Getting Dental Work Done

Sarita and I went to a specialized dentist, Dr. C, last week. We went primarily in order to have our “silver” (i.e., 50%+ mercury) amalgam fillings taken out in a safe manner. And, related to the matter of having the "silver" out, we went to Dr. C because she is well aware of the dangers and takes appropriate precautions. (So, for example, besides placing special dams and cloth coverings for our basic protection from solid amalgam chips and dust that might [or absolutely will] fly from a drill site, Dr. C also hooked us up to oxygen and, I am told, hooks herself up to oxygen and runs some kind of special vacuum system (attached to her drills?; I was asleep, so didn't ask too many questions!) to suck up as much mercury vapor as possible as she is working with the stuff she removes from her patients’ mouths. . . .

But why would we want the "silver" out of our mouths?

Primarily because we want our bodies--and particularly mine, with its autoimmune problems--to have every advantage possible in fighting disease on their own.

But, says the ADA (American Dental Association), mercury amalgams have "been proven safe, affordable and durable" for over 180 years.

I beg to differ. And here are my reasons why. First, a story from while we were with Dr. C:

As we were eating lunch together with our dentist and her staff on Monday, we also sat with another dentist, Dr. B, a 20-year professional acquaintance of the doctor for whose services we had come. Just two weeks before, Dr. B had decided he wanted to join Dr. C in her practice. Dr. B has none of the background in nor long-term concern about the toxicological issues related to dentistry that Dr. C has.

One of the subjects that came up during our discussion: Why is dentistry one of the most suicide-professions in the world? (Actually, I have been told, and Dr. C assured us it is true, that dentistry is the most suicide-prone profession. But whether it is absolutely #1 or not, one must still wonder.) Why wouldn't we see more psychiatrists, for example, or emergency room doctors--professionals dealing with far more extreme and upsetting and high-pressure circumstances: Why wouldn't we see them committing suicide more often than dentists?

Dr. C’s suggested answer: Because of mercury.

She said, “I have never been in the presence of so many depressed people as when I have gone to ADA meetings.”

She also commented on the frequency with which she has dealt with dentists who are showing Parkinson’s Disease-like symptoms: major shakes/tremors . . . and they aren't “even” that old.

Why is that?

She suggested all of these results are related to the dentists’ continual exposure to mercury.

Of course, I have merely told you an anecdote about anecdotal/circumstantial evidence. For more scientifically-based reasons for concern and descriptions of specific risks of mercury related to dental amalgams, see this paper (PDF) by the IAOMT (International Association of Oral Medicine and Toxicology), a dental industry group committed to seeing the repudiation of mercury amalgams in dentistry.)

Since our previous dentists really haven't cared one way or another about mercury, besides having our obvious amalgam fillings removed, we also went to have our crowns checked: did the previous dentists, by any chance, actually leave mercury amalgam under the crowns? (As it turned out, one of Sarita’s crowns was actually placed on top of an amalgam filling . . . and there was significant decay surrounding and under the filling under the crown . . . all of which decay and filling was completely undetectable to any x-ray because the porcelain crown was on a metal substrate!)

For me, we also went to have a root-canaled (and amalgam-filled-through-a-gold-crowned) tooth removed ("extracted"). I was (and am) planning to have an implant put in the now-missing tooth’s place.

Why have a root-canaled tooth removed? Quick answer: because, as Robert Kulacz, DDS, and Thomas E Levy, MD, JD, note in The Roots of Disease: Connecting Dentistry & Medicine: there are millions of dentin tubules inside every tooth (three miles of such tubules inside the smallest tooth), into which toxins from the nerve-canal space can go and hide. This has been shown by the electron-microscope. One of the common effects of root canals is to cut these tubules off from the cleansing action of the tooth nerve and tooth lymph systems. As a result, the tubules become little fermentation chambers that expel toxic material into the body through microscopic channels in the tooth or between the inner layer of the tooth and the inner gutta percha root canal material . . . which can then cause enormous problems in other parts of the body. Indeed, they suggest, this kind of infectious/toxic material is at the root of many cardiac problems and, even, deaths.

Of course, infections and toxic material seepage is not an absolute foregone conclusion as a result of root canals. But it is exceptionally common.

By the way: In case you are possibly facing a root canal, or are being urged to get a root canal, there are alternatives. See, for example, this page. Or look up root canal alternative on Google.

Virtually no “regular” dentists--and, certainly, no endodontists (who specialize in root canals)--will mention the idea that you could possibly heal your tooth. But, I am told, it is possible.

If you can't heal the tooth, some dentists--like Drs. Kulacz and Levy, or Dr. John Augspurger (whose brief article about healing a tooth I just referenced)--will urge you “simply” to get the tooth removed, as I had done. Better an extraction than all the complications and problems associated with infected, toxin-producing root-canaled teeth.

HOWEVER,

I urge you to look at Dr. Michael C. Goldman’s bracing article about Root Canal Treatment Choices. Interestingly, though definitely very aware of and concerned about the issues Kulacz, Levy and Augspurger (among many others) raise, Goldman suggests specific means by which dentists can do effective root canals. And he suggests reasons why one might want to go ahead with a root canal and how to avoid the (potential) problems the others talk about. I think this article has some very valuable things to say and includes comments about possible treatment modes you may want to discuss with your dentist or endodontist! Are they really proposing the best treatment protocols?

Prior to going to her office--actually, quite a while ago, September 19th, to be exact--Dr. C had Sarita and me have blood samples taken and sent to Clifford Consulting & Research of Colorado Springs. Clifford, then, did some assays on our blood by which they were able to test our bodies’ reactivity to well over 12,000 brand-name dental products and supplies—from cements, adhesives and bonding materials, to liners, sealants, etchant materials, pastes, varnishes, desensitizing agents, varnishes, porcelains, ceramics. . . .

You'd think, “What’s the big deal?” Well . . .

• Though we didn't know what they were made of, specifically, once they were removed, all of my crowns--both the “gold” crowns (I put the word in quotes because gold is only one of the materials in a gold crown, of course; gold is too soft to create a tooth replacement that has to withstand 200# or more of pressure) as well as the “porcelain” or “ceramic” crowns (lined with metal)--. . . all of my crowns were made of materials that were obviously (by visual inspection) highly reactive to my body. (How could we tell? The metal linings had turned black with some kind of--I'll call it--“growth.” You might compare it to oxidation (rust). But it looked more like a very thin, but completely black, film like the sludge that grows up on the inside of the downpipe of a bathroom sink--if you've ever cleaned out a plugged-up bathroom sink downpipe.)
  
  Sarita’s crowns and teeth were much the same.

Beyond that,

• The teeth themselves--both mine and Sarita’s--had begun to rot away beneath the crowns. . . .

In fact, as it turns out,

• According to Clifford, my body can hardly stand any of the standard dental metal materials. . . . (Dr. C gave both Sarita and me copies of our Clifford reports. Pretty amazing results.)
   
• As a result of the Clifford testing, we (Dr. C and we) knew what materials we could--and, more importantly, couldn't--use in the reconstruction process. I can tell you: there will be no ceramic- or porcelain-covered metal crowns in my mouth! Nor for Sarita.

Guess what? My root-canaled tooth was removed and there was massive infection in the underlying bone . . . all of which rotten bone Dr. C had to remove.

Oh. And since the roots of the tooth actually went up right next to or into my sinus, I now have a hole from my mouth, through the socket area, up into my sinus cavity.

Dr. C had planned for that (not only for a possible hole up into the sinus, but, "simply," for the hole that would be left by the extraction, by harvesting three growth factors from my own blood (she had a phlebotomist on her staff take my blood before doing the extraction, then spun the blood to separate the growth factors) and combining those growth factors with bone granules to aid healing in the extraction site.

. . . --Some of my experiences with the dental world in the last couple of weeks!

I have a couple of weeks of healing, yet, then Sarita and I return for permanent crowns to replace the crowns we had removed. I, then, am scheduled to return sometime in January to have an implant post placed into my jaw at the extraction site and, then, finally, three months from then, have the implant crown itself placed on the abutment.

I'll probably report on that in due time.