Recently you may have read or heard that "The American Heart Association (AHA) has said that Periodontal Disease (Gum Disease) is not a cause of heart disease." This statement was on virtually every news outlet including newspapers. What amazes me is that there was so little depth to this "news bite."

In fact, what the AHA said was that no one can say what the cause of heart disease actually is. By this, they mean that heart disease (the number one killer in the USA) is a "multi-factorial" disease. Heart disease has many contributors to its cause, and any of these contributors may indeed be the cause in any one patient. Contributors to heart disease include obesity, smoking, lack of exercise, genetics, periodontal disease, and other factors. No single factor might be the cause in any one case.

Inflammation and Heart Disease

Every Cell in Our Body Needs Magnesium

In the human body,  magnesium is the eleventh element by mass and about 60-65% of the magnesium is found in the skeleton and teeth.

The remaining magnesium can be found in muscle tissue and cells and only 1% is contained in our blood. The body has high needs for magnesium. Magnesium is required for metabolic functions involving creation of energy ATP and its transport creation of proteins, nucleic acid RNA and DNA in all known living organisms.

Why We Need Magnesium

• Every single cell in the human body demands enough magnesium to function.
• Strong bones and teeth, balanced hormones, and healthy nervous and cardiovascular system as well as functional detoxification pathways depend on cellular magnesium.
  
• Magnesium works in concert with calcium to regulate electrical impulses in the cell. Magnesium concentration inside a healthy cell is 10 times higher than calcium.
• Magnesium is responsible for relaxation and is crucial to the healthy functioning of our parasympathetic nervous system.
• Magnesium deficiency is involved in many diseases from ADD, Alzheimer's, autism, autoimmune disorders, dental decay, and depression to osteoporosis, stroke, obesity and the list keeps growing.

The Problem with Magnesium

Unfortunately it is difficult to reliably supply our bodies with sufficient magnesium even from a good balanced whole food diet. In modern agriculture the presence of widely used NPK fertilizer has an antagonist affect with magnesium in the soil. Magnesium and other nutrients are diminished or lost in produce after harvest, refrigeration, transport and storage, even if all steps were done properly. Food processing can cause excessive  loss of magnesium in foods. Examples of such processing are milling the whole grains, roasting the nuts and seeds, and cooking the leafy greens. Fluoride in drinking water binds to the magnesium and creates an insoluble mineral compound that will be deposited in the bones.

Mark McClure DDS

Have you ever wondered what will determine whether you remain healthy or get sick with cancer, heart disease, dementia, neuro-degenerative disease, chronic fatigue, the flu, a cold or Ebola?

It’s the immune system, stupid!

While I don’t usually use the word “stupid” - in this case it helps to illustrate the obvious fact of what really keeps us healthy, what prevents us from getting sick, what helps us recover quickly when we do get sick…is our amazing immune system!

In other words, it’s your immune system that keeps you healthy, strong and aging gracefully. Likewise, it is your grandchild’s immune system that will determine whether they will develop autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma, mental health issue,  diabetes, breast cancer (see Dr. Fuller's article Can Half of Breast Cancers Be Prevented?) or any other of the modern "epidemic" childhood diseases that are ravishing our youth’s health.

Of course genes play a role, but for purposes of this article I want to talk about the role of the immune system and how your dentist can support a healthier system. Dental treatment should be safe and effective and impact the rest of the body as little as possible.

A Healthy Mouth Affects Your Overall Health

The health of your oral cavity has an extensive effect on the health of your body. 

Stated in another way:   “You cannot have a healthy body without a healthy mouth.”

The factors in the mouth which affect overall health are:

1)   Infections of the teeth,  gums, jaw bone and tonsils

2)   Toxicity or incompatibility of dental materials placed in the mouth

3)   The physical orientation and contact of the jaws and teeth.

The effects of these three factors affect the brain, heart, liver, kidneys, gastrointestinal system, the blood,  lymphatics, immune system, our sensory organs and more.

Dentistry as taught in traditional dental education requires that dentists are mechanical in how they practice. 

Holes in teeth should be filled, tartar and plaque removed from teeth to stop gum bleeding and infection, diseased or impacted teeth must be extracted and crooked teeth straightened with orthodontics - are strictly mechanical dental approaches.

Despite this orientation our overall health may be profoundly affected (positively or negatively) by remaining or developing dental disease and in most ways how mechanical dentistry treats these conditions.

Bob Johnson DMD

Plaque Causes Tooth Decay

I am asked nearly every day why cavities are formed and what can be done to prevent this dental decay.

The inability to remove the plaque (90% bacteria) from teeth is the cause of decay on your teeth.  The bacteria in the plaque produce acid which removes minerals from the teeth.  This demineralized tooth structure is in fact decay.

The pH is the measure of how strong or destructive an acid is in causing decay.  The measurement of pH ranges from 1-14 with pH7 being neutral (neither acidic nor alkaline).  A pH of between 1 and 7 is acidic (1 is the most acidic or destructive)  while greater than pH 7 is alkaline.

As this relates to decay the closer to neutral or alkaline pH the less likely decay will form.  Normal sugar (sucrose) produces a pH of 2 or 3 (extremely acidic) in the mouth,  ultimately resulting in significant decay.  The more this acid is reduced or buffered the less decay is able to form.

Xylitol, Can a Sugar Help Reduce Tooth Decay?

The one preventive measure that most dentists utilize is fluoride which makes the superficial tooth structure more difficult to remove minerals.