通过口腔疾病有

There’s a Chinese proverb saying, “Disease comes in through the mouth, and trouble goes out through the mouth.” Yet here we are in 2011 and learnings regarding the oral-systemic disease link are somehow nascent. How could the collective knowledge of humans spanning thousands of years be so forgotten or obfuscated?

When I posted about the oral-systemic connection early in 2011, it drew the attention of “consultants” who pooh-poohed this notion of oral biofilms playing a role in systemic health, even though thousands of researchers and millions of conscientious humans understand this connection. Why would people find this obvious, proven and aged wisdom so controversial? See this post on my biofilmcommunity site.

If you have the time to search PubMed, use the culturally accepted terms, e.g.: biofilm dispersal, biofilm disassembly, biofilm virulence, biofilm spread, etc. Using these terms, you’ll find myriad articles explaining the biological phenomenon known as planktonic showers – when biofilms shed entire fragments and/or planktonic bacteria into the bloodstream – thereby setting up other infections or blood clots elsewhere in the host. In my interview with Dr. Garth Ehrlich in 2010, he discusses these important life processes.

During the film making process, it was difficult to avoid this topic of dental biofilms, as dental plaque (an example of a biofilm) is the most popular notion of chronic bacterial infections that is vaguely familiar to the public.  Here’s a snippet from one of my interviews with Trisha E. O’Hehir:

I have nice teeth! Honest!

“…What are the links and what other systemic conditions are linked to oral health?  The list goes on and on, and every week we have new things added to that list.  It starts, of course, with oral health and problems in the mouth.  And it goes as the toxins and the cytokines, the substances that are produced that are dangerous, are dumped into the bloodstream; they can be taken to the heart, they can be taken to a fetus, they can be taken to arthritic joints; any other places in the body, even linking it now to cancers as well.

Something that you might find interesting that has been known for a long time and that is by people who buy and sell horses.  The first thing they look at when they buy a horse is the mouth and the teeth.  And if there are infections in the mouth, they are not going to buy the horse.  It’s the window to the rest of the body…”

So, completing my syllogistic reasoning here: disease does in fact come in from the mouth, and from many other places.  There’s nothing new here – the wisdoms of the ages are now supported and elucidated with thirty years of good biofilm science. Indeed, this film will show that researchers, leaders and healers are using new ways of diagnosing and treating human bacterial diseases.