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The Marriage Between Metals and Microbes
It was in 1909 that bacteria from root canals emerged as a cause of disease. At that time, Dr. Weston A. Price, working with a team of microbiology researchers under the direction of Dr. Edward Rosenow from the Mayos’ Clinic, found bacteria in root canal teeth and discovered that they could produce disease throughout the body. But it was in 1986 that Price gave me direction. Although he had died in 1948, he had left me a legacy of his discoveries, asking on his death bed that a friend find someone who would carry on his research on root canals.
Almost forty years after his death, I was given – without explanation – a box of his old papers. These, I would come to realize, were the “Dead Sea Scrolls of Dentistry.” Back then, I knew nothing of the problems caused by root canals, and nothing about this man, except that my dental school instructors had jeered at the mention of Price’s name. His work was old, of no value today, my professors at the University of Colorado had said. Now, Price is my mentor. I owe him, and shall repay him at the right time.
In 2009, I found the dozen bacteria that Price had found a century before me. In fact, through the medium of DNA analysis, I found even more microbes. It took more than 20 years from my original exposure to Price before I could add one word to the magnificent research he had accomplished over a period of about 35 years. Now I am ready to add that word, and maybe more.
Disease causation
Price had been concerned about the pathological bacteria present in nearly all root canal teeth at that time. He and the researchers at the Mayos’ Clinic had cultured the bacteria found in root canals, and had identified some of the same ones known to cause medical diseases. Moreover, they found that they were able to transfer diseases from humans to rabbits by inserting fragments of extracted roots under the skin in the belly area of the test rabbits. Implanting root canal fragments from someone who had suffered a heart attack would cause the rabbit to have a heart attack within a few weeks. Transference of heart disease resulted 100 percent of the time, although some diseases transferred only 88 percent of the time. The Mayos tested over 11,000 rabbits and Price over 60,000.
However, Price knew there was also something else involved, and he suspected that it was bacterially produced toxins. What was this idea based upon? Price could filter out the bacteria from a root canal tooth and inject the supernatant into rabbits, and create the same disease in the rabbits that the bacteria were known to create in humans. However, Price was challenging a sacred cow: root canals. The dental society of that time decided that there was no such thing as bacterial toxins, despite Price’s findings.
Back then, it was thought that a single bacteria caused a single disease, such as the diphtheria bacterium causing diphtheria. Price observed that this was true in some instances, but not always. The condition of the patient had a lot to do with which disease finally manifested. He suggested that lifestyle was a factor, to some extent, and genetics could be one, as well. However, he was still uncomfortable, thinking that the picture was not yet complete.
Current research confirms Price’s suspicions. Yes, there are disease-producing bacterial toxins that can be shown by DNA analysis. However, an even greater problem is that one bacterium may not create just one toxin anymore; it may form up to five different toxins – and each of these may have a different target tissue. When that factor is combined with variations in immune competence and lifestyle, the etiology of disease becomes even more complex.
While considering the makings of a disease “stew,” one can add another recent development. With the advent of “miracle” drugs, bacteria have been called upon to develop even greater methods of defense. They now combine their efforts with those of other bacterial families. For example, when a bacterium develops resistance to a drug by altering its own DNA, it may now share that newly formed DNA with its family members or even with microbes from other families. Microbes are far ahead of us in their DNA alteration ability. They are very innovative and very rapid in their development of methodology to combat drug intervention.
Bacterial breeding grounds
We have been studying the bacteria and other pathogens in root canals for four years. Our findings challenge the claims of dentists who say they can “sterilize” root canals through the use of chemicals, ozone, and lasers. When we examined root canal teeth, using DNA identification, we found microbes 100% of the time in hundreds of samples. And not just one microbe was found, but sometimes as many as 30 or 40 different – primarily anaerobic – ones.
More definition is required here. There are basically two types of bacteria, aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic bacteria live in the presence of air and need oxygen. These may be found on the skin – for instance, in an infected cut that produces pus. They may be unpleasant, but they are not often life threatening. The area can be cleaned, and covered with a bandage. Anaerobic bacteria live in the absence of oxygen – for example, in an appendix that is calling for removal or in a root canal tooth. Their toxins are far more disease producing than those of aerobic bacteria and are potentially lethal if the microbes are allowed to grow unchecked.
When I was a kid, I heard about one danger of playing in the rain, a favorite sport of four-year-olds in my neighborhood. People would say, “Do that and you’ll catch ‘newmoanyandie.” It was all one word, that terrible death-producing disease. Later, I found they were saying “pneumonia and die.” Pneumonia can be caused by anaerobic Streptococcus mutans from root canals. That’s the type of bacteria-disease relationship I’m talking about. Most of the bacteria in root canals are anaerobic, and those that are aerobic are not real nice either – for example, Clostridium botulinum can be death producing, as well. In our DNA studies of crushed root tips from extracted root canal teeth, we found bacteria that can affect the heart, the kidneys, the brain, and the nervous system, as well as other parts of the body. Several bacteria were found that I had no idea could live in a root canal. Some that I thought had been eliminated centuries ago are back.
But why are these bacteria not destroyed by dentists’ attempts to sterilize root canal teeth? For one thing, the second layer of the tooth, the dentin, is composed of tiny dentinal tubules that can house many billions of bacteria. From these tubules, bacteria can migrate either into the pulp chamber (the inner portion of the tooth, where the nerve is found) or into the periodontal ligament on the outside of the tooth, where there is a plentiful supply of food. A tooth also has one to four major canals. This fact is taught in dental school, but the additional “accessory canals” are never mentioned. Price identified as many as 75 of these accessory canals in a single central incisor. In a root canal tooth, these can fill with necrotic (dead) tissue with no way of removal or sterilization.
There is no dental procedure that can reach into these accessory canals and clean out the dead tissue, which becomes a home for multiple bacterial infections. With the added food supply from the periodontal aligament, the anaerobic bacteria in these canals can multiply and their toxins can contribute to the onset of disease. However, the primary concentration of bacteria is found in the root apex (terminal end) of the tooth, which may be the last area to show infection. Upon cooling and shrinking of the gutta percha (a natural form of wax used to fill the canals), space is left at the apex in which bacteria can thrive and where neither white blood cells nor antibiotics can reach them.
Dentists claim they can “sterilize” the tooth before forcing the gutta percha into the canals. Perhaps they can sterilize a column of air in the center of the tooth, but this does not address the problem of bacteria wandering out of the dental tubules – which is what both Price and our own research found.
It’s best that we are clear on one point: Bacterial contamination is bad, no matter where it comes from. Infection can also be caused by a new kid on the block – the cavitation. This is a hole in the bone, left when the tooth socket fails to heal after an extraction. There are other ways to get a cavitation, but that is only mentioned here to avoid argument that deflects from our central theme. Wisdom tooth sockets rarely heal; therefore, they become cavitations nearly 100 percent of the time. We performed DNA testing on 700 samples from root canal teeth and cavitations, and discovered that cavitations are lined with even more bacteria than root canal teeth. We found that root canal teeth contain up to 53 species of bacteria, but cavitations contain up to 82 of the 92 species for which we test.
Metals and microbes
In 2011, I took another step toward the goal of disease elimination. I knew that genetics, lifestyle, bacteria and gene sharing all play a part in causing disease. Now another critical element was exposed, one that partially explains why some folks can tolerate root canals and some find them lethal. This step is also related to dentistry. Mercury has a role in it, but there is also another metallic toxin calling for recognition: copper.
I had begun lecturing about the dangers of mercury leaching out of dental fillings in November 1973. The ADA presented their response to my challenge when they developed and patented high-copper amalgam, which started taking over the market in 1976. The claim was made that no mercury could come out of these fillings. As it turned out, Dag Brune, PhD, of Norway, researched the ADA’s new panacea, and his findings showed that mercury actually came out of the new amalgam 50 times faster than from the conventional silver-mercury amalgam. (See D. Brune, Metal Release from Dental Biomaterials, Biomaterials, Vol. 7, May 1986.) Almost as an aside, he also showed that inorganic (metallic) copper, comprising 33 percent of the new amalgam, came out 50 times faster than from the conventional (3 percent copper) amalgam of that time. Inorganic copper is nearly as toxic as mercury and, following the dictates of toxicity, the two together should be more toxic than either by itself. Despite all this evidence, the ADA labeled high-copper amalgam as “state of the art,” and it soon became the bestselling dental amalgam worldwide.
This brought about a new phenomenon, which I have recently discovered: the marriage between metals and microbes. Here’s some of my thinking that led to the discovery. This question arose: Since some of these bacteria live in the mouth without causing a problem, how can they suddenly become pathological? I realized that the secret is in the blood. Anytime there is blood, there is a two-way street. If blood can come out, bacteria can go in. Let’s say you have your teeth cleaned or you floss too vigorously, and blood appears. The bacteria living in your mouth, at a pH of around 6 to 7, are quiet and calm. However, the pH in your blood is more likely around 7.35. As the bacteria enter the less acidic environment of the bloodstream, certain genes get “turned on” that were not turned on at a pH of 6 to 7. These genes produce toxins that can cause disease. That offers one explanation. But, wait – there’s more.
Is there anything else that can take a quiet bacterium and make it turn vicious? When several dental materials were tested for their effect on bacteria, one that was particularly interesting was copper. Copper, when added to quiet bacteria, caused them to produce toxins. How much copper was required? One part per million? That’s a pretty small amount, but we found it was enough. Then, by serial dilution, we created a solution of one part per billion. That, too, caused bacteria to produce toxins that were easily identified by DNA. What about one part per trillion? Astounding as it seems, it was clear from our testing that at one part copper per trillion, toxin production was just as viable as at one part per million – and at one part per quintillion, it was just as intense as with any of the other dilutions.
Is amalgam dangerous? It is well known that both mercury and copper are lethal at low dosages. Mercury comes out of a high-copper amalgam filling at about 34 micrograms per day in a test tube at room temperature. More than this is released from a filling in the mouth, without chewing or consumption of acidic foods, both of which increase the rate of mercury emission. One microgram can attack the nervous system.
Who would have thought that copper from the “state of the art” high-copper amalgam would provide another avenue of disease by stimulating the production of toxins by bacteria in root canals? Every time you bite down on a root canal tooth, these toxins are squirted into the adjacent bloodstream. From the bloodstream, where can these toxins go? We have developed a simple testing system that captures these bacteria squirting toxins up the surface of the root into the gingival crevice – the little moat around a tooth – every time you bite down. While you eat or chew gum, you are getting exposure to bacterial toxins, both orally and systemically. This test can easily confirm whether a root canal tooth in place is “safe” or toxic.
I am embarrassed to say that it took a few years before I got the idea of testing the blood adjacent to the extraction site. I thought the infection was confined to the root canal tooth, but that is not so. Both bacteria and toxins travel to the surrounding bone. When we tested samples of blood adjacent to the extracted root canal teeth, we found approximately 400 percent more bacteria in the blood than in the teeth themselves. We found an even greater bacterial concentration in the bone surrounding the teeth. The bone provides a smorgasbord of nutrients for the bacteria, facilitating their tremendous increase in the blood.
As a result of this new finding, our current recommendation for surgical extraction is as follows: After the tooth is removed and the periodontal ligament is cut from the bone, allow or stimulate bleeding from the socket for five minutes or so. This will flush out much of the surrounding bacteria that would otherwise continue to infect the body and prevent healing of the socket. This is extremely important and should not be forgotten. Although the natural tendency for a dentist is to pack a gauze sponge onto the socket immediately after an extraction, sometimes the socket insists on bleeding despite the “pressure pack.” The body is smart, and knows that the infection is not localized. One must work with the body and clean out as much bacterial contamination as possible. No one will need a transfusion from losing a teaspoon of blood.
Here’s a little more observation about high-copper amalgam. Just after the advent of this new material, I began to see people with severe tooth pain after its placement. What got my attention was that this was happening even with very shallow fillings, a long way from the pulp chamber, and dentists were recommending root canals. In measuring the electrical current on these fillings, I found very high negative charges registering. The electrical current was frying the pulp chambers, so I began to remove the high-copper fillings and replace them with a temporary “sedative dressing.” The teeth would calm down shortly afterward, and then the sedative would be replaced with composite fillings that had been determined though blood serum testing to be compatible with the patient’s immune system. No root canals were required in these teeth.
Thus we have multiple reasons to avoid “state of the art” dentistry. Pain from amalgams can lead to a root canal, and a root canal almost invariably creates a homeland for anaerobic bacteria. The resulting marriage between dental copper and root canal microbes brings about the production of some extremely toxic poisons.
People interested in their health should consider removing any root canal teeth, as well as any amalgam elsewhere in the mouth. As Dr. Price discovered over a century ago, bacteria-laden root canals have no place in our bodies, and their removal can lead to vastly improved health when combined with interpretation of blood tests that show what foods and nutrients are required to initiate healing.
About the Author
Hal A. Huggins, DDS, MS, has been in practice for over 45 years. He received his postdoctoral master’s degree at the University of Colorado in 1990, where his studies emphasized immunology and toxicology.
He is a pioneer in identifying toxic dental materials and has successfully developed treatments for autoimmune diseases caused by dental toxins. Dr. Huggins has lectured throughout the U.S. and in foreign countries, has authored several books, and has given numerous radio and television interviews.
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SUGGESTED READING
Huggins, Hal A., and Levy, Thomas E. Uninformed Consent: The Hidden Dangers in Dental Care. Charlottesville, VA:
Hampton Roads, 1999.
Meinig, George E. Root Canal Cover-Up. La Mesa, CA: Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, 2008.
Price, Weston A. Dental Infections: Oral and Systemic, Vol 1. La Mesa, CA: Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, 1923.
Published in the Price-Pottenger Journal of Health & Healing
Spring 2012 | Volume 36, Number 1
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