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Replacing missing teeth? Consider your options

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Blurb: Having a healthy set of teeth is a powerful predictor of your overall health. Sick patients who display near cavity-free teeth tend to get well fairly quickly. If, on the other hand, their mouths are full of fillings and root canals, the prognosis is not nearly as good.
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There’s no doubt that our modern diet has changed the inherent health of our teeth and our bodies, and is the cause of nearly all our modern health challenges. Today it’s quite rare to find an adult with teeth that has not been marred by dental work of some kind, from mercury amalgams (silver fillings) to crowns, to root canals and bridges and implants. If you eat properly and maintain optimal health, you’re highly unlikely to develop cavities. They really only occur when you’re eating the wrong foods, and not maintaining oral hygiene.

Dental Implants
A dental implant is one option for replacing missing or badly diseased teeth. It is composed of an artificial root that looks like a post or screw and is covered with a dental crown. Treatment involves the surgical placement of the implant into the jawbone, where it is allowed to fuse to the bone in a process called “osseointegration.”

Composition of Implants
Titanium and aluminium-oxyd ceramics are the materials used in implantation. Dental implants are usually cylindrical or screw shaped. The majority of dental implants are shaped like small screws, with either tapered or parallel sides. However, this nail shaped screw helps the teeth looks natural, but it also gives some health related problems.

Titanium implants
Once healed, the implant acts as an anchor for an artificial replacement tooth, or crown. The crown is made to blend in with your other teeth and is permanently attached to the implant. A typical dental implant is made of pure titanium and/or a titanium alloy. In fact, titanium alloys are widely used in both medicine and dentistry, for dental implants, pacemakers, stents, orthodontal brackets, and orthopedic implants (e.g., hip, shoulder, knee, or elbow). Not only is titanium strong, but many consider it biocompatible: it forms an oxide layer when exposed to air, and this purportedly results in reduced corrosion and superior osseointegration.

However the standard titanium metal implant is not really the best option.

Titanium is NOT Biologically Inert
Titanium implants release metal ions into your mouth 24 hours a day, and this chronic exposure may trigger inflammation, allergies, and autoimmune disease in susceptible individuals. They are a precursor to disease.

Cases of intolerance to metal implants have been reported over the years, and the removal of this incompatible dental material has resulted in reduced metal sensitivity and long-term health improvement in the majority of patients. Titanium has the potential to induce hypersensitivity as well as other immunological dysfunctions.

One study investigated 56 patients who developed severe health problems after receiving titanium-based dental implants. These medical problems included muscle, joint, and nerve pain; chronic fatigue syndrome; neurological problems; depression; and skin inflammation. Removal of the implants resulted in a dramatic improvement in the patients’ symptoms, as well as a decrease in many patients’ sensitivity to titanium.

Another complication of the use of implanted titanium is its potential to induce the abnormal proliferation of cells (neoplasia), which can lead to the development of malignant tumors and cancer.

It is best to avoid any kind of Metal in Your Mouth

The presence of any metal in your mouth sets the stage for “galvanic toxicity,” because your mouth essentially becomes a charged battery when dissimilar metals sit in a bed of saliva.

An electric current called a galvanic current is then generated by the transport of the metal ions from the metal-based dental restorations into the saliva. This phenomenon is called “oral galvanism,” and it literally means that your mouth is acting like a small car battery or a miniature electrical generator.

Oral galvanism creates two major concerns—increases the rate of corrosion and release metal ions into mouth. These ions react with other components of your body, leading to sensitivity, inflammation, and, ultimately, autoimmune disease. Increasing the corrosion rate, therefore, increases the chance of developing immunologic or toxic reactions to the metals.

Second, some individuals are very susceptible to these internal electrical currents. Dissimilar metals in your mouth can cause unexplained pain, nerve shocks, ulcerations, and inflammation, and many people also experience a constant metallic or salty taste, or a burning sensation in their mouth. Moreover, there is the concern that oral galvanism directs electrical currents into brain tissue and can disrupt the natural electrical current in your brain.

Problems from implantation
Some possible dental implants problems are peri-implantitis, tissue injuries, nerve damage and sinus problem.

New Alternatives to Titanium Implants

In recent years, high-strength ceramic implants have become attractive alternatives to titanium implants, and some current research has focused on the viability of materials such as zirconia. Metal-free zirconia implants have been used in Europe and South America for years, but they have only recently become available in the rest of the world.

Zirconia implants are highly biocompatible to the human body and exhibit minimum ion release compared to metallic implants. Studies have shown that the osseointegration of zirconia and titanium implants are very similar, and that zirconia implants have a comparable survival rate, thereby making them available alternative to metal implants.

Biological Dentistry

Silver fillings, which are 50 percent mercury, an extremely potent neurotoxin, have been used for over 150 years. Currently mercury fillings are being banned across the world. But its upto the consumer to refuse them, or find a dentist who has switched to safer alternatives.

Currently, implants continue to be done without biocompatibility testing, and they are often used in extraction sites where cavitations (inflammation) are already developing. You may not realize it, but tiny electrical currents are foundational to the way your body operates biologically, and when you introduce a foreign source of electricity, especially one that is constantly there, you can introduce imbalances that can contribute to health problems.

This galvanic toxicity created when the metal in your mouth reacts with your saliva can over-stimulate your brain. This is true whether the metal in your mouth is a silver filling, a metal crown, or a metal dental implant.

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Common signs and symptoms of galvanic toxicity include:
• A metal taste in your mouth
• A sensation of an electric charge when using metal utensils
• Chronic insomnia
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Also, remember that they are major clues that your body is not optimally healthy and lifestyle changes are in order if you want to stop or reverse the damage that is already taking place.

When these bacteria migrate, via your bloodstream to other areas of your body, they can contribute to or cause more serious ailments such as:
• Heart and circulatory diseases
• Arthritis and rheumatism
• Brain and nervous system diseases

Although many would like to believe that regular brushing and flossing is all that is needed for healthy teeth, it is by no means the most important factor determining your oral health. Others insist fluoride is the key. Do not believe it! The most important aspect is actually your diet, sans fluoridated water.

The materials used for this procedure include solutions of chemicals that can actually rebuild decayed teeth. Enamel and dentin, the natural materials that make teeth the strongest pieces of your body, may some day replace conventional fillings.

If you want to have healthy teeth, and a similarly healthy body, you must start from the inside out, and that means cleaning up your diet.

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Healthy Diet, Healthy Teeth
Certain foods to keep yourself healthy:
• The foods were natural, unprocessed, and organic (and contained no sugar except for the occasional bit of honey or maple syrup).
• The people ate foods that grew in their native environment. In other words, they ate locally grown, seasonal foods.
• Many of the cultures ate unpasteurized dairy products, and all of them ate fermented foods.
• The people ate a significant portion of their food raw.
• All of the cultures ate animal products, including animal fat and, often, full-fat butter and organ meats.
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Eat at least one-third of your food raw. Avoid processed foods, sugar, refined flour and all artificial flavorings, colorings, and artificial sweeteners. Instead, seek out locally grown foods that are in-season.
Enjoy fermented foods like natto, kefir and cultured veggies.

Make sure you eat enough healthy fats, including those from animal sources like omega-3 fat, and reduce your intake of omega-6 from vegetable oils.

In a nutshell, biological dentistry views your teeth and gums as an integrated part of your entire body, and any medical treatments performed takes this fact into account. The primary aim of this type of holistic dentistry is to resolve your dental problems while impacting the rest of your body as little as possible.

Unknowingly, your health can be significantly impacted by the treatments received at your conventional dentist’s office. Oftentimes the impact is just not immediately noticeable.

Source: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/08/08/Be-VERY-Careful-When-Replacing-Missing-Teeth.aspx

        

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