Wednesday 19 June 2013

The Connection Between Your Mouth and Your Health

I have at long last found a biological dentist. Ever since I have been in Korea I have been constantly frustrated with the dentist I went to. Don't get me wrong, Korean dentists are not ill-equipped. With the very high rate of plastic surgery and other aesthetic alterations being made in Korea, Korean dentists are some of the best in the world in creating beautiful smiles.

The problem is that none of the dentists I went to and with whom I shared my concern for the connection between my mouth and my health grasped what I was talking about. And instead of partnering with me to take care of my wellbeing they assume modernistic authority and subjugate their patients—“I’m the all-knowing doctor, you are the ignorant patient; now this is what we are going to do!”

Most people do not consider the link between their mouths and their health. Problems with your teeth and gums affect your body in two ways. Bacteria in your mouth are constantly ingested. If your mouth is a breeding farm for harmful bacteria, you are continually swallowing down germ filled saliva. A healthy body is well capable of taking care of small amounts of germs which we are exposed to on a daily basis, but a continuous ingestion of harmful bacteria can very well be overwhelming to the immune system, causing inflammation that has been linked to heart disease and various cancers. There is another way that a sick mouth causes a sick body. The teeth are set in the jaw bone and skull, which through the bone marrow is supplied with nerves and blood. This means that a sick tooth can infect the surrounding bone causing necrotic tissue, and also germs and other toxins can slip directly into the bloodstream via the teeth and jawbone to go cause havoc somewhere else in the body.

Slowly dentistry and the medical profession have come around to acknowledge the severe dangers of amalgam (grey/silver) fillings which is an alloy that contains mercury. This highly toxic metal escapes into the mouth as fumes with the slightest of agitation ranging from mere mastication (chewing) or hot liquids like drinking coffee.



Many people suffering from chronic diseases are sick because of slowly being poisoned over a long period of time by the stuff in their mouths. And many a patient has been cured by removing the amalgam fillings and going on a heavy metal detox program. I’ve had my amalgam fillings removed long ago.

But amalgam fillings are not the only culprit of sick mouths causing sick bodies. An often overlooked cause of many chronic diseases is root canals. A root canal is a procedure in which the dentist drills out the living tissue from a tooth and then fills it up, basically leaving a dead tooth with dead roots in your jaw. In a healthy tooth there is a pulp chamber made up of living cells and supplied with blood vessels. In case there are some toxins in the tooth at least the blood supply can help to carry away the toxins and bring antibodies to the infected area and so there is at least some way of caring for the tooth. In root canals, germs and toxins trapped inside the tooth cannot be “cleaned out” by the body’s natural filtering system. Instead they just continue to fester there until they start to infect the whole surrounding area, and eventually poison the jaw and the rest of the body. Studies from the early parts of the 1900s already proved that such root canals are directly linked to different ailments elsewhere in the body.



I’ve been having a problem tooth for quite some time now. At least three dentists have told me that I should get a root canal done. One dentist I convinced to treat the tooth without giving me a root canal. His solution was making me pay for a gold filling which I later found out via an X-ray he merely placed over the cavity, leaving the cavity to further grow behind the filling. After another dentist saw this, he said that the only solution is to have the gold filling removed (which I had only gotten a few months earlier) and getting a root canal. When I told him about the dangers of root canals he got angry with my, saying that if it was dangerous they would not have taught young dentists to perform it in medical school. Here is the problem: we have the ignorant dentists on the one hand that doesn’t know about the connection of the mouth and health, and then we have the money hungry swindlers on the other hand that likes to put expensive gold fillings in your mouth or perform unnecessary procedures just to fill their greedy pockets. Sadly, often the ignorant ones and the greedy ones are one and the same.

I’ve been in Korea for around five years and after much frustration I have eventually found a biological dentist. I’ve been to two previous ones that I thought would know what I’m talking about, but they both disappointed me and were eager for me that I should get a root canal done. Eventually I discovered another dentist who advertised himself as a biological and homoeopathic dentist. When I explained to him my fear of having a root canal done he immediately understood and also cautioned me about the practise. I nearly cried, being so relieved at finding at last someone that understands my concerns and is willing to partner with me in the managing of my health. After taking an X-ray the doctor said that the tooth is indeed likely in need of a root canal—the alternative, of course being that it should be pulled.

There are methods of doing root canals that can reduce the possibility of future problems. Such procedures attempt to seriously disinfect the tooth using extreme methods such as laser cleaning, ozone treatments or calcium hydroxide. It is not that most dentist do not disinfect a tooth when doing root canals, it is just that they don’t do a good enough job. Dentists are concerned with the one to four major canals and focus on cleaning out these canals before filling the tooth. The problem is, however, that there are many auxiliary canals which are extremely difficult to disinfect and it is in these auxiliary canals where the bacteria hide out just to later emerge and cause mayhem. So difficult is it to reach these germs that dentist using calcium hydroxide as a cleanser often leaves it in the tooth for one to two months in order to saturate all parts of the tooth, before filling the tooth permanently.



Even so, a tooth that had the root canal procedure done is a dead tooth. Basically, you have a dead object sitting in your body.

The biological dentist started on my tooth, slowly moving in and cleaning out as far as he went. Then, discovering that while the cavity is indeed quite deep, it has not properly reached the pulp and after an hour of work on my tooth (other dentists spend maybe 15 minutes!) he announced that the tooth need not have a root canal done. He took a mould of the cavity and had a moulded resin filling made. I cannot help but repeat this: THREE previous dentists have insisted that I get a root canal done, which may have untold future disease causing implications.

I am extremely thankful for at last discovering a dentist whom I can trust with my mouth.

With this post I'm hoping that if you have either amalgam fillings in your mouth or have a root canal done that you seriously consider finding a good biological dentist to work with you and treating these disease causing areas in your mouth. Particularly if you are showing any signs of chronic disease or discomfort anywhere in your body, it is very possible that the cause is in your mouth.

2 comments:

Ehemaliger said...

Thanks very much for this instructive post! It is a shame that scarcely any in Korea is informed about holistic or biological dentistry. I am also living in South Korea. For most people here a temporary relief of their pain and shiny, evenly shaped teeth seem to be enough. I know two holistic dentists in Seoul that I consulted some years ago. I have made similar experiences there. One is located in JangGyo-Dong, his name is Bum Kwon Lee. And the other one, Soochang Jung, has his dental practice in Dogokdong, Kang Nam-ku. If there is another one, it would be great to know.

SK English teacher said...

Hello! Can you tell the name and city of the biological and homoeopathic dentist you found in South Korea? I know it's been a while, but just where they were at that time? I'm living in the south of South Korea but will travel anywhere in the country. I have several amalgam fillings I want removed and I had the same problem in the states where one dentist said I needed a root canal and the other just wanted to replace my amalgams and said none were worse than any others. But my health insurance ended before I could remove all the amalgams. The two that were removed correctly are still pretty sensitive though, a year later, but I'm getting used to it, and want the rest removed and replaced for my health. Any information about that dentist would be great. Thank a lot!