In the never ending fight to save our teeth, there is nothing more useless than toothpaste. If you've been a subscriber for any length of time, you already know the dangers associated with fluoride use. And you also know that it's difficult to find a toothpaste that doesn't contain fluoride.
Yet, dentists warn that young children should not use fluoridated toothpaste "without supervision." That is because toothpaste is sweet and children swallow it. When they swallow it, they get massive overdoses of fluoride, which is an enzymatic poison.
Whereas your water has only been contaminated from one to ten parts per million, toothpaste contains 1000 parts per million. There is also evidence that toothpaste can cause ulcerative colitis.
If there is one thing the American people believe in, it's the power of toothpaste to prevent tooth decay and gum disease. But most people don't realize that this imputed power of prevention defies all the known facts of microbiology, to say nothing of common sense.
But the power of persuasion is alive and well in the United States. Thanks to advertising, American dentists (and their patients) are sold on the combination of the toothbrush, toothpaste, and dental floss. In Finland it's the toothbrush in combination with toothpicks. (Some people have been so over sold on the virtues of toothbrushing that dentists now have a new industry: replacing the enamel on teeth that has been worn away from excessive brushing.) The water pick was much in vogue in the U.S., but in spite of being a good method for removing food particles from the spaces between the teeth and under the gums, the pick seems to have lost favor with the dentists.
None of the above is really the answer to gum and dental health, because none of these methods meet the problem of oral pathology of either the gums or the teeth. The common assumption is that particles of food rot near the teeth and thus cause a decay of the tooth surface or infection of the apposed gum, or both.
This assumption has never been proven to be true. In fact, the evidence shows just the opposite—that cavities aren't caused by rotten food. They are caused by a rotten diet. The great nutritionist, Dr. Weston Price, proved many years ago that native tribes in the South Pacific that have not been exposed to modern food do not get cavities or gum disease. His work was confirmed by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, a great Arctic explorer back in the first half of this century whose observations of the Eskimo tribes and study of the ancient skulls in Iceland showed no signs of tooth decay.
Stefansson had some penetrating words of wisdom for the overrated profession of dental hygiene: "Teeth superior on the average to those of the presidents of our largest toothpaste companies are found in the world today, and have existed in past ages, among people who violate every precept of current dentifrice advertising.... The best teeth and the healthiest mouths were found among people who never in their lives tasted or tested any of the other things which we usually recommend for sound teeth. They never took any pains to cleanse their teeth or mouths. They did not visit their dentist twice a year or even once in a lifetime. "
Stefansson wrote this colorful attack back in 1936. Since then, there has been an enormous increase in the consumption of toothpaste because of the relentless propaganda from the American Dental Association (which has a vested interest in Crest—the "ADA-approved" dentifrice) and the toothpaste industry ("brush your teeth twice a day and see your dentist twice a year"). A few years after Stefansson's attack on the toothpaste industry and the dental profession, a brilliant clinician, Dr. Emanuel Libman, suggested that toothpaste might be involved in the etiology of Crohn's disease, also known as regional ileitis (President Eisenhower had it).
Regional ileitis is an inflammation of the part of the small intestine where it connects with the large intestine (colon). The area becomes scarred and an intestinal obstruction often develops. This may require emergency surgery to correct.
No one paid much attention to Libman (geniuses have that problem) because it was assumed that the mammalian gastrointestinal tract does not absorb particles such as the aluminum and silicon found in toothpaste. But doctors at the University of London have found, in experiments on rats, that polystyrene particles are indeed absorbed into the veins of the intestinal tract and reach the liver. Polystyrene is a completely insoluble substance; if it can be absorbed by the intestine, there are probably few, if any, substances that cannot enter the venous or lymphatic circulations to some degree—including aluminum and silicon.
Parenthetically, many pharmaceuticals—in fact, most of them—contain "insoluble" additives. If you are a chronic user of any medication, prescription or over-thecounter, you are a candidate for Crohn's disease. The doctors at the University of London who did the polystyrene experiments concluded: "Perhaps we should be more concerned about the fate of insoluble materials in toothpaste and pharmaceuticals which might be taken chronically." Another British group at St. Bartholomew's Hospital has added corroborating evidence by discovering aluminum, silicon, and titanium in the lesions of Crohn's disease.
It is interesting to note that regional ileitis is more common among the higher socioeconomic groups. These are the folks who are more likely to take the advice of doctors and dentists seriously and thus are more susceptible to the propaganda of the tooth fairies of the AND.
Action to Take
1. Throw out all the toothbrushes and toothpaste in your bath room. I realize that most of you are not willing to do this, so if you must brush, get three percent hydrogen peroxide from the drug store and mix it with baking soda. Make a thick solution with it, not a paste—and brush with that. If you insist upon brushing your teeth with store-bought toothpaste, don't use any that has fluoride in it. All natural toothpaste can be purchased at most health food stores.
2. Water-pick your teeth with three percent hydrogen peroxide before bed time. See my Final Note below for further explanation.
3. Your toothbrush is one of the dirtiest things in your bathroom. If you use a toothbrush, dip it in three percent hydrogen peroxide after each use.
4. As I've said before, take everything in your kitchen or bath labeled as containing fluoride, pack it up, and send it to someone you hate.
5. For "mouth freshness" in the morning, rinse with three percent hydrogen peroxide. It lasts longer than Scope, Listerine, or Crest and actually kills pathogenic bacteria; the others do not. You might also try chewing on a piece of parsley.
Final Note: It is not possible for a toothbrush, a toothpick, dental floss, or a combination of all three, to remove microscopic particles of food from all of your teeth interfaces and from under your gums. That's why I never believed "oral hygiene" had much to do with preventing tooth decay.
What I'm getting at here is that if you can't rid yourself of the fear of food, and you really think your mouth has to be squeaky clean after eating, then use a water pick with three percent hydrogen peroxide after dinner. Don't worry about breakfast and lunch—the food isn't going to rot before bed time.
Another choice for the compulsive mouth cleaner is the new ultrasound toothbrush. Now that is industrial grade cleaning and I think it is safe—although I have seen no studies on it.
After following this regimen, your teeth will still rot if your diet is loaded with sugar, fluoride, heated saturated vegetable fats, and other nutrition-free food substitutes. The water pick and the ultrasound can clean your mouth but it can't clean your blood.
Hydrogen Peroxide and the Gum Doctors
They're called periodontists, but that's just a fancy name for gum doctors, the dentists who have carved a specialty out of gum diseases. You know the line they use: "Your teeth are okay, but your gums have got to go."
But a renegade doctor, Paul Keyes, says that most gum surgery is a racket and a rip-off. Doctor Keyes doesn't put it quite that bluntly, but his message is clear: "The controversy comes from people who like to do surgery and whose egos or income are threatened." His method of treating infected gums costs about $500.00. The periodontist's bill can be as high as $10,000.00. You can see why the periodontists might not like the new method.
Actually, it's not new. A reference is made to the use of hydrogen peroxide in dentistry in 1746. It was recommended for the treatment of pus pockets around the teeth, to be followed by excision of the dead tissues. One doctor commented: "The proposed treatment was all right in a high class practice where people could afford the fees; but it seemed unattainable to ordinary people, among whom one often found the worst cases." (Nothing has changed. )
The treatment consists of rubbing a mixture of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide into the gums. It's not quite that simple. The dentist has to do some housecleaning around your mouth, and the patient has to take the time at home for the peroxide to do the job. But the treatment is basically very simple and very effective.
Doctor Gerald Kramer, a Boston periodontist, is very critical, in fact, downright sarcastic, about the peroxide method. He says: "Keyes' technique is dramatized as the silver bullet which the public thinks it can use to cure gum disease at home in order to avoid those bad people who want to operate."
Sounds like a good idea to me. Dr. Jerry Garner, a gastroenterologist (gut doctor) from the National Institute of Health, would agree. He was told by a periodontist that all of his teeth would have to be removed. He went to Dr. Keyes and six years later still had all of his teeth.
Delores Dinapoli is another typical case. "Two years ago I went to a butcher who cut up one-fourth of my mouth. Another periodontist suggested still more surgery, but I couldn't face it. After treatment with (H2O2 ) my gums don't bleed or taste of pus. I have no pain or swelling."
Dr. Paul Cummings of Wilmington, North Carolina, is not just your ordinary dentist. He taught gum surgery at the University of North Carolina. Now he is a convert and reports a 98 percent success rate in 1,000 patients using hydrogen peroxide.1
"The irony is that you can get better results without surgery," Cummings said. "I've been using the nonsurgical technique for five years and the results are 300 percent better than I ever got with surgery."
Cummings points out that not one clinical study has ever shown periodontal surgery to be necessary.
Dr. Kramer is right. You can usually avoid "those bad people who want to operate.”
Bad Breath—
It's Most Likely From Your Nose
We used to think bad breath was primarily a matter of a moldy tongue, a rotten tooth, or something returning from your stomach. All of these things can be factors, but the most important source of bad breath is probably the sinuses, the nose, and the nasopharynx—that area your tongue won't reach, back of your nose and above the base of your tongue. The sinuses, those holes in your head bone below your eyes, are a very likely culprit for bad breath—there's snot up there that can get infected and rancid. The best treatment for this type of halitosis is H2O2 . Take the drugstore variety, which is three percent; dilute it 50 percent with water and put five to ten drops in each nostril—sniff it up vigorously (it will burn a little) . Do this twice daily and see if it helps. If it doesn't, then your problem is not your sinuses.