your mouth? Many of these ulcers and lesions are painful. Some are red and inflamed, some look like white lines, some appear to be clear “pimples”. But all are signs of your body reacting to something going wrong in your immune system. Most of the time, gut dysbiosis is the source of these disturbances. These ulcers and lesions have different names. Examples are aphthous ulcers, angular cheilitis, glossitis, lichen planus, etc. These ulcers and lesions may heal and disappear if the health of the gut is restored.

 

Treatment

To heal mouth ulcers and lesions, which have resulted from a disturbance in the healthy garden of bacteria in the gut, the gut must be healed. To do this, whatever factors that caused gut dysbiosis also must be understood and corrected. If the causes are not identified and removed, then the gut could never heal.

For example, if you had a splinter in your finger, the area could not heal until the splinter was removed. Likewise, if there are irritants or “splinters” causing your gut to become unhealthy, there would be no way to return to a healthy gut until all the “splinters” were eliminated.

The gut microbiome and the epithelial lining of the gut become damaged from many different irritants. Some of these irritating influences are:

    • Stresses on the body (including emotional, physical, or chemical)
      These could be serious but unrecognized causes. A significant chemical stress to the gut is glyphosate herbicide (Roundup) that damages the DNA in human cells; inhibits the growth of healthy bacteria, and directly causes leaky gut. In addition, stress to the immune system from metal ions leaking from titanium implants placed in the body and chemicals leaking from breast implants can cause chronic systemic inflammation, damaging the gut microbiome. Also, failing dental work; toxic dental materials; and oral infections in the gum tissues, teeth, and jawbone could be significant factors.

 

    • Other lifestyle and environmental stresses to the body
      Included are heavy metal toxicity, over exercising, lack of exercise, sleep deprivation and sleep apnea, continuous exposure to dirty electromagnetic fields, excessive blue-light exposure especially in the evening, smoking, alcohol consumption, and lack of proper sunlight that is essential for the production of vitamin D3.

 

    • Processed foods
      Overly processed vegetable and seed oils, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats and oils, packaged prepared foods, processed sugars and carbohydrates, or other junk and chemicals in foods will have a harmful effect on the gut.

 

    • All plant foods
      Plants have the potential to irritate the gut by way of their anti-nutrients. Substances like phytates, oxalates, and lectins that exist in plants could damage the gut bacteria and intestinal barrier. Eliminating all plant foods for a period of time could assist the gut in healing itself. Then, plant foods could be reintroduced individually and slowly later. The Carnivore Diet could be used as an elimination diet to allow the gut to heal.

 

    • Specific medications
      Over-the-counter and prescription medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, alcohol, narcotics, antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, hydrogen peroxide, and birth control pills could result in leaky gut.

 

    • Low dose ionizing radiation
      X-rays have a cumulative harmful effect. In our society, excessive dental and medical x-rays over the course of time can cause damage to the gut bacteria and the epithelial lining.

 

At the same time that irritants to the gut are removed or avoided, the healthy garden of gut bacteria must be restored, and the gut epithelial barrier must be repaired. I have prepared two PDFs that I give to my patients: Dr. Danenberg’s 30-Day Transition to the Carnivore Diet and a Protocol to Restore Normal Gut Bacteria.

 

From Me to You

Recently, I was asked to write a chapter for a peer-reviewed medical textbook tentatively titled, “Digestion, Metabolism and Immune Health”. My chapter is titled, “The Etiology of Gut Dysbiosis and its Role in Chronic Disease”. It will be one of 25 tentatively scheduled chapters for the book. My chapter has been accepted by the publishers. The tentative date of publication is the end of 2020 or early 2021. However, I have prepared an extensive paper that I titled, Your Gut is Killing You, which is based on my chapter. As more research comes to my attention, I have been updating this paper regularly. Currently, it is over 12,200 words in length and includes 260 cited peer-reviewed references.

 

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6834154/

 

 

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Periodontal Disease
Could Be Killing You

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

December 30, 2019 [printfriendly]

 

 

 

Periodontal Disease Could be Killing You

 

Periodontal disease could be killing you. It is often considered a causal factor for many chronic diseases. But you need to know the complete story – not just part of it. While periodontal disease could be a nidus for chronic systemic inflammation and spread of infection, this is only part of the story. The story has a Beginning, a Middle, and an Ending. Let’s start in The Middle.

 

 

The Middle

Dental plaque is healthy until it’s not healthy.[1]

 

Periodontal disease develops from unhealthy dental plaque. Unhealthy plaque results when healthy plaque is transformed into unhealthy dental plaque because of an underlying compromised immune system and unhealthy food choices. It’s fundamental for you to appreciate that a compromised immune system has its roots in unhealthy changes in the gut (i.e. gut dysbiosis) [2],[3], which causes chronic systemic inflammation.

 

A compromised immune system and unhealthy food choices could allow the hundreds of bacteria in dental plaque to get out of balance and become unhealthy.[4],[5] Then, unhealthy bacteria could proliferate and cause the progression of advanced gum disease[6].

 

One of the most virulent bacteria in periodontal disease is Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis).[7],[8] Among other self-protective measures, this bacterium produces a biofilm, which is resistant to the body’s immune defenses.[9] As the body continues to fight the resistant P. gingivalis, additional chronic inflammation results. This chronic inflammation can cause the tissues surrounding the infected gum spaces to break down allowing their toxic elements to leak into the general circulation. Additionally, autoimmunity may play a role in the progression of periodontal disease.[10]

 

It is important to remove unhealthy plaque through an efficient personal oral hygiene protocol performed daily. However, it is also critical to understand that gut dysbiosis leads to pathological changes in the healthy community of bacteria in the mouth. Therefore, gut dysbiosis must be treated to restore oral health, along with removing unhealthy dental plaque. I must emphasize that it is unhealthy to indiscriminately kill bad bacteria as well as good bacteria in the mouth by using antimicrobial mouthwashes or antibiotics on a daily basis.[11]

 

It also is vital to be aware of periodontal disease because its prevalence is at epidemic proportions. In 2010, a published paper demonstrated that 93.9% of adults in the United States had some form of gingivitis.[12] And in 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published their results in the Journal of Dental Research. The report was recently updated in 2015 in the Journal of Periodontology.[13] It showed the prevalence of periodontitis was estimated to be 47.2% for American adults (approximately 64.7 million people). For adults 65 years old and older, the prevalence jumped to 70.1%. These findings were the result of the most comprehensive periodontal evaluation performed ever in the US.

 

So, statically you most likely have some form of periodontal disease, and it must be treated completely. Otherwise, once periodontal disease is established in the mouth, its pathological byproducts can seep into the bloodstream, lymph fluid, and bone structures to cause spread of infection and inflammation to all areas of the body. This mechanism of seeping into the body’s circulation is similar to the way that an unhealthy gut causes leakage of toxic elements into the bloodstream (i.e. leaky gut) – both creating chronic systemic inflammation.

 

The eventual result of chronic systemic inflammation is chronic disease.[14],[15],[16] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that 60% of Americans live with at least one chronic disease, and chronic diseases are responsible for 70% of deaths each year in the United States.[17] Therefore, periodontal disease could be a source of degenerative chronic diseases originating from chronic systemic inflammation.

 

 

 

The Beginning

Interestingly, there are three human research studies that showed a healthy diet alone can improve the health of the mouth. These studies also determined that removing dental plaque by brushing and flossing was not essential to improve oral health as long as diet was corrected. Specifically, the investigators demonstrated that changing from a diet abundant in high-processed-carbohydrate and inflammatory foods to a diet excluding high-processed-carbohydrate and inflammatory foods will decrease signs of gum inflammation.[18],[19],[20] However, active periodontal treatment will be necessary if gum inflammation progresses into periodontitis, which destroys the jawbone surrounding the teeth.

 

In February 2019, a medical research article was published in Biomedical Journal[21] entitled, “Association between periodontal pathogens and systemic disease”. The authors describe the correlation between periodontal disease and various chronic diseases and outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal and colorectal cancer, diabetes and insulin resistance, Alzheimer’s disease, respiratory tract infections, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The authors go on to state that there are conflicting studies, which try to prove causal relationships. However, there is significant research to show a strong correlation.

 

In another article published in August 2019 by Hashioka et al[22], the authors reviewed medical research that indicates a causal relationship between periodontal disease and various neuropsychiatric disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, major depression, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, as well as the neurological event of ischemic stroke. The initiating cause of these neurological diseases is neuroinflammation, which is induced by chronic systemic inflammation. Periodontal disease causes chronic systemic inflammation by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the invasion of periodontitis bacteria (specifically P. gingivalis) along with their inflammatory components (lipopolysaccharide or LPS) into the systemic circulation. Chronic systemic inflammation will activate the microglia, the immune cells in the brain, creating neuroinflammation.

 

But I want to emphasize again that systemic chronic inflammation is the result of a leaky gut from gut dysbiosis in most cases.

 

In essence, my research suggests that periodontal disease is not the seed of all systemic disease. As I suggested above, periodontal disease is just one of many chronic diseases occurring on the continuum of the spread of chronic systemic inflammation that starts in the gut. Since the mouth is visible and easy to examine, the mouth may be the first clinical area where disease is diagnosed. And as I mentioned earlier, the prevalence of periodontal disease is at epidemic proportions.

 

Once systemic disease spreads, a vicious cycle begins because all tissues affect all other tissues in the human body. All mucosal tissues use “crosstalk” to communicate with other tissues.[23],[24],[25]

 

I should point out that unhealthy bacteria in the mouth in turn can interact further with unhealthy bacteria in the gut, and vice versa.[26]  In the case of periodontal disease, treatment for cascading chronic diseases must include healing both the unhealthy gut and the unhealthy mouth. But for the most part, the origination of mouth disease is in the gut before becoming visible in the mouth and other areas of the body.

 

 

The Ending

To stop periodontal disease and prevent this infection from entering the systemic circulation, the infection must be treated efficiently. Treatment may often consist of a dentist, hygienist, or periodontist removing irritants that have become lodged under the gum tissues and initiating inflammation and infection. Removing these irritants will assist the body in healing.[27] In more advanced stages, surgical procedures may be necessary to arrest this disease. Whatever treatment is necessary, an effective oral hygiene program should be instituted at a frequency based on the patient’s ability to take care of his or her mouth. The individual also must have a personal oral hygiene protocol to maintain a healthy mouth.

 

But whatever periodontal treatment is required, complete treatment must include repairing the gut, restoring the healthy balance of bacteria in the gut, and avoiding unhealthy processed foods and inflammatory foods.

 

 

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4132376/

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5892391/

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5937375/

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28476771

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5126660/

[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3653317/

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4744328/

[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276050/

[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4925967/

[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1016%2Fj.autrev.2016.09.013

[11] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28353075

[12] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=20437720

[13] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4460825/

[14] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5520251/

[15] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5359961/

[16] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28835673

[17] https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/center/index.htm

[18] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19405829

[19] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4962497/pdf/12903_2016_Article_257.pdf

[20] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1111%2Fjcpe.13094

[21] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2319417018302634?via%3Dihub

[22] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6695849/

[23] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cea.12723

[24] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1016%2Fj.cyto.2017.01.016

[25] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6266996/

[26] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5028810/

[27] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31849397

 

 

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Does Periodontal Disease Cause Systemic Disease?

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist
April 22, 2019 [printfriendly]

 

 

 

Periodontal Disease and Systemic Disease 

x

Yes, but… How’s that for an answer that keeps you hanging? Let me explain.

x

Yes – Once periodontal disease is established in the mouth, its pathological byproducts can seep into the bloodstream, lymph fluid, and bone structures to cause spread of infection and inflammation to all areas of the body. In this way, periodontal disease can cause systemic disease.

x

But… – Although periodontal disease is a focus of infection around the teeth, it has its origin in an area that is remote from the mouth. The gut is the seed to the manifestation of most systemic chronic diseases, which periodontal disease is just one of many.

x

x

Recently Published Article

In February 2019, a medical research article was published in Biomedical Journal[1] titled, “Association between periodontal pathogens and systemic disease”. The authors describe the correlation between periodontal disease and various chronic diseases and outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal and colorectal cancer, diabetes and insulin resistance, Alzheimer’s disease, respiratory tract infections, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The authors go on to state that there are conflicting studies, which try to prove causal relationships. However, there is significant research to show a strong correlation.

x

x

Cause of Periodontal Disease

Dental plaque is healthy until it’s not healthy.[2] Periodontal disease develops from unhealthy dental plaque. Unhealthy plaque results when healthy plaque is transformed into unhealthy dental plaque because of an underlying compromised immune system and unhealthy food choices. The compromised immune system has its roots in unhealthy changes in the gut. [3],[4]

x

Interestingly, there are three human studies that showed a healthy diet alone can improve the health of the mouth. These studies also determined that removing dental plaque by brushing and flossing was not critical to improve oral health as long as diet was corrected. Specifically, the investigators demonstrated that changing from a diet abundant in high-processed-carbohydrate and inflammatory foods to a diet excluding high-processed-carbohydrate and inflammatory foods will decrease signs of gum disease.[5],[6],[7]

x

x

My Theory of Systemic Chronic Disease

My research suggests that periodontal disease is not the seed of all systemic disease. I believe that periodontal disease is just one of many chronic diseases on the continuum of the spread of systemic disease that starts in the gut. Since the mouth is visible and easy to examine, the mouth may be the first clinical area where disease is diagnosed. But the ultimate starting point is in the gut before becoming visible in the mouth and other areas of the body.

x

Once systemic disease spreads, a vicious cycle begins because all tissues affect all other tissues in the human body. Tissues use “crosstalk” to communicate with other tissues.[8],[9],[10]

x

My theory starts in the gut. Unhealthy changes in the gut microbiome are called gut dysbiosis.

x

The gut microbiome, the intestinal mucus layer, and the epithelial lining of the gut become damaged from potentially many different influences. Detrimental lifestyle, toxic elements in the environment, and inflammatory foods are major contributors that can damage the gut and create gut dysbiosis. Leakage from a damaged gut into the bloodstream and into the lymph fluid can cause systemic chronic inflammation and a break down in the body’s ability to fight infection. Both will affect all other tissues in the body.

x

I wrote an article where I described my theory of how chronic disease is created in the body. I cite over 30 peer-reviewed medical articles to support my views. My paper, Big Bang Theory of Chronic Disease, was published in-part in 2018 in Well Being Journal, Volume 27, #2. If you would like the PDF of this article, email your request to: Dr.Danenberg@iCloud.com.

x

x

The Mouth

In the mouth, a compromised immune system caused by gut dysbiosis can allow the overgrowth of pathological bacteria. Unhealthy changes in dental plaque and unhealthy food choices will initiate periodontal disease. Then, periodontal disease, as a unique site of infection in the mouth, will begin to spread, causing additional systemic chronic inflammation and chronic diseases.

x

To treat periodontal disease and to avoid chronic disease, active infection in the mouth must be treated efficiently. In addition, irritating and toxic substances must be removed from the mouth and teeth. However, gut dysbiosis must be treated simultaneously. Just treating either the damaged gut or active periodontal disease will be insufficient.

x

x

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2319417018302634?via%3Dihub

[2] https://drdanenberg.com/dental-plaque-is-healthy-until-its-not/

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5892391/

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5937375/

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19405829

[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4962497/pdf/12903_2016_Article_257.pdf

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1111%2Fjcpe.13094

[8] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cea.12723

[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1016%2Fj.cyto.2017.01.016

[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6266996/

 

 

 

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Kathryn Won the Battle
But Not the War

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist
February 4, 2019 [printfriendly]

x

Kathryn contacted me for a second opinion. Her problems are not unusual. She told me what she had gone through so far.

x

It started when her dentist told her, “You have a gum infection, which is due to bacteria living under your gum tissues. Let’s kill these bacteria, and we’ll cure your disease.” So, her dentist prescribed an antimicrobial mouth gel to place around her teeth to kill these bacteria. After several weeks, the gum bleeding was gone. Kathryn thought her disease was cured.

x

Then, several months went by, and she returned to her dentist for a dental cleaning. The hygienist told her, “Do you know you have active gum disease?” The dentist came into the room and confirmed that she had active infection. He recommended another round of antimicrobial gel.

x

Kathryn realized something didn’t seem right, so she contacted me for a second opinion. I told her, “It sounds like you won the battle but not the war.”

x

x

The Battle; The War

The “battle” Kathryn won was to end the acute infection in her gum tissues. Killing the bacteria stopped her gums from bleeding. Yet, she lost the war.

x

The “war” she lost was to identify the various causes of her gum disease and to treat the hidden sources of her infection.

x

The causes of periodontal disease are multifold. They relate to dysbiosis in the gut, chronic systemic inflammation, and a significant decrease in the immune response.  Stopping gum infection by killing oral bacteria is not a cure. It is not an effective means to restore overall health. It may be the first step when there is acute infection, but there is more to it. Indiscriminate killing of microbes is detrimental to the balance of bacteria throughout the mouth and the body. Indiscriminate killing of microbes can cause serious systemic problems.

x

To win the war, acute infection in the mouth needs to be treated first as I stated. In addition, all other factors need to be discovered and dealt with effectively and in a timely manner.

x

Most people don’t understand the importance of the gut and its relationship to disease. The gut needs to be treated and the resulting spread of chronic disease needs to be addressed. (I wrote a paper titled, Big Bang Theory of Chronic Disease. I’ll send the PDF article to you at no charge if you are interested. Please, send your request to my email: Dr.Danenberg@icloud.com)

x

x

Two Niduses of Infection

I explained to Kathryn that she has two separate niduses of infection – one in her mouth and one in her gut.

x

Her original nidus of infection started in her gut, which she is completely unaware of because she has no obvious gut symptoms. However, her gut problems created chronic systemic inflammation, which led to various chronic diseases. Gum (or periodontal) disease is just one manifestation of chronic disease.

x

Once she developed periodontal disease, which is an imbalance in the overall oral microbiome, the infection established itself deep under the gum tissues. This became Kathryn’s second nidus of infection. The infection and inflammation around her teeth could spread through capillaries under the gum and eventually enter the blood system. As they course through her circulation, they could affect other organs.

x

To treat this complicated disease, both the mouth and the gut must be treated to regain health. If only the mouth were treated, then out-of-balance bacteria in the gut would continue to be the culprit for further bouts of active periodontal disease and more.

x

x

My Action Steps for Kathryn

After I explained my opinion of what was going on, I made specific recommendations and provided action steps for Kathryn to consider.

x

  1. Do what is necessary to stop acute infection.x
  2. The dentist or the hygienist needs to do a deep cleaning under the gum tissues to remove tartar, which is irritating and acting like a splinter.x
  3. The dentist needs to treat decay, repair any broken or irritating tooth fillings, remove any toxic dental fillings or restorations, and extract any non-treatable teeth.x
  4. The dentist or the hygienist needs to demonstrate efficient tooth brushing, interdental cleaning, and tongue scraping. (How to Clean Your Mouth)x
  5. Kathryn needs to repair her gut by taking spore-based probiotics and specific prebiotics. (Protocol to Restore Normal Gut Bacteria)x
  6. Kathryn needs to change her diet to include nutritious foods that are anti-inflammatory and to remove foods that are inflammatory. (30-Day Reset Diet)

x

If you want the 3 Protocols I recommended to Kathryn (underlined above), send your request to my email: Dr.Danenberg@icloud.com

x

x

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Dr. Michael Ruscio
Interviews
Dr. Al Danenberg

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist
July 4, 2018 [printfriendly]

 

 

 

Dr. Michael Ruscio Interviews Dr. Al DanenbergI met Dr. Michael Ruscio at the Paleo f(x) meeting in Austin in April 2018. Michael suggested we do a Podcast together. So, we made it happen.

 

Dr. Michael Ruscio is a chiropractor, clinical researcher, and author whose practical ideas on healing chronic illness have made him an influential voice in functional and alternative medicine. Michael also provides post-doctoral continuing education. His research has been published in peer reviewed medical journals, and he speaks at integrative medical conferences across the globe. Currently, he is a lead researcher in a pending IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) study.

 

In this interview, Dr. Ruscio and I discuss the profound connections between the gut, the mouth, mitochondria, and chronic disease. I talk about my Periodontal Disease Clinical Study that will be implemented following approval by the Institutional Review Board. We also discuss how improper flossing could lead to receding gums, new testing showing that mouth tissue is a window into your mitochondrial health, and how mouthwashes could lead to high blood pressure.

 

Tooth decay and periodontal diseases are chronic diseases. My research suggests that the gut could be the initial source for chronic disease to manifest. But, once oral diseases take hold, then both the gut and the mouth must be treated in order to gain control of chronic inflammation and further manifestation of chronic disease.

 

Listen to the Podcast. It lasts a little more than an hour, but I think you’ll find it loaded with “pearls” to take home and act upon immediately.

 

 

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Leaky Gut & Periodontal Disease
And All That Jazz

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist
June 18, 2018 [printfriendly]

 

 

 

Leaky Gut and Periodontal DiseaseLeaky gut, periodontal disease, and all that jazz (meaning all those bacteria) play an important role in chronic disease. The tube that courses through the body (called the digestive tract, gastrointestinal (GI) tract, or the alimentary canal) is the initial setting for many chronic diseases that could manifest over time.

 

The GI tract starts with your lips and mouth and finally ends at the anus. Interestingly, all of the tissues that line this tube are affected in similar ways. What happens in the small and large intestines will affect the mouth, and what damages the mouth will affect the tissues of the small and large intestines.

 

The living inhabitants on the surface of the digestive tract are bacteria and other microbes that outnumber the quantity of human cells. These microbes are critical for human survival and affect human metabolism, nutrition, physiology, and immune function. When the microbiome is disturbed and when unhealthy microbes take control, then all Hell could break loose resulting in various chronic diseases.

 

One portal of entry for toxic elements to move into the systemic system is a leaky gut (increased intestinal permeability). Eventually, chronic inflammation and chronic disease can result. Periodontal disease is just one of those chronic diseases that can manifest once the gut becomes unhealthy. However, once periodontal disease exists, then it provides another major portal of entry for toxic elements to move into the systemic system – a “leaky periodontal pocket”.

 

Both a leaky gut and a leaky periodontal pocket must be treated.

 

 

Current Medical Research

Recently published medical papers provide an increased understanding about the interplay between a leaky gut, periodontal disease, and all those bacteria inhabiting the mucosal tissues of the GI tract.

 

Read these papers, which offer important medical outcomes. I believe we can connect these “dots” of knowledge and develop a clinical protocol for adjunctive treatment of periodontal disease and more.

 

This 2015 paper pointed out that damage to the gut actually would decrease the body’s ability to maintain a healthy immune system causing potential for various chronic diseases to manifest.

 

This 2018 review described intestinal permeability and resulting multiple sclerosis as well as other chronic diseases.

 

Figueredo, et al. in 2017 demonstrated that inflammatory bowel disease can cause periodontal disease, which is a chronic disease.

 

Bale, et al. in 2017 reviewed the evidence that periodontal disease contributes to atherosclerosis.

 

McFarlin, et al. in 2017 performed a double-blind study where individuals significantly improved intestinal permeability by taking a spore-based probiotic for only 30 days without changing their unhealthy lifestyles.

 

Li, et al. in 2016 showed how periodontal disease is a disease of mitochondrial dysfunction within the gingival fibroblasts.

 

In 2012, Vos, et al. reported that vitamin K2 could rescue damaged mitochondria in fruit flies. 

 

This 2018 review described how vitamin K2 transports out of the liver and then disseminates throughout the body to assist in various biological functions including the prevention of mitochondrial dysfunction.

 

 

My Thoughts

I believe we can connect these “dots” of knowledge.

 

Apparently, there is a relationship between gut issues and periodontal disease. It appears there is a progression from dysbiosis to leaky gut, then to decreased host resistance, and finally to mitochondrial dysfunction and the development of various chronic diseases including periodontal disease.

 

Research suggests that there might be an adjunctive treatment for periodontal disease by treating dysbiosis, repairing the gut membrane with spore-based probiotics, and utilizing vitamin K2 to prevent and repair mitochondrial dysfunction.

 

My goal is to investigate this possible causal relationship. To that end, Andrew Campbell MD, John Abernethy MD, and I wrote a protocol to study my theory. We submitted our Periodontal Disease Clinical Study to the “Institutional Review Board” (IRB) on 5/31/18.

 

If our study is approved by the IRB, Microbiome Labs will sponsor our research, which will be double-blind involving approximately 50 individuals with active periodontal disease. Participants will take a placebo or a supplement for 6 weeks. The daily supplement will consist of spore-based probiotics and vitamin K2.

 

To determine the potential benefits of this supplement, we will measure the depths of infected gum pockets, bleeding in these pockets, and the status of the participants’ mitochondria. At the end of the study, we will repeat these three measurements.

 

I project that there will be a reduction in pocket depth and bleeding as well as an improvement in the health of the mitochondria.

 

If our work demonstrates significant benefits, then other investigators could repeat and elaborate on this research. There might be far-reaching inferences that could be considered if our results are positive.

 

I’m excited to see where this study might go.

 

 

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What Gets Me Inspired?
… My Double-Blind Study …

Alvin H. Danenberg, DDS ● Nutritional Periodontist
March 12, 2018 [printfriendly]

 

 

 

My Double-Blind Study

 

I get inspired about things to which others may just respond with a yawn. Well, it’s the geek in me coming out. For example, here is a study, which was published in July 2017, that gets me inspired – inspired enough to write a protocol for a double-blind study, which will be fully funded by a US company.

 

According to Dr. Figueredo and the other authors [1], their paper was the first published research that showed IBD could directly affect the gum tissues in the mouth.

 

What is IBD?

IBD is the acronym for inflammatory bowel disease. This term relates to a group of chronic intestinal diseases characterized by inflammation of the large or small intestines. The most common types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. IBD creates endotoxemia [2], and endotoxemia compromises the immune function and contributes to systemic chronic inflammation. [3]

 

Dr. Figueredo’s Study

Dr. Figueredo and his investigators recruited 21 patients with IBD and chronic periodontitis. The research showed those patients with active IBD had increased gum tissue inflammation compared to those patients with their IBD in remission. The authors suggested that changes in one mucosal surface in the body could affect other mucosal surfaces anywhere else in the body.

 

My takeaway from this study is that the gut directly affects the mouth and the progression of gum disease. If the gut microbiome can be restored to a state of balance along with repair of the gut membrane and elimination of chronic inflammation, then I can infer from this medical trial that there could be a reduction and possible remission of active gum disease.

 

Current, vigorous medical research is uncovering the importance and the causal relationships between dysbiosis in the gut and the proliferation of many chronic and autoimmune diseases. With this supporting science by Dr. Figueredo, there may be a potential path originating from the gut that may improve what I treat daily – periodontal disease.

 

Studies that Support My Premise

Brian K McFarlin and other researchers [4] published a paper in 2017. The investigators selected 28 participants whose blood tests demonstrated significant endotoxemia after consuming a high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal. This select group of individuals were divided into two groups. Both groups took two capsules of a daily supplement for four weeks. One group took placebo capsules, and the other took capsules containing five different spore-based bacillus probiotics.  At the end of the trial, participants ate another high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal. Their blood was tested before the meal and then retested after the meal. Five hours after the meal, the results showed an average 42% decrease of endotoxemia in the group taking the probiotic capsules. However, the group taking the placebo actually had a 36% increase in endotoxemia. The authors suggested that the positive results might be improved significantly if the probiotics were taken for several more months.

 

In 2016, Xue Li and others [5] published their medical research. They used healthy human gum tissue cells for their experiment. These tissue cells were exposed to lipopolysaccharides (LPS), which are present in the pathogenic bacteria of periodontal disease. The results of the research showed that mitochondria in the gum tissue cells exposed to LPS created excess reactive oxygen species (ROS). Following the production of excess ROS, the gum cells produced excess cytokines that could lead to periodontal destruction. However, when the mitochondria of these gum tissue cells were treated to reduce excess ROS production, chronic cytokine production also was reduced even in the presence of LPS.

 

Melissa Vos and others [6] published a paper in 2012 using an animal model. In summary, they demonstrated that vitamin K2 was able to rescue damaged mitochondria, which had been altered at the beginning of the research to represent damaged cells of Parkinson’s Disease.

 

My Double-Blind Study

The articles above have inspired me to connect the dots.

 

The questions I ask myself are:

  • “Can a healthy gut heal or prevent gum disease?”
  • “Can vitamin K2 rescue the mitochondria in unhealthy gum tissue cells?”

 

I want to investigate the potentially beneficial effects on active gum disease of a daily Supplement. In the study, participants will consume this daily Supplement once a day with meals over the course of 30 days.

 

I am collaborating with a microbiologist and a medical doctor specializing in immunology and toxicology to write the protocol for this double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Half the selected group will take a Placebo; half will take the Supplement, which will consist of 5 spore-based bacillus bacteria as well as a high-dose of vitamin K2-MK7. At the beginning of the trial and 30 days later, dental hygienists will document active gum disease in these individuals and will obtain gum tissue cells using a non-invasive “gum swab”. Laboratory analysis of the cells will determine the degree of mitochondrial dysfunction.

 

Currently, we are enlisting dental offices that may want to participate in this study. As you may know, human research requires various regulatory steps. After receiving approval from an Institutional Review Board, our team will initiate the study in several dental offices in the US and Canada.

 

Stay tuned for the results!

 

 

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