Updated January 5, 2017

Boots on the Ground Insights

For this article I’ve decided to write down what I’ve learned over the years related to dental health. In terms of my own story, it’s a long and winding road that begins with numerous amalgam (mercury) fillings as a child, followed by poorly executed crowns and root canals. Later, the root canalled teeth became infected, had to be extracted (pulled), and may need surgery to remove nercrotic (dead) bone resulting from improper extraction procedures. I shake my head in incredulity at the harm dentistry has inflicted on my health. I was such a fool, trusting that my dentist knew best. What I’ve learned is that most dentists often recommend and perform dental procedures that significantly damage health.

Now I’m sure most folks that are reading about Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) are already fairly well informed on dental health topics. For example, I’m guessing that most already know that 50% of the metal in amalgam (“silver”) fillings is highly toxic mercury of the type (inorganic) that is very damaging to health; it’s much worse than the mercury found in fish (methyl-mercury). Likewise, I’m guessing most know that the various metals used in fillings and crowns result in galvanic reactions that induce electrical currents in your mouth and that these currents damage health.

Along the same vein, the American Dental Association (ADA) on the one hand says root canalled teeth are safe while on the other hand the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends antibiotics after dental work to prevent heart damage. I bet these opposing views are not surprising to many and say a lot about the safety of root canals and the politics of medicine in general. And finally, the impact of cavitations (dead pockets in the jawbone) and the shift from a paleolithic diet to an agrarian diet on dental health are well known within alternative circles and take a heavy toll on many.

Rather than rehashing the well substantiated arguments on these various topics, I’ve decided to assume the reader has already come to a place where they understand that mercury and metal fillings are toxic and that root canals along with poorly executed extractions (pulled teeth) result in an impaired immune system and health damaging infections. As such, I’ve decided to recount my own personal journey related to dentistry and what I’ve learned along the way. During this recounting, I hope to contribute some insight and practical advice that will add value to these already well discussed topics.

Dentistry & CIRS

Before I begin my own personal account, I wanted to mention that Dr. Shoemaker has been saying for many years that he suspected there may be a connection between dental infections and MARCoNS. Long ago, he collaborated with a dentist and did some preliminary testing wherein the sockets of patients that had teeth extracted were cultured along side corresponding nasal swabs. Guess what? The same MARCoNS that were found in the nasal cavity (had the same antibiotic resistances) were also hanging out in rotten teeth and jawbone.

Within the last year, at the 2015 Second Annual Mold Conference, Dr. Shoemaker commented that Dr. Ackerley had taken up the task of looking into infected jawbone as a source of MARCoNS. Last I’d heard, they were working with MicrobiologyDX to evalute bacterium in dental sites. More recently, in May 2016 Genomic Testing for Chronic Illness, Dr. Shoemaker said that they’re looking into the “…possibility that there is a toxin or some inflammatory compound made by organisms that like to stay in dental bone that was unknown, and hopefully within the next three weeks we will have the fairly sophisticated gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy done to look at these unusual organisms…” along with “I’m looking for what kind of endodontic organisms were found in a failed root canal”. I will not be surprised at all if they find that rotten teeth and jawbone harbor MARCoNS and that this is why some folks like me with rotten root canals end up having to re-treat for MARCoNS multiple times.

Mercury (Silver) Fillings

A long time ago when I was a kid, dentistry was all about drill-baby-drill. The approach was to not only take out the decayed portion of the tooth but the surrounding area too and then pack it full with mercury fillings. I had a mouthful of them. In my twenties, partly because they looked bad and partly because information was coming out about the hazards of mercury fillings, I had all those filling replaced with composite material. This was before Biological Dentistry really existed. Luckily, my dentist knew enough to at least use a rubber dam in my mouth in order to prevent me from swallowing too many toxic bits.

Here’s what I’ve learned since that experience. A good Biological Dentist will not only use a rubber dam, but there will be a high quality air filter running in the room, the dentist and assistant will be wearing big carbon filter HEPA facemasks, the dentist will cut out around the outside of the mercury filling so it can be removed in one big chunk while lots of cool water is sprayed on the tooth. This water is then sucked up along with tooth bits and harmful vapors into a high volume vacuum hose.

The Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique (SMART)

What you may not have known is that you should try to make a concerted effort to breath through your nose and that they should be using regular air (not oxygen) in the little mask that fits over your nose. They should not use a loosely fitting cannula (tubing) for your air supply. Additionally, make sure your dentist uses a slow speed drill, as the typical high speed drill spins so fast that it can literally suck the dentin right out of your tooth and kill it. Ask ahead of time what their procedure is and if they use slow speed drills (20,000 rpm or less).

When it comes to selecting a replacement filler, many “composite” fillings have toxic aluminum and BPA plasticizer in them so check the materials list of the filling type you’re considering. There are non-metal ceramic alternatives like Admira and for some, it may make sense to also have serum compatibility testing done with either Clifford Consulting Laboratory or Biocomp Laboratories. There’s also a whole protocol to ramp up detoxification before and after mercury fillings are removed. Note: The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) recommends Clifford labs.

If you’ve read some of my other articles, you know I’ve been spending the last few years remediating our house and recovering from CIRS. Now that I’m on VIP, I’ve shifted my focus to other areas that promise additional gains in health. One of these areas is heavy metals and specific to this article, mercury.

A while back, I took the Doctor’s Data urine challenge test for toxic metals. This was about the same time I figured out on my own that I had CIRS. Given that my mercury levels were somewhat high, I started taking 500mg of DMSA just before bedtime while sleeping on a Magnetico Sleep Pad. Per the inventor, Dr. Bonlie, the magnets in the pad develop a 100 milli-volt potential on cell walls. Dr. Bonlie claims this voltage is essential for getting heavy metals out of the brain as older cells will not be able to detox without this extra boost.

A word to the wise, detoxing heavy metals from a body that is already in deep trouble due to an inability to detox biotoxins is not a good idea. My advice would be to take care of CIRS first and then circle back around for the metals. For myself, I plan on circling back around by first testing for mercury using Chris Shade’s state-of-the-art Tri-Test. The Tri-Test looks at hair, blood, and urine samples. The test not only indicates whether inorganic mercury (dental fillings) or methyl-mercury (fish) are an issue but also shows whether your detox system needs support before diving into chelating mercury.

I should note that initially I wasn’t sure whether to follow Andy Cutler’s ALA/DMSA protocol or Chris Shade’s Liposomal ALA/Haritaki/Silicate Binder protocol so I gave a call to Leo Cashman from Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions (DAMS) who’s super helpful. Leo has his finger on the pulse of dentistry and assured me that my impression of Chris was correct; his work is to be trusted and is cutting edge. Assuming my levels are high, I plan on using Chris’s mercury detox protocol. Although, I will probably make my own liposomal C and use Dave Asprey’s Glutathione Force – I really like the taste. Maybe I’ll even lug the heavy Magnetico pads out from storage and slip them between my mattress and box spring.

The Toxic Effects Of The Mercury In Dental Amalgam Fillings On The Environment And Human Health

Crowns

In my mid twenties, I visited a young dentist for a routine cleaning. During that visit, the dentist commented that one of my upper molars had a lot of fillings and that there was a risk of the tooth cracking. If this should happen, I was told the tooth would die and require either extraction or a root canal. Still overly trusting in dentists and without doing any research, I gave the go-ahead to have a crown placed.

I was completely unaware that placing a crown means dramatically grinding down the existing tooth above the gum line so that only a small stub remains. A crown is a replacement cap that looks like your tooth above the gum line and has a corresponding hole in bottom to match the post created out of original tooth. The crown is glued in place with semi-permanent adhesives. After the procedure, I was told that there might be some discomfort for a time and was sent on my way.

The decision to have a crown set off a chain reaction that seriously damaged my health. Before I get into those details, I want to take a few minutes and look at what I’ve learned about crowned teeth since then. First, there is a substantial amount of grinding on the tooth. If the dentist is using a typical high speed drill that spins at over 100,000 revolutions per minute, the drill bit shatters away chunks of the tooth, creates high localized suction that can pull the life-sustaining dentin right out of the tooth, and can heats it up to damaging temperatures. Combined, this inflicts serious trauma to the tooth that can kill it. I remember how aggressively the dentist dug into that tooth and was surprised at how little time it took to grind it down to a nub.

Second, care should be taken to select the least toxic crown and adhesive (cement) available. Unwittingly, I selected a porcelain fused to metal (PFM) crown. The dentist described the crown as being “porcelain”. No mention was ever made of the fact that the white looking crown had a metal substructure made out of palladium, silver, zinc, indium, and gallium metals. Given what I’ve already mentioned related to galvanic corrosion (“rusting”) whenever two dissimilar metals are in contact with one another, this is not a good idea. Furthermore, palladium is itself a heavy metal considered by some to be more toxic than mercury in methylated form. On top of this, they typically use metallic pigments to darken the porcelain to match your other teeth.

In general, metal of any sort is not a good idea when it comes to dentistry. Although somewhat more brittle, I plan on having any future dental work done using metal-free ceramics like Admira. Some bio-compatible filling material can’t be colored to match perfectly to existing teeth.

Continuing on with my story, in my youth, I identified with being “tough”. This mindset in combination with the very obscure directive from the dentist that there may be some discomfort after the crown was placed resulted in me ignoring what was going on with the tooth. In fact, the tooth began hurting more and more over several months. When I eventually went in to have the crown checked out, it was discovered that it was way too “high”. As a result, every time I bit down, the crowned tooth contacted first and this put a lot of undue stress on an already traumatized tooth.

You can probably guess what was recommended. That’s right, a root canal. Back then, ozone wasn’t an option. However, nowadays for anyone experiencing pain from dental inflammation, sometimes a few injections of ozone into the gum around the area of the roots can induce healing that quenches the inflammation and pain. The injection is relatively painless although there may be some discomfort as the ozone goes to work.

For chronic deeper infections, they even make a hollow drill bit called an “intra-osseous needle”. The hollow bit is drilled into the bone and then detached from the hand piece. A syringe containing ozone is attached to the embedded drill and ozone gas is injected directly into the bone surrounding the tooth’s roots. It sounds scary/painful. However, based upon my experience, it was really no big deal.

So I went from having an intact tooth, albeit with a lot of filling material to needing a root canal in the span of a few months primarily from bad dentistry and vague post-procedure instructions. As you read on, you’ll discover that this is theme that played itself out over and over again resulting in greater and greater health impacts. Nowadays, when a dentist says I need work done, I ask as many questions as I can think of, write it all down, and then go home and do lots of research. If you only take away one bit of advice from this entire article, it would be do to likewise. Research, get a second opinion, try less destructive remedies first, use safe materials, and make sure you understand what all the warning signs are.

Root Canals

I’ve had two root canals. I’m guessing most are aware of the fact that root canals almost always eventually become seriously infected. Given that the nerves have been stripped from the tooth, these infections often are painless and consequently go undetected for many years. When you read up on the subject, the health impacts from infected root canals are stunning. At Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions (DAMS), they discuss health impacts that include a 24% remission rate in terminally ill cancer patients simply by removing root canalled teeth!

Returning to my own story, once again I failed to do any research and elected to have my local dentist perform a root canal on the now inflamed crowned tooth. During this procedure, the roots of the tooth are cleaned using a series of small round files. Once cleaned, the canals in the roots are flushed out with the equivalent of bleach (sodium hypochlorite). After cleaning, the hollowed out roots are sealed by packing them full with latex rubber called “gutta percha”. The final step is to fit a crown over the top thereby entombing the rubber packed dead roots.

It doesn’t take much research to realize that it is virtually impossible to clean out the miles of tiny tubule passages in a tooth. Failing to do so means harmful bacteria remain and fester resulting in a wide array of seemingly unrelated illnesses. Both of my root canalled teeth became infected and eventually were extracted. My advice is that if the time ever comes, do not get a root canal; get the tooth extracted.

Being new to this whole process and still trusting in dentists, what I didn’t understand is that I would have been much better off had I at least gone to an endodontist from the very beginning. Endodontists are specially trained in root canal work. As it turned out, the pain did not go away after the initial root canal by my local dentist. Rather, it got worse. The endodontist that I was referred to found that the roots had not been thoroughly cleaned and that I had a small fourth root that had been completely missed.

After the root canal was redone, a crown was fitted and everything seemed OK. At least the pain was gone. However, the amount of trauma to the surrounding bone along with the inevitable infection that all root canal teeth succumb to meant I was walking around with a ticking time bomb.

The root canal portion of my saga continued when I had a second root canal done on a different upper molar on the opposite side of my mouth after it become inflamed from the insult of having a porcelain fused to metal (PFM) crown worked on and eventually replaced. Unbeknownst to me, years back and as a result of a routine examine, a small cavity was found under the original porcelain crown. The dentist drilled through the crown and filled the cavity with a mercury filling and then hid the toxic filling by capping it off with a white composite plug. I assumed the entire filling was composite material. This was a dentist I’d seen many times and with whom I’d made it clear I was very concerned about not having toxic metals in my mouth!

As a result, I’d been once again unknowingly poisoned by my dentist. I found this out when the porcelain crown cracked and the damaged crown was removed by a different dentist. Having learned that porcelain crowns were mostly toxic palladium metal, I elected to have the porcelain crown replaced with a gold one. I knew gold was a much safer metal and naively thought the crown was solid gold. In fact, gold crowns are only 40% gold with the rest being a mix of more of that toxic palladium, along with silver, copper, and zinc. Ugh.

I had a biological dentist remove the toxic mercury that had been hidden away by a previous dentist. Amazingly, removal of the porcelain to metal crown and mercury filling reduced the ringing in my ears dramatically. Not knowing any better, the new gold crown was installed. However, after all those insults to the tooth it eventually became inflamed and a root canal was performed.

Did my dentist bother to mention that the gold crown really wasn’t solid gold? Nope. Did he bother to mention that, even though I didn’t have one amalgam filling in my mouth, he elected to surreptitiously use mercury and then cover it up? Nope. Is it any wonder that all those mechanical insults along with electrical currents induced by having dissimilar metals in the form of a mercury filling and porcelain crown in contact with each other eventually led to inflammation and the resulting death of the tooth? Nope.

Here’s a word to the wise. Never take what your dentist says on face value. After an initial consultation, go home a do a lot of research. If need be, get a second opinion from an expert in the field. When it comes time to perform a procedure, make sure you see exactly what the dentist is placing in your mouth.

Extractions

Over the years, the bone above one of the root canalled teeth developed a constant dull ache along with the cheek muscles in that area being forever tense. The muscle tension wasn’t noticeable by others but it felt like I was always wincing on that side of my face. Something wasn’t right.

To make a long story short, I consulted with three dentists. They took multiple x-rays. For the most part, the consensus was that everything looked OK. I wasn’t convinced. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to go see Dr. Cook and have the tooth extracted.

Dr. Cook is a pioneer in biological dentistry. He has a wealth of information on his website Dentistry Health and his book is a good read. When it comes to root canals, Dr. Cook believes it’s important to make sure all infected material is removed. As a result, he doesn’t pull the tooth and then clean out the root canals. Instead, he cuts the gum so he can grind off the thin layer of bone on the side and remove the roots out through the side. He believes this more aggressive approach is required to remove all infected material.

The conventional approach is to use a pair of pliers to loosen and then pull the tooth. Often with root canalled teeth, the roots become brittle and snap off. When this happens, the bone around the stuck root is ground away enough to allow a smaller pair of needle-nose like pliers to be used to extract the remaining root. This can be a process as molars typically have three distinct roots.

As noted previously, it’s very important that a slow speed drill is used. Also, in spite of what many dentists believe, it’s absolutely imperative that once the roots are removed that the sockets are lightly ground using a drill bur. The purpose of this deburring is to remove the microscopically thin periodontal ligament and to make sure any necrotic bone is removed. The periodontal ligament is the liner between jawbone and tooth roots. Leaving the microscopically thin periodontal ligament, or failing to remove spongy (infected) bone, is a recipe for cavitations – pockets of dead and occasionally infected bone.

Do your research and make sure to discuss all the details with your dentist before any work is performed. If all the dentist does is to “curette” the root sockets with hand tools after the tooth is pulled, find a different dentist. Curetting does not clean the socket well enough and often drives infected material into surrounding bone.

Getting back to Dr. Cook, he had a hard time getting the roots extracted. The process went on for a long time. The one bright point during the process is that Dr. Cook found clear signs of infection at the roots of the tooth. The white area in the photo, where the roots attach to the crown, is infected.

By the time the lengthy process was complete, I was in a mild state of shock. Even though Dr. Cook doesn’t believe ozone helps, he agreed to liberally flush the site before suturing it closed with the medical grade, ozonated water I’d brought along. I guess he was pretty tired too because we both forgot to use the medicinal water. The site was sutured close and I was sent home. Note: There is strong evidence that suggests flushing surgical sites with ozonated water helps.

Per Dr. Cook’s instructions, I was careful not to drink through straws or otherwise create suction along with not sneezing. This is important whenever the floor of the maxillary sinus cavity had been punctured during the removal process. The maxillary sinus cavity sits above the upper molars and there is always a risk that it may be punctured when upper molars are removed. The extra pressure from suction or sneezing could prevent the floor from healing. Surprisingly, it’s pretty easy to forget these instructions so I advise anyone who’s planning on having upper molars removed to practice a day ahead of time not creating suction or sneezing.

Per Dr. Cook’s instructions, I took his homeopathics and applied intermittent cold ice packs for pain. Everything seemed fine for the first week until the swelling started to go down and I noticed a small, hard, white, cylindrical protrusion in the area of the sutured extraction. I called Dr. Cook’s office and they assured me it was most likely a bone fragment working its way out. This commonly happens and I was informed to wait for over a month until my next appointment.

Upon further probing, the protruding material did not seem loose. One additional call to Dr. Cook’s office resulted in the same advice; wait. If you remember, this was the tooth that had four roots according to the endodontist that root canalled it. This is not to be confused with four canals wherein one of the three main roots branches into two. Instead, my understanding was that the tooth actually had four distinct roots emanating from the crown. This was very unusual for an upper first molar. When I relayed this information to Dr. Cook, he commented that if that were the case then I’d be able to get into the Guinness World Records.

Guess what, it was a fourth root that Dr. Cook had missed. I know this because when I asked him what the item was right after he extracted it, he quietly commented that it was a root. This admission was not followed by an apology. I shake my head in writing this because Dr. Cook is a very trusted dentist to the chronically ill and yet, as you will soon see, I ended up having a large cavitation (empty pocket in the jawbone) at this site in part due to mistakes that he made. Nobody is perfect, but his disregard of my caution about the possibility of four roots is not to be taken lightly.

A couple months later and I began having a constant dull ache in the bone above the extracted tooth. I went to see a different biological dentist. The biological dentist opened up the healed over extraction site and easily drilled through a thin layer of bone to find a cavernous pocket about the size of a dime full of a gooey mess. Not familiar with cavitation work, the dentist did his best to clean out the pocket and then flushed it liberally with ozonated water. After healing, it was considerably better although symptoms still linger on.

In spite of the roots and all the surrounding bone being removed, the question arises as to why the bone didn’t heal properly leaving a cavitation. Here are several suggestions. First, Dr. Cook would say I needed to remove all my composite fillings that had metal pigmentation. (I did not have any mercury fillings.) He encourages patients to replace all of their metal laden fillings first. Personally, I don’t really think this is a huge impact. Lots of root canal and jawbone work is done successfully without removing every bit of metal in a person’s mouth first.

Second, dentists give zero instruction as to what a blood clot is and why it is vitally important. I’ve had a total of three teeth extracted working with three different dentists and not one ever told me about the vitally important blood clot that forms in the empty socket. The blood clot seals off the tooth socket and allows bone to form across the width of the socket. If the clot is dislodged, the body must heal up the opening by progressively filling in the outer wall of the socket until the hole is completely closed. This takes more time, results in less bone growth, and can produce a painful dry socket. The Healing Socket And Socket Regeneration

In spite of trying to suture skin over the entire opening, there was about an 1/8th inch hole directly into the socket. Not knowing any better, after eating I probed the area with my tongue and felt what I thought were food scraps. Thinking that it couldn’t be good to have food scraps in the socket, I used a waterpik to gently wash out the socket. Little did I know but I was flushing out much of the vital blood clot.

Third, when the floor of the sinuses is perforated, it is common practice to fill this opening with a collagen plug. It’s not a good idea to have the bacterium in the mouth mixing with the bacterium in the sinuses. This is probably even truer for people with CIRS that often have MARCoNS nasal infections. Why Dr. Cook elected to not use the plug is unknown.

Fourth, I’m guessing leaving a root partially sticking out the extraction site didn’t help matters. Fifth, it’s not a good idea to use ice on dental surgery sites. It’s important to maximize blood flow even it this does mean extra bleeding and bruising. By design, these are areas that don’t get a lot of flow so it’s important not to constrict it further with the use of cold. And sixth, CIRS impairs health and this may have made healing more difficult.

So I’ve left out many details and condensed a lot of this saga. As noted, I had a total of three teeth extracted. Two were infected root canalled teeth and the third became infected by the rotten root canalled tooth next to it. Along the way, I’ve experienced much of how not to have teeth extracted. As a consequence of poor dentistry, I suspect that I may have pockets in the jawbone (cavitations) that will need to be addressed.

Cavitations

As noted previously, a cavitation is a pocket in the jawbone that may be filled with spongy material – not solid bone. Cavitations most often are a result of insufficient cleaning of the socket (hole) left after pulling a tooth. Standard cultures of cavitation sites often do not show signs of infection. Note: I suspect that if the extraction sites were cultured using the longer culture times in a MARCoNS testing, many sites may in fact test positive for infections.

I have some markers that point toward jawbone cavitation.My jaw has a dull ache all the time with the occasional sharp pain. The periodontal ligament was not removed in two of the three molars I had extracted along with the third molar becoming badly infected. I had to retreat for MARCoNS three times. My tinnitus is getting worse. In spite of being on VIP, my energy level is not what it should be.

Differential Diagnosis of NICO Lesions

For me, the likelihood of having cavitations is a result of root canalled teeth. For many others, cavitations develop when commonly extracted wisdom teeth sites are cleaned out improperly and not followed with good post surgery care. In Incidence Levels and Chronic Health Effects Related to Cavitations, they found pockets of dead jawbone (cavitations) in around 80% of the previously extracted molar sites they examined. Note: Most cavitation pockets are often a result of diminished blood supply or an initial infection but commonly are not found to be infected at the time of treatment.

There is a good chance my dental saga isn’t over. After reviewing Dr. Shankland’s talk, I’ve decided to solicit the expert review of my recent 3D dental scans from a few cavitation (osteonecrosis) surgeons. I’m not going to rush into anything. For a time, I plan on using infrared, HBOT, and iodine to see if I can get the suspected problematic bone to heal. Dr. Shankland says the only solution is to clean out all of the dead bone. We’ll see.

Based upon ElectroDermal Screening (EDS) and a CAVITAT (bone density) scan I’ve had done along with symptoms, if I’m unsuccessful, it looks like some cavitation work may be in store for me. On top of that, I don’t relish the idea of wearing a partial denture from losing those root canalled teeth. However, in the bigger picture, it’s a fair price to pay for improved health. It’s all just about making the best decision I can at every given point along the road and then dealing with whatever shows up next.

OK, this turned out to be a pretty heavy article. Nonetheless, I wanted to share what I’ve learned in the hopes that it may prevent others from traveling a similar road. Make sure to take deep breathes. Although it sounds intense, dental work is like any other health concern. Do your research, support your body, and then move forward while trying not to dwell on all the “what ifs”. I’ve included the picture of the puppy because I don’t know about you, but I could use a little cheering up after an article like this.

Observations & Steps to Ensure a Good Extraction

Below is a list of notes I made to myself during the extractions.

1. Take Strontium.
2. I tried a lot of ozone injections into the mucosa buccal to heal a tooth with a fistula to no avail. It made my face swell a bit on that side. I’m not all that optimistic about ozone for chronic tooth infections. I think it’s better used to clean dental sites and treat recent injuries.
3. If available, use HBOT before and after treatment along with infrared like a Lumen pad.
4. Don’t use ice – you want to maximize blood flow.
5. When the sinuses have been punctured, don’t drink through straws or even swallow in a way that creates suction on the socket. Also, sneeze with an open mouth and don’t blow your nose.
6. Clench on a piece of gauze packed into the space between remaining teeth to help stop bleeding.
7. Place gauze over the socket while eating. Make the gauze long so it can be held in place with a finger.
8. Drink salt water and gently brush gums often to keep the bacteria count down. You can also use a dilute solution of iodine in a waterpik to gentle rinse out the mouth after every meal and non-water drink.
9. Discuss the importance of closing any sinus punctures with a collagen plug or a skin flap sutured in place with your dentist.
10. Make sure the socket is really well debrised. This is best done with a slow speed drill.
11. Take lots of vitamin C and GSH after – not before as C will diminish drug effectiveness.
12. The anesthetic made me short tempered and amped up.
13. The blood clot should fill the entire socket down to the gum line. Try to keep from dislodging it. This enables the socket to fill across its width rather than from the socket walls in.
14. If the blood clot is lost, flush the socket out after every meal with mild salt water.
15. A Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) scan gives a 3D image allowing visual exploration of bone and teeth at any depth and angle and is the best tool for finding hidden infections. Traditional x-rays are close to worthless when it comes to finding smaller infections typical at the roots of teeth.
16. I think the best is to fill the cavity with sterilized bone from a cadaver. This material signals to your body to make new bone. The bone material is freeze dried, UV treated, and highly regulated. It’s of the consistency of fine grit. All that’s left is “signaling material” the recruits new bone growth. The body replaces this material with new bone. Some dentists don’t recommend the use of bone graft material but if you plan on having a Zirconia (not Titanium) implant, then you’ll want to maximize bone thickness.

    Update January 5, 2017
    In consulting with a Dr. Hal Huggins trained dental specialist that has done thousands of cavitation surgeries, I was told that bone graft material virtually never heals into solid bone; it always has some degree of infection and consequently softness to it. The site I had bone graft material placed in was found to be infected.
    Update End

17. I liked using a Teflon membrane (left image) to cover the bone graft material instead of a collagen plug. The membrane keeps skin and cartilage from forming where you want bone. The membrane is porous enough to allow the movement of cells. Skin and cartilage find it easy to form on the underside of the membrane and stick well there. This keeps the skin and cartilage cells where they should be. You don’t want them migrating into the bone material and forming there. When the membrane is removed after a month, the bone filled socket will be covered with a layer of skin that formed under the membrane.
18. If you don’t fill with bone graft material, then do not dislodge the blood clot. The clot should fill the entire socket.
19. Roots of upper molars can project into the maxillary sinuses. If the sinus membrane is penetrated, make sure a collagen plug is used or a flap is sewn over the hole to prevent bad bugs in the sinuses from creating a nasty cavitation filled with infection.
20. Have an oral surgeon, or better yet, a maxillofacial surgeon do extraction work as they have many more tricks they learn.
21. I tried Clovanol, ozone injections (into the mucosa buccal not the bone), MSM, cold thermogenisis, and infrared to no avail on a fistula – infected tooth that drains through a pimple on the gums. I applied 10 drops of Clovanol to gauze placed on the gum and this made me loopy and toxic. The clovanol stopped puss from draining while applied. The ozone made my check swell with no other noticeable effect. MSM did nothing.
22. Discuss with your dentist that CIRS causes low MSH leading to less functional mucus linings in the sinuses leading to MARCoNS and fungal infections.
23. Consider using Saccharomyces Boulardii (Florastor) if antibiotics are prescribed and taken.
24. I didn’t experience anything more than a dull ache that lasted for about 24 hours after extraction.
25. It’s important to remove the periodontal ligament even if it is only a few microns thick. It’s important to stress debriding the socket well to a conventional dentist.
26. Appropriate Pre- ad Post-Extraction Protocols When Surgical Intervention is Necessary
27. Cavitation & Extraction Protocol
28. Dr. Huggins Protocols