Medical History reports that Asahaddom, King of Assyria (660-669BC) was constantly plagued with rheumatism and did not respond to any conventional method of treatment. His Dr was quoted as saying
“On the order of my lord and king, to tell him the true diagnosis… I have told him the diagnosis in one word: Inflammation! He, whose head, hands and feet are inflamed, suffers this trouble due to the condition of his teeth. The teeth of my Lord have to be removed; for this reason the internal organs are inflamed.”

Over two and a half thousand years later modern medical science is now showing a link between periodontal disease and heart disease, dental infection and the respiratory system, dental infection and brain abscesses amongst many other examples.

According to Dr Newman, Professor in the Department of Periodontology, Eastman Dental Institute and Hospital:
“Focal infection of oral origin may derive from closed or open sites. Open foci include caries lesions, periodontal pocketing, and extraction sites. Closed foci, infection around root apices, unerupted but infected teeth, and infected pulps.”

A focus of infection is defined according to the German Medical Association for Focal and Regulatory Research as follows:

“A Focus is a pathological local change in soft connective tissue producing material which cannot be broken down so that the local and general systems of resistance are in permanent active reactions against it. As the local resistance barriers start breaking down due to endogenous or exogenous factors, the focus begins to exert an influence on remote parts of the organism, thus triggering a general focal infection, which is always chronic.”

A patient may therefore present with differing symptoms with a direct or an indirect dental cause.

 Integrated Dentistry is about integrating the treatment plan of each patient to make it as individual and effective as possible. If a patient presents with a multifactorial problem then they need a multifactorial solution.

 As a Holistic Dentist I will assess the dental issues such as heavy metal toxicity, Jawbone cavitations (areas of osteonecrosis or focal infection) and Jaw joint problems. Each of these areas can have a role in body posture and the normal functioning of the bodies’ methods of detoxification.

The elimination of the dental infection may remove the source of the problem but any lasting side effects may still remain and the patient may also need to see a doctor or a Nutritionalist or an herbalist etc, to treat the side effects of the original problem

If your posture is affected by your bite being in the wrong place, thus changing the muscle tension around your jaw joint, affecting your neck muscles and altering position of your spine, then you will need to be treated by either a cranial osteopath, a chiropractor, a CHEK body practitioner, a physiotherapist etc.
As this is a two way process anything affecting the position of your spine will affect the position of your bite and it may be necessary to see another practitioner before the bite is treated to avoid making a complicated situation worse.

Toxic issues in the mouth may affect the detoxification pathways in the Liver and Kidneys or may even affect the absorptive capacity of your digestive system and it may be necessary to take nutritional supplements. As a qualified Homotoxicologist I may also prescribe some remedies to aid the detoxification process or to support the functioning of the bodies’ metabolic pathways.

The latest development in the medical community is field of Psychoimmuneneuroendocrinology or PINE. This states that all the systems in the body are interlinked and have feedback methods to regulate each other. The work of Biochemists Sol Snyder (noble prize winner) and Candace pert has shown that each system makes molecules and uses the same molecules found in each of the different systems. The body works as one interconnected whole. The Chinese have used this theory for over five thousand years and believe the life force to be Chi. only recently has medical science had equipment sensitive enough to measure this.

As part of an integrated approach I also recommend that patients should do light exercise and start things like meditation and Chi Kung to assist the body in the healing process.