Root Cause – The Root of all Evil

The following text is from Dr K.U. Volz, for a direct link to his website, please click here:

The film “Root Cause”, (https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/root-cause ) reports on the dangers of root-treated teeth and ischemic osteonecrosis during a ten-year personal search for the cause of the chronic fatigue, the filmmaker and producer and actor Ben Purser suffers from. 

Rarely before has this topic generated so much audience attention as through this movie and let the waves blow up that much on both sides, the supporters of the theory as well as the opponents.

Basically, we think it’s good that the topic Root Cause, which affects hundreds of millions of people around the world (in the US alone, around 25 million new root-canal treatments are being treated each year) is becoming a public focus and hopefully will lead to Dentists, immunologists, oncologists, cardiologists, orthopaedists and internists coming together and dealing more intensively with this issue in the interest of the health of patients or humanity according to the official rules of medicine and science!

  Root Cause – the root of all evil?

The movie “Root Cause” is a “must see”, although we see some weaknesses in the presentation: the film is based almost exclusively on expert reports, which report from third persons (their patients), but in the film are neither being shown nor interviewed so that the viewer must fully rely on the veracity of these reports. It would have been a simple matter, as we do in the SWISS BIOHEALTH CLINIC, to seriously document some cases and to include them in the film, just as in our testimonials: X-rays before and after treatment, patient before and after treatment, testimonial, vital signs eg: HRV and symptoms (we assess the symptoms of our patients at different stages of treatment using the validated “Medical Symptoms Questionnaire”). From this we can then at least meaningful present “individual fates”, such as that of Catherine Stewart.

  “He who heals is right!”

Basically, medicine has under laid this indisputable rule since time immemorial. Therefore, if consistent biological dentistry, as we have been performing it on our patients for more than 25 years, demonstrably has led to improvements for nearly all patients, then this cannot and must not be negated by medicine. Furthermore, every medical therapy development follows the order: “Observing – recognizing – acting – proving!”. Often, ignorance of this rationale for certain obvious findings lead to the requirement of randomized 5-year double-blind studies, ignoring the fact that “evidence” comes after “action.”

The thalidomide scandal

Let’s go back 60 years in time and remember the thalidomide scandal: Since the end of 1960, the Federal Republic observed a rapid increase in the malformation of new born. In the first specialist publication, the doctor Hans-Rudolf Wiedemann reported in September 1961, [10] that 13 cases of limb malformations had been observed in the Krefeld City Children’s Hospital in the previous ten months. [3] But since he could not make out the cause, he assumed that this was due to a newly introduced “toxic factor” that was unknown. The public continued to speculate on possible damage from nuclear weapons tests, which delayed the Enlightenment. [4]

In 1961, the Hamburg doctor Widukind Lenz and the Australian gynaecologist William McBride [11] independently examined and published the connection between thalidomide and the malformations. The publications were based on observed correlations between data on thalidomide taken by the mother and the damaged born child. 

After an anonymous letter “The World” published on Sunday, November 26, 1961 an article, whereupon Grünenthal the following day finally pulled thalidomide from the market. The company had already been informed by phone on November 15 by Lenz, however refused to withdraw the drug from the market by the 24th of November and threatened in the event of a ban on recourse claims.

On December 6, 1961 a further, more detailed article was published in the magazine ‚Der Spiegel‘. [13] On the discovery of the doctor Lenz and the recent publications it says: “Until Monday of last week, the German citizens knew nothing about the ‘malformation epidemic’. On this day, however, the West German newspaper readers were informed with thick, more (‘The World’: ‘Malformed by Sleeping Pills?’) or less tact (‘Picture’: ‘Malformations through Sleeping Pills?’) headlines, not about the extent of the misfortune, but about the supposed cause. 

The paediatrician and lecturer from the Hamburg University Children’s Hospital Widukind Lenz have, so the newspapers reported, “Sounded the alarm” and warned against the most commonly used sleeping aid.”

No one would seriously consider calling for 5-year studies in such a situation to reach a decision to apparently take toxic sleeping pills off the market? The observations of biological dentists go back well over 100 years and have already caused them to take action to remove root-treated teeth:

Weston Price

Weston Price was no less than the chairman of the research department of the American Dental Association and showed in his studies that his patients were not only healthier and symptom-free after the removal of the root-treated teeth, but also that over 80% of the sheep and rabbits, into which he implanted these root-treated teeth developed the same symptoms as the donors!

Also the recently deceased second forefather of biological dentistry Hal Huggins repeated and confirmed the findings of Weston Price in his writings (Huggins Hal A and Levy Thomas (1999), Uninformed Consent), The Hidden Dangers in Dental Care and Hampton Roads Pub Co. p.278 ISBN 1-57174-117-8.) He published together with the also in Root Cause Several times worded and famous celebrity cardiologist Thomas Levy, the dangers that can arise from dental materials and procedures.

I think it is safe to say, based on more than one hundred years of root canal treatment, that massive health problems can arise from the bacteria, endotoxins, mercaptans and thioethers, all of which are released from root-treated teeth. Thousands of biological dentists have responded (observing – recognizing – acting – proving) and implemented the knowledge gained from the observations. 

What about the study situation?

Current study situation – Root Cause

For example, this brand new, international study, which is focused on Pubmed, shows that root-treated teeth clearly show carcinogenic activity (oxidative and nitrosative stress) and also contribute to depression:

Mol Neurobiol. 2018 Apr;55(4):2814-2827. doi: 10.1007/s12035-017-0545-z. Epub 2017 Apr 28.
Increased Root Canal Endotoxin Levels are Associated with Chronic Apical Periodontitis, increased Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress, major depression, severity of depression,and a Lowered Quality of Life. Gomes C¹, Martinho FC², Barbosa DS³, Antunes LS¹, Póvoa HCC⁴, Baltus THL³, Morelli NR³, Vargas HO⁵, Nunes SOV³, Anderson G⁶, Maes M^7,8,9,10,11. Author information

Abstract

Evidence indicates that major depression is accompanied by increased translocation of gut commensal Gram-negative bacteria (leaky gut) and consequent activation of oxidative and nitrosative (O&NS) pathways. 

This present study examined the associations among chronic apical periodontitis (CAP), root canal endotoxin levels (lipopolysaccharides, LPS), O&NS pathways, depressive symptoms, and quality of life. Measurements included advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), nitric oxide metabolites (NOx), lipid peroxides (LOOH), -sulfhydryl (SH) groups, total radical trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP), and paraoxonase (PON)1 activity in participants with CAP, with and without depression, as well as healthy controls (no depression, no CAP). Root canal LPS levels were positively associated with CAP, clinical depression, severity of depression (as measured with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and the Beck Depression Inventory) and O&NS biomarkers, especially NOx and TRAP.

 CAP-related depression was accompanied by increased levels of NOx, LOOH, AOPP, and TRAP. In CAP participants, there was a strong correlation (r = 0.734, p < 0.001) between root canal LPS and the HDRS score. There were significant and positive associations between CAP or root canal endotoxin with the vegetative and physio-somatic symptoms of the HDRS as well as a significant inverse association between root canal endotoxin and quality of life with strong effects on psychological, environmental, and social domains.

It is concluded that increased root canal LPS accompanying CAP may cause depression and a lowered quality of life, which may be partly explained by activated O&NS pathways, especially NOx thereby enhancing hypernitrosylation and thus neuroprogressive processes. Dental health and „leaky teeth“may be intimately linked to the etiology and course of depression, while significantly impacting quality of life

KEYWORDS:

Antioxidants; Chronic apical periodontitis; Depression; Endotoxin; Inflammation; LPS; Oxidative and nitrosative stress

This study from 2018 also establishes the link between root-treated teeth and systemic diseases:

DOI: 10.4172/2161-1122.1000476
Impact of Endodontically Treated Teeth on Systemic Diseases
Johann Lechner^1* and Volker Von Baehr²

Department of Integrative Dentistry, Grünwalder Str. 10A, 81547, Munich, Germany

Department of Immunology and Allergology at the Institute of Medical Diagnostics in MVZ GbR, Nicolaistr 22, 12247, Berlin, Germany

* Corresponding Author Johann Lechner, Head of Clinical Integrative Dentistry Munich Gruenwalder Str. 10A, 81547 Muenchen, Germany,

Received Date: Mar 05, 2018 / Accepted Date: Mar 23, 2018 / Published Date: Mar 31, 2018

Abstract

Background: This study compares the radiographic distribution of apical periodontitis (AP) in rootfilled and endodontically treated teeth among healthy controls and patients with systemic diseases; the incidence of AP was almost twice as high in the latter group.

Objective: The question arises as to whether the biogenic amines (mercaptan/thioether/hydrogen sulfide) originating from endodontically treated teeth have systemic, subtoxic and immunological effects. Method: In order to determine this, local hydrogen sulfide measurements of endodontically treated teeth were combined with the laboratory serum analyses of modified proteins to assess the relationship of these compounds with type IV immune reactions.

Results: It was found that 42.5% of the group with systemic diseases showed immunological disturbance as a result of root-filled teeth. Furthermore, the presence of AP was almost three times higher than in the control group (17.2% versus 5.9%, respectively).

Conclusion: In summary, the data demonstrates that local pathologies caused by endodontically treated teeth may increase immunological and systemic dysfunction.

Further studies on root cause

In fact, there are hundreds of studies that confirm the statements, which were stated in “Root Cause” – whereas we do not know of a medical study that unequivocally proves that the root-treated teeth have no impact on patient’s health.

References and more cases to be supplied upon request.

Since the risk to the patient’s health when leaving root-treated teeth is certainly greater and more severe than the removal, we see a “reversal of the burden of proof” among advocates of endodontology, and urge them to submit or initiate appropriate studies that will address and prove the alleged intactness of the organism after a root canal treatment.