Biological Dentistry

There is now a biocompatible calcium oxide based product on the US market (known as Biocalex 6/9 or Endocal-10), with the addition of yttrium oxide (or trace amounts of gutta percha) which renders them radio-opaque.  The product’s manufacturer claims its affinity to endodontic liquids results in a volumetric expansion (not volumetric increase) that penetrates most of the inaccessible canals.  A documented problem with Biocalex/Endocal, is that in twenty percent of case studies, the teeth will split vertically.  This is probably due to overfilling. 

The recommended procedure is to only fill to within 1.5 mil of the apex.  As this protocol is diametrically opposite to the way traditional root canals are done.  Dentists are skeptical and find this difficult to accept.  In the US, most endodontists still perform the traditional gutta-percha root canal, which contains slight traces of barium.  Another concern with calcium oxide is that it hardens virtually to limestone, making re-treatment difficult, if not impossible. 

Today’s thought is that the interior of the tooth should remain pliable, like the natural tooth inside.  This then led to the rise to the popularly used glass and carbon fiber posts.  Why are they using a material that contributes to additional cracking?

Laser is another method for root canal treatment, yet it too has issues.  As the light beam goes straight, it does not follow the curves and bends of the nerve canal. 

The probe is also too large to get into the smaller accessory canals, that make detection impossible.  The heat can melt and fuse much of the inner surfaces along the nerve canal, potentially impeding medications placed there to kill any hiden bacteria.  The fusing thereby traps the bacteria, which is the major “holistic” concern, in the tubules. 

If the bacteria toxins survives the laser,  they can potentially travel out the tubules, out of the tooth and into the body.  Hebrew University recently invented a special laser tip designed to shoot the beam sideways for a better cleaning effect.  However, most dentists currently using lasers for root canals are more than likely not using those tips.  A final concern is that poor use of the light can create a highly toxic vapor from any residual mercury that may be in the tooth.

It might be possible to definitively connect medical problems remote to the teeth, to an infected tooth problem; whether root canal treated, or not, or symptomatic, or not. 

Acupuncture science can detect relationships between specific teeth and specific, yet remote body parts.  These energetic connections suggest that a dysfunction in or around a tooth may very well effect its acupuncture meridian, thereby effecting body tissues elsewhere in the body connected to that same meridian.  Dentists have been known to have evaluated teeth through kinesiology, acupuncture, or electrical acupuncture spin-offs, such as EAV machines. 

The Self Heal Center uses the EAV machine, which can correlate an infection in the mouth to other parts of the body.  I have a chart that labels the specifies each tooth’s connection to its bodily organ.

Dr. Goldman, DDS raises, further questions. “Even if the canals and tiny tubules can be made totally bacteria free, what happens after a period of a year or ten?  Do bacteria come in from the outside and recolonize the tubules as happens in gum disease?  If this is so, is it a problem, and is it the same as when bacteria are left in there when root canal treatment is done?”  These questions remain unanswered in modern dentistry.  Perhaps the answers to these questions lie within the work of Dr. Gunther Enderlein and his theory of Pleomorphism.

Crowns, Bridges, and Implants:

Traditional metal-based crowns are still on the market, but many patients opt to have them made metal free.  CEREC offers a healthy technique that eradicates metal toxicity concerns.  These materials closely match the composition of the natural tooth structure, and chemically bond to their surfaces.  This saves as much healthy tissue as possible, and provides a dental restoration that expands and contracts in conjunction with tooth movement.  This procedure is done in a single visit.  It is highly convenient and healthy.

With current Titanium Implant technology, there is more concentrated metal entering our mouths, potentially exacerbating toxicity issues.  There are new concerns the implants can act as amplifiers for environmental electromagnetic radiation.  Labeled on the market as a “transition metals,” Zirconium implants behave like a ceramic in that they are brittle, somewhat translucent and can fracture.  However, they are harder than titanium and other non-precious metals.  OsseoNews online has a forum which tracks related questions by professionals and patients alike. The Self Heal Center maintains we should be mindful in regards to bio-compatibility.  Specifically, how an increasingly toxic and radiation filled environment effects our bodily receptors.

Occlusion or Dental Distress Syndrome:

Research has demonstrated that excessive dental distress routinely coexists with a pattern of chronic symptoms that are found throughout all bodily systems.  These problems are normalized when the dental dysfunction is eliminated.  There appears to be a controlling relationship within the body that puts the dental system into a causative role of symptomatology.  A dysfunctional dental occlusion can create ill-effects throughout many distant areas of the body. 

Dr. A.C. Fonder has termed this Dental Distress Syndrome. The Self Heal Center maintains that a condition such as this should be addressed prior to any specific protocol.

Root Canals: Infection, Calcium Oxide Fillings, and Laser

Another consideration for a holistic approach to health is the controversy over root canals.  Some biological dentists refuse to perform them and advise pulling the tooth. 

This radical treatment is traced to the research of two dentists who questioned the efficacy of root canal therapy in arresting bacterial infection from the rest of the body’s system.  They clarified that it is not so much the material that the tooth is filled with, but whether the infection can be removed entirely from within the three miles of microscopic tubules contained in the dentin. 

In Root Canal Cover Up, George Meining DDS, extensively cited the work of Dr. Weston Price, who during the early 1900’s, devoted most of his career to the Focal Infection Theory.  The theory maintains that it is not the bacteria causing systemic problems, but rather the toxic chemicals produced from the necrosis and decay within the tubules, whether the tooth was treated endodontically or not! 

Dr. Price held that as there was no way to completely seal the tip of the root and the tubules.  Therefore, extraction was the only effective treatment when infection was evident.  Calcium hydroxide seems capable of killing the bacteria inside the tooth, and is recognized to be the most effective in doing so.  Sadly, it is infrequent and underutilized.  Calcium hydroxide is optimized when applied for one month. 

Today’s norms either finish the treatment at once or in a several appointments a week apart.  If an infection persists, today’s thinking is that it will be knocked out with antibiotics.  This isn’t the case in Sweden, which has consistently been ahead in “holistic” dentistry, where root canal specialists routinely use calcium hydroxide.