Book Report: Root Canal Cover-up

I just picked up a book called Root Canal Cover-up by George E. Meinig, DDS, FACD, the Dentist for the Twentieth Century Fox Studio, and founding member of the American Association of Endodontists
(ISBN Number 0-945196-19-9

This is a incredible synopsis of the life of Dr. Weston A. Price, DDS, MS, FACD.  He wrote a book called Dental Infections and the Degenerative Diseases.

If I could boil it all down to the basics, he found that the material gutta-percha, the most widely used root filling, is a rubbery-like substance which packs more easily if it is somewhat warmed.  However, when it cools and sets for a few days, shrinkage takes place.  It is this expansion and contraction of the gutta-percha that causes a lot of the problems with infections.

He found that tooth infections were the cause of many degenerative diseases including: arthritis, rheumatism, heart lesions, kidney, liver & gallbladder problems, neck, back & shoulder stiffness, eyes, ears, shingles, anemia, pneumonia, appendicitis, neuritis, neuralgia and nervous system breakdowns, and hardening of the arteries. Dental infections, possibly because of the nerve involvement, are seen to highly influence ADD and ADHD patient's behavior.

The infections are varied somewhat, but are mainly in the Streptococcus and diplococcus bacteria families.

The types and %'s of Streptococcus are as follows:

Fecalis Ignavius Salivarius Infrequens Mitis Non-Hemolyticus I Non-Hemolyticus III Hemolyticus I Subacidus Pyogenes

= 65 % = 1 1/2 % = 1 1/2 % = 9 % = 7 1/2 % = 3 % = 3 % = 3 % = 1 1/2 % = 4 1/2 %

As far as the Types of Lesions in Patients:

Rheumatism Heart Nerves Lassitude Internal Organs Special Tissues No Lesions

7.1 % Chance   1.3 % Chance 24.1 % Chance   9.1 % Chance   7.1 % Chance   9.7 % Chance   5.2 % Chance

Looking at a cross section of a tooth, you have the many layers as follows: Enamel, Dentin, Gingiva, Pulp, Bone, Cementum, Periodontal Membrane, and Lateral Accessory Canals.  The Dentin Tubules contain very fine nerve fibers. These Dentin tubules contain a fluid which carries nutrients and other matter needed to keep teeth healthy. It is the fluid which nourishes all parts of teeth and is responsible for sustaining their life.  When a tooth develops pain from an infection, and a root-canal treatment is performed and the filling placed, these bacteria become sealed in the tubules.  Medications dentists use to sterilize the root canal have more or less been successful, but Price proved they had no effect against bacteria found in dentin tubules. Bacteria  in the dentin tubules are very easy to see using an electron microscope.  He was able to prove, like Enderlien, that these bacteria's are polymorphic. They change size and numbers when oxygen levels change, and their toxins become more toxic.  The two most efficient medicaments Price found to kill these bacteria's were silver nitrate and formalin.  However, both were found to be objectionable: silver nitrate because it turned the tooth black, and formalin because it was very irritating to patients surrounding tissues.  The Best medication was found to be Chloramin-T (Chlorozene). Good results were also achieved using 0.5 % chlorhexadine with 10% povidone-iodine solution. He says that dentists can obtain copies of articles from ADA Library service.

Glycemia, high amounts of glucose in the blood was found frequently in tooth infected patients. Alkaline body reserves lowered, creating acidosis. There were increased uric acid and nitrogen retention as well.  In some cases, a higher level of ionic calcium was found in the blood, but in most cases the levels of ionic calcium was found to become lower than normal.

He found that most medical laboratories state the normal value of calcium to be 8.5 to 10.5 mg/dl  and the phosphorus 2.5 to 4.5 mg/dl.Dr. Page added to Dr. Prices work and found that in order for us to utilize 10 mg.s of calcium, there has to be 4 mg of phosphorus present in the blood.  Any less or mor than 4 mgs would contribute to body degeneration.  This doesn't mean that calcium has to be exactly 10 mg. and phosphorus 4; what it means is that calcium has to be 2.5 times that of phosphorus.When calcium can't be used because of insufficient phosphorus, it acts as a foreign toxic substance which can end up being deposited in body tissues.  Such free calcium becomes a pathological substance.   He says, You are never told, but the buildup in arteries in atherosclerosis is composed of 95% calcium and only 0.5 % cholesterol. He also demonstrated the relationship which exists between thyroid and parathyroid activity in certain of his dental infection experiments.

He discusses diagnostic confirmations of disease, and says doctors most often resort to exploratory surgery.  When the presence of these jawbone infection areas are not visible on x-ray picture, the only way to find them was by surgery.  He continues : "Fortunately, in these cases, Kinesiology and Neural Therapy have almost completely eliminated the need to do exploratory surgery."
 

For More on the Microbiology of Dental Plaque See:
http://www.dent.ucla.edu/pic/members/microbio/mdphome.html