The Periodontal Solution by Dr. Jim Harrison

The Peridontal Solution –
James Harrison, D.D.S. with Constance Clark.

“Your physical health is directly affected by your dental health.”

For over 20 years, Dr. Harrison has been dedicated to the practice he calls Integrative Dentistry, which combines science-based, high quality dentistry with holistic principles. In this ground-breaking book, Dr. Harrison explains how oral infection is linked to heart disease, pregnancy risks, obesity and a number of other major health concerns. More importantly, he tells you what you can do about it.

“I began my quest to understand the causes and treatment of Periodontal Disease almost 20 years ago. The importance of this mission increased as I uncovered research findings that linked this debilitating dental condition to even more serious health threats, such as heart disease.
Periodontal Disease, which is actually Periodontal Infection, can be treated. I hope that my book; The Periodontal Solution: Healthy Gums Naturally, give you the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions concerning your teeth, your gums, and ultimately your health.”

Dr. Harrison is a leader in the bio-compatible dental community and has been practicing biological dentistry for over 25 years. Early in his career he recognized that conditions and treatments relating to the mouth had a profound effect on other parts of the body.This understanding, coupled with his extensive experience in leading edge biological and environmental dentistry, serve as the foundation for the Bio-Pro® Oral Health Program.

Please view excerpts from sample chapters below
What Is Periodontal Disease and Periodontal Infection?
Pathogenic Microorganisms: The Bugs
Oral Infection and Related Health Risks
Diagnosing Periodontal Infection

*The following information on this page is exerted from chapters of the book.

What Is Periodontal Disease and Periodontal Infection?

• The true cause of Periodontal Disease is microorganisms... germs, and conventional treatment often does nothing to address the problem!
• Research shows that Periodontal Disease develops when germs are introduced into the mouth. 1, 2 Therefore, Periodontal Disease is really Periodontal Infection (PI).
• The time to start treating the problem should be long before the destruction becomes visible. Whatever your stage of gum problems, the information available on this site and in the book is essential for your teeth, gums and an overall health.

Healthy gums are "stippled," resembling the look of an orange peel in texture. If your gums do not have this look, or are smooth and shiny, you may have a periodontal infection. However, healthy-looking gums do not necessarily mean you are bug-free.

Gum problems:
From the mildest to the most serious

Gingivitis: gums become red and swollen, and bleed easily. There is generally little or no discomfort at this stage. Gingivitis is usually reversible with professional treatment, coupled with an effective home-care program.

Early Periodontitis is the mildest form of periodontal infection. There is a slight loss of connective tissue attachment at this stage. The infection begins to destroy the bone and tissue that support the teeth. There is a sensation that something feels wrong, but it is mild enough to ignore. At this stage brushing and flossing will no longer reach the base of the pockets, which are 3 – 5 mm.

Moderate Periodontitis represents significant bone loss with the teeth beginning to loosen. As bone is lost, more of the tooth is exposed. The ability to arrest the infection becomes more difficult.

Advanced Periodontitis has devastating bone loss with loosening teeth. If no immediate attention is given, there is a high probability that teeth will become very loose and eventually fall out. Controlling the infection is a major challenge.

Click the thumbnails for a larger view.

Refractory Periodontitis is a rapidly advancing infection that does not respond to typical therapy.

Generalized Juvenile Periodontitis is often considered a disease of young adults, although it can begin around puberty. It is characterized by marked inflammation and heavy accumulations of plaque and calculus.

Plaque is a sticky, water-repellent coating or bio-film on the teeth and gums. It is composed of food debris and over 300 forms of bacteria, viruses and fungi and their waste products.

Calculus (tartar) is the hardened, porous buildup of mineral salts and dead bacteria.

Saliva is the mineral-rich fluid that keeps the teeth hard, lubricates the mouth, and provides digestive enzymes. But saliva also plays an important role in a healthy mouth. It impairs the growth of bacteria by washing them away, along with acidic bacterial waste products that can dissolve tooth structure. Dryness means that you do not have enough saliva, the mouth's natural protective fluid.

Pathogenic Microorganisms: The Bugs

A Description of the Enemy

Pathogenic microorganisms tend to be mobile: increased mobility often correlates to increased virulence.

Bacteria

• Spirochetes look like snakes. With their constant spiraling motion, they worm their way into the tissue of the gum. They can eat right through the skin to feast on blood and fibrin. If your gums bleed easily, always suspect the presence of spirochetes.
• Small gliding rods are short, cigar-looking bugs that cruise rapidly from one end of the screen to the other. They are fairly tough to kill. They may grow on bone and eventually destroy it.
• Large gliding rods are long and graceful. They also may destroy bone.
• Spinning rods are the whirling dervishes of the bug world. They are very active, constantly twirling. Unfortunately, these colorful bugs are associated with progressive PI.
• Clock Arms (Cytophaga) look like they were designed to tell the time, with extended, pole-like arms swinging like the hands of a clock.
• Motile cocci are small specks that zip around the slide. Sometimes these bugs are seen in the slides of children who do not brush carefully enough. They can cause bleeding and mild irritation.

One-Celled Animals

• Trichomonas tenax look like miniature mice with five extended tentacles flailing in front as they overcome any bacteria in their way.
• Amoebas are shapeless blobs that creep about in slow motion. Their shape depends on what they have just eaten. They devour white blood cells after first stinging them. When a white blood cell is stung, it goes in to frenzy, releasing enzymes that dissolve the surrounding tissue. This degrading of the tissue calls for even more white blood cells, which meet a similar fate. Since amoebas are asexual and are capable of reproducing quickly, the increase in damaged white blood cells provides more food for the ever-growing amoeba colony. They alone may do more damage than any other microorganism.
• Yeast, fungus and candida are slow moving and are either long strands, which are invasive, or dots that can grow rapidly. This pathogen has the capability of switching functions, depending on which stage it is in.

Oral Infection and Related Health Risks

What you should know…

• The National Institute of Dental Research states that 75% of the adult population has moderate to advanced periodontal infection.
• 90% of adults have some form of gingivitis
• 30% of children have moderate Periodontal Infection
• According to the National Institute of Health, “the incidence of Periodontal Infection exceeds 70% in the 30 – 44 age groups and 90% in the 55 – 64 age group. 8,9
• Present research overwhelmingly supports the assertion that Periodontal Infection affects the rest of the body in dramatic ways.10,11,12

Heart Disease > Stroke > Diabetes > Stomach Ulcers > Obesity and Weight Loss > Pneumonia and Respiratory Diseases > Pregnancy > Osteoporosis

If you have an unhealthy mouth, you have an unhealthy body!
The Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health: Implications on Research and Education stresses the seriousness of the connection between PI and many systemic diseases.

Other research associates PI with over forty diseases, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The sheer number of studies that directly or indirectly examine the oral-systemic link is substantial.14,15,

Parade Magazine, March 26, 2000 has an article entitled “Keep Your Gums Healthy—And Your Heart Will Benefit.” The word is definitely getting out.

Heart Disease
There is increasing awareness in medical literature that coronary heart disease is linked not only to hereditary and nutritional factors, but that it also has infectious origin.18,19, 20,

Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, (UNC) conducted a long-term study involving 1,147 men. The study concluded that having PI increases the risk for coronary heart disease by 150%, for fatal coronary heart disease by 190%, and for stroke by 280%. It was found that heart attack survivors with PI also have a greater risk of suffering a second heart attack.29

UNC also added that heart-attack survivors who have advanced PI are more likely to have elevated blood levels of C-reactive-factor protein (CRP), an inflammatory protein associated with heart disease. Further research noted that CRP levels were directly related to the severity of the PI.30

At the Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland, doctors followed the medical history of 9,760 patients for fourteen years. They confirmed that those with the most severe dental infections at the beginning of the study had a 25% increased risk of developing coronary heart disease, especially men under 50 years of age.35

Stroke
The First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and its follow-up represents the first major study correlating cerebrovascular accidents (strokes) with Periodontal Infection. The study comprised 9,962 adults, ages 25 to 74, categorized from no PI to significant PI. The results were astounding: having PI represented more than a 200% greater risk for total strokes and, in particular, non-bleeding strokes.38

Arnin Grau, M.D., of the Department of Neurology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany discovered that poor dental status resulting from chronic dental and bone infection was associated with a stroke increase of two and one-half times over non-PI patients. 39

Diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus)
Previously, it was assumed that the association between Periodontal Infection and diabetes was the diabetic patient’s compromised ability to respond to infectious challenges. Therefore, they were predisposed to bacterial infections such as PI.

However, now the opposite possibility should be considered. Dr. Robert Genco, chairman of Oral Biology Department at SUNYAB, said, “Diabetics are at a higher risk for periodontal disease.” His studies show that treating PI may reduce a diabetic’s blood sugar levels.40,41

Stomach Ulcers and H. Pylori
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a species of bacteria that is found in the stomach lining of 50% of all Americans and has been associated with stomach ulcers and stomach cancer. 49

Even when H. pylori was eliminated from the stomach with antibiotic therapy, it was not completely eradicated from the mouth, where it continues to grow in colonies deep within periodontal pockets. These pockets could be a source of re-infection for the stomach.50

Obesity and Weight Loss

Dr. Sara Grossi, clinical assistant professor of oral biology, director of the UB Periodontal Disease Research Center states, “Acute infections cause metabolic disturbances, and periodontal disease is one of humankind’s most common chronic infections. In this case, we think bacteria from gum disease may interfere with fat metabolism, leading to elevated LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol.”51

Statistics correlate obesity and PI. Results obtained from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination (NHANES III) show that overweight people with the highest levels of insulin resistance are 50% more likely to have severe PI compared to overweight people with low insulin resistance.52

Dr. O. A’cbay and his team discovered that H. pylori in the stomach triggers the release of the hormone gastrin. Gastrin acts to stimulate the pancreas to release insulin, causing hyperinsulinemia, a serious condition that may not only result in diabetic complications and obesity but also put the heart at risk. Further studies are warranted to investigate whether eliminating H. pylori in the stomach can help in weight reduction.53

Pneumonia and Respiratory Diseases

Bacterial respiratory infections may be acquired by inhaling fine droplets of oral fluids from the mouth and throat. These droplets contain germs, which can breed and multiply within the lungs. It is recognized that pneumonia and lung abscesses can result from the same bacteria that cause PI. Dental plaque would seem to be a logical source of these bacteria, especially in patients with PI.54

Pregnancy
Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) have made an enormous contribution to understanding the correlation between PI and pre-term, low-birth-weight babies (PTLBW). An infectious process appears to trigger either early labor or a premature rupture of membranes by placing undue stress on the immune system.57

Marjorie Jeffcoat, D.M.D., Department of Periodontics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry stated, “…the trend for pre-term birth was observed in women with as little as two sites (of PI).”63

Further studies in “The Journal of Infectious Immunity” were conducted on hamsters. When maternal hamsters were exposed to a common oral pathogen, such as P. gingivalis, they experienced stressed delivery.65,66

Osteoporosis
Dental researchers have established a connection between PI and bone disease. A study at SUNYAB reviewed the medical records of 2,599 postmenopausal women and found that women who had osteoporosis of the hip were two times more likely to have loose teeth and PI than women with healthy hip bones.67

Researchers are starting to use bone scans to compare the bone density of the hip to that of the bone surrounding the teeth. Preliminary results indicate that, as dental bone density decreases, so does hip bone density. Further studies are warranted.69

Diagnosing Periodontal Infection

Any oral discomfort or abnormal coloring can indicate infection. Unfortunately from a detection point of view, gum disease isn’t associated with a great deal of pain, especially in its early phases. Without pain, the majority of people aren’t adequately concerned about their teeth and gums.

You can keep a sharp lookout for PI by being aware of the following symptoms:

• Bleeding is the most common marker of infection. Small ulcers or wounds in the gum pocket bleed with the smallest provocation, such as flossing, brushing, irrigating, or even rinsing and chewing. If you see even a little blood when you are cleaning your mouth, there is a problem!
• Red, swollen or tender gums are an indication of PI.
• Abscesses are swellings or bumps on the gum surface that can either appear suddenly or grow gradually. They can feel hot and/or painful. An abscess always indicates PI.
• Discomfort resulting from inflammation as pressure is exerted on the nerves. Note carefully which teeth are sensitive to pain and whether this condition is constant or fluctuates. If the area is irrigated with an anti-microbial and the discomfort goes away, the source for the pain is most likely PI. However, if the discomfort is a throbbing pain, and cold relieves it, the infection is probably into the nerve, and the tooth needs immediate attention.
• Gums that have pulled away from the teeth are a clear indication of PI.
• Loose, shifting teeth, or a change in the way teeth or partial dentures fit together when you bite, is an indication of PI.
• Persistent bad breath is usually caused by hydrogen sulfide compounds, which are bacterial waste products. It is almost always a sign of PI. One way to determine if the cause is PI is to floss and then smell the floss. If it smells bad, like rotten eggs or spoiled food, PI is probably present.
• Medications can also cause bleeding. Anti-convulsants (dilantin) or hypertensive drugs like the calcium channel blockers (Cardizem, Tenormin) can cause hyperplasia, abnormal overgrowth of gum tissue. Aspirin and most anticoagulant medicines will also cause a patient to bleed more easily.
• Dental plaque is hard to see. Chewing red disclosing tablets, sold at grocery stores and drug stores, can stain plaque, making it more visible. Another technique to make plaque visible is to paint red food coloring on the teeth after brushing. The color left on the teeth shows where there is still plaque.