Besides basic dentistry our dentists provide information to patients who are interested in a more holistic approach and guide them in the process of the “Forward Thinking Dentistry” method.
How oral health relates to our general health
1. Occlusion: Having headaches for more than 2 days a week ? In 90 % of the cases this is due to a dental cause. In most cases neck and shoulder complaints are also present. The problem usually lies in the way the jaws come together and the contact between upper and lower teeth. Neurologists and physiotherapists often do not establish this relation.
2. Acidosis: Do you suffer from excessive production of scale ? Often the cause is an acidification of your body. When the body tries to counteract this acidosis it extracts minerals like calcium out of the jawbone. The free calcium is also present in the saliva and therefore scale is formed much quicker and in bigger quantities in your mouth. Wrong eating habits and not enough physical exercise can lead to a chronic metabolic acidosis which in turn can lead to development of the modern chronic diseases such as increased body weight, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and cancer.
3. Inflammation: Periodontitis, an infection of the jawbone where bone loss occurs, is a sign that there is a constant inflammation present in the body. The patient often already has other symptoms such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Without tackling oral inflammation this can spiral and lead to systemic problems. In these cases patients are started on medication for high blood pressure, next for cholesterol and then it is just waiting for the stroke or heart attack. After this patients are then started on medication like blood thinners which completes the self sustaining circle of disease.
4. Joint complaints as a result of arthritis and/or rheumatism often have the same symptoms as mentioned in points 2 and 3. On a panoramic x-ray root canal treatments, with or without inflammatory cysts, and also bone-cavitations are found during a screening. These sources of oral inflammation exacerbate the acidic conditions in the body and the disturbed calcium metabolism can give rise to joint and or muscle complaints.
**The mouth bacteria Porphyromonas gingivalis is the only known bacteria that causes the citrullination of the enzyme peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD) and can lead to Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)-like symptoms. The advice to RA and arthritis patients is to combat the acidosis and to get all infections in the mouth and jaws removed.
5. Intoxication: Do you suffer from constant fatigue, quickly being tired around midday, being washed-out and inert ? Often times these symptoms have their causes in the mouth. Besides presence of factors as mentioned in points 2,3 and 4, factors such as body intoxication by heavy metals play a big role. These are mercury, lead, cadmium and oil derivatives from dental restoration materials and it can take years before others make this connection. Our advice is to keep the mouth healthy and leakproof!
6. Cancer: Recent publications in 2006 and 2009 have shown that the waste products of root canal treatments and jaw infections have a negative influence on the capacity of the immune system of the body to stop the growth of early cancer cells (cell apoptosis) because of the interference with the P53/P21 enzyme pathway. The advice to patients with a cancer diagnosis is to get all these infections removed first to prevent recurrence. Cancer cells are formed in an acidic environment and oral infections can help maintain this.