One year ago I didn’t know what a cavitation was -
let alone, heard of the term “Neuralgia Inducing
Cavitational Osteonecrosis” (NICO, for short). But
the world of electrodermal screening (otherwise
known as “Electrical acupuncture according to
Voll or EAV), which I have written about in
previous columns, has given me new insights into
the causes and cures of illness.
For many years, I had known and written about
the generalized health issues connected with
dental health, especially the consequences of
various dental procedures such as the use of
metal amalgam fillings and root canals. The
underlying premise being that there is a very
strong energetic connection between the teeth,
gums and jaw, on the one hand, and the rest of
the body, on the other. From this perspective,
dentistry is an integral aspect of medicine. It is
said that Rheinhard Voll, the physician who
invented electrodermal screening, estimated that
approximately 80% of the chronic illness he saw
in his patients stemmed from dental related
problems.
Cavitations are yet another dental condition that
often have far reaching impact on a persons
health. The word “cavitation” basically means a
hole and it appeared in medical literature over
two centuries ago to to describe a group of
diseases that cause bone deterioration and loss.
A synonymous term, “ischemic osteonecrosis”
(meaning “the death of bone tissue due to lack of
blood supply”) is a current medical expression
describing a condition that can affect any bone
tissue in the body, but most commonly associated
with a severe condition of the hip. (For you sports
fans out there, this is the condition that led to the
premature retirement of the baseball/football star
Bo Jackson.)
In the mid-19th century, “cavitation” was used in a
dental text to describe a condition characterized
by dead tissue, known as necrosis, in the
jawbone. This necrosis of the jaw was
recognized as a problem separate and
independent from abscessed teeth and gums. In
the early part of this century, this condition was
referred to as “chronic osteitis.”
Today, cavitations are most often associated with
tooth extractions. Mark Breiner, DDS, in his book
“Whole Body Dentistry” offers this description: “A
cavitation is a hole in the bone, usually where a
tooth has been removed and the bone has not
filled in properly.”
The reason that the extraction of a tooth can result
in a cavitation is because usually the periodontal
membrane that surrounds the tooth is not
removed during the procedure. Although the
bone will regrow in the area left open by the
extracted tooth, it often will be incomplete with
holes and spongy tissue instead of solid health
bone tissue.
One of the most insidious factors about cavitations
of the jaw is that they usually do not display the
common symptoms of infection such as
inflammation, redness, fever or pus. To make
matters worse, even though it was first identified
in the dental literature a century and a half ago,
dentists are generally not educated about the
condition in dental school, let alone taught how to
recognize it.
So, the great majority of cavitations develop
untreated over long periods of time. The most
significant problem associated with cavitations is
that they become a focal point for toxins such as
bacteria, which are then circulated throughout the
body causing various medical conditions. They
travel via blood and lymph channels and through
nerve pathways to other areas of the body. In a
way, it is like have a gangrene of the jaw where
the symptoms do not appear locally, but
metastasize to other areas.
Over fifty years ago, a book entitled Death and
Dentistry, written by a medical doctor and
professor of physiology, identified focal infections
of the jaw or tonsils as the cause of a staggering
number of conditions.
These include inflammations of heart valves,
muscle,and tissues surrounding the heart (the
pericardium), chronic muscle and joint
inflammations, nerve inflammations and
neuralgias. One of the most commonly cited
problems related to cavitations is NICO, Neuralgia
Inducing Cavitational Osteonecrosis. This is a
condition in which the person suffers from
sometimes debilitating referred pains, often in the
face or head, as a result of cavitations.
These metastatic infections can also lead to
ulcers, gall bladder problems, cystitis, pneumonia,
bronchitis, rheumatism, asthma, pleuritis,
nephritis, thyroid disease, herpes, iritis,
poliomyelitis, multiple sclerosis, certain skin
disorders, diabetes, migraines, hypertension and
more.
The trauma leading to jawbone necrosis is for the
most part a result of dental treatment. Large
fillings, crowns, bridges periodontal scaling, tooth
extractions, injections and other procedures can
all reduce the blood supply to the jawbone. This
will impede the toxins from leaving the bone, as
well as the nutrients and oxygen from getting in.
Along with extractions, root canals and even high
speed drilling can also damage the jawbone.
Dental surgery to cut out the osteonecrotic area of
the jaw is necessary to treat cavitations. The
older the cavitation site, the more complicated it
becomes to remove the decayed matter. This is in
part due to difficulty in actually visualizing the full
extent the necrotic area in the jaw. On top of that,
patients who have suffered with chronic
cavitations need to detoxify and rebuild their
system. This must be done as an individualized
protocol usually involving a combination of
nutritional, herbal and homeopathic remedies.
More next time.
This article is based on information contained in
the following references:
Breiner, Mark. Whole Body Dentistry. Quantum
Health Press: Fairfield, CT. 1999.
Fischer, Martin H. Death and Dentistry. Charles C.
Thomas, LTD: Springfield, IL, 1940.
Stockton, Susan. Beyond Amalgam: The Health
Hazard Posed by Jawbone Cavitations. Power of
One Publishing: Aurora, CO, 2000.
Julian Jonas, CCH, Lic. Ac. is a certified
homeopath practicing in Keene, NH and Saxtons
River, VT. He can be contacted in VT at 802-869-
2883, in NH at 603-358-0035, or via email at
jjjonas@sover.net.
CAVITATION II
A cavitation is simply a hollow space or pocket in
the bone. Not visible to the eye and often causing
no obvious symptoms, cavitations are often
overlooked as the cause for a varitey of medical
conditions including facial pain (hence one of its
names, NICO – Neuralgia Inducing Cavitational
Osteonecrosis). Trauma to the jaw, often brought
on by standard dental treatment - especially tooth
extraction - is usually the cause of a cavitation.
The hollow space of a cavitation becomes the
breeding ground for various micro-organisms. As
long as they are contained in the local area, the
condition is symptomless. But over time, as the
natural defenses that keep the micro-organisms in
check weaken - either through aging or any
number of stress, the micro-organisms and the
toxins they produce spread to other areas of the
body via the lymph, blood and nerves.
The end result can be a systemic condition that
can cause pain, weakness, impaired nutrition,
and a host of other disease conditions specific to
organs and glands throughout the body.
The treatment for cavitation is surgical removal of
the infected and gangrenous bone. Short of
completer removal of this tissue, the cause of the
condition remains intact and the toxins will
continue to circulate throughout the body.
When performed on a recent extraction site, the
surgery is a relatively uncomplicated. But at old
extraction sites are concerned the task is more
difficult because it is not easy to image the actual
cavitation site. Without a clear picture, it is hard
to determine whether the area has been
completely cleaned of the infected or necrotic
tissues.
Since X-rays are two dimensional images, they
are not the best diagnostic tool for discerning the
state of the a three dimensional problem.
Likewise, MRIs, although very accurate tools for
imaging necrosis in most of the rest of the bones
in the body, have proven to be difficult to interpret
for the facial bones.
Operating without the ability to see the full extent
of the condition often makes it impossible for a
dentist to remove all the necrotic bone tissue.
This resulted in poor bone healing and
unchecked spreading of necrotic lesions, as well
as the need for repeat surgeries. The picture is
complicated by the fact that most people with
signifcant jawbone cavitations have had themfor a
number of years before getting treated.
Consequently, by the time surgery is performed, a
great deal of serious damage has already
occured.
Fortunately, about 10 years major technological
advance was achieved with the development of a
device known as the “Cavitat”. It is a sonographic
instrument - that is, a device that uses the
reflection of high-freqency sound waves to picture
a structure - designed to do the opposite of the
ultrasound equipment commonly used today. The
typical ultrasound is used to image soft tissue,
such as the heart, gall bladder or tumor. But the
Cavitat images only bone, no soft tissue.
Moreover, while the common ultrasound displays
2-dimensional pictures, the Cavitat shows a 3-
dimensional color-coded image. As one
researcher familiar with the technicalities of the
instrumentation writes: “These colors (green,
yellow, red) reflect the degree of bone loss and
necrosis. The 3-D computer images may be
rotated so that they can be viewed from all angles.
One image is generated for each of the 32 tooth
sites, and all can be displayed on the screen
simultaneously. This allows the operator to see
the overall picture and how one affected site can
influence adjacent ones.”
It is interesting to note that the creation of the
Cavitat was the result of one man’s quest to
resolve his own debilitating health problems. A
full-time commercial airline pilot and part-time as
a ski instructor, Bob Jones had been a healthy,
active outdoorsman until about 15 years ago. At
that time, he was stricken with chronic debilitating
fatigue, muscle atrophy and a neurological
condition that baffled specialists. Within five years,
he had become completely disabled, was
wheelchair bound, had lost use of his arms and
gained an excessive amount of weight.
Even lacking any definitive diagnosis, his
condition appeared to be fatal. With no medical
solution or assistance available, Jones began his
own search for the cause and cure of his
condition. This lead him to an an awareness that
his silver amalgam fillings (silver color, but
essentially made of mercury and a host of other
metals) along with chronic infections in his jaw
were the possible causes of a systemic toxicity
that was basically poisoning him. Indeed, with the
removal of the fillings and surgery on his bone,
his symptoms improved. Although he has made a
dramatic recovery, due to the extent of the
damagae done before he was treated, Jones is
not completely cured.
Due to this set of circumstances Jones was
motivated to create an instrument to detect
cavitations. With a engineering background in
sonar technology, he believed that sonography
could be the means by which reliable images of
the jaw and cavitations could be created. His
pursuit eventually lead to the creation of the
Cavitat.
This article is based on information contained in
the following references:
Breiner, Mark. Whole Body Dentistry. Quantum
Health Press: Fairfield, CT. 1999.
Fischer, Martin H. Death and Dentistry. Charles C.
Thomas, LTD: Springfield, IL, 1940.
Stockton, Susan. Beyond Amalgam: The Health
Hazard Posed by Jawbone Cavitations. Power of
One Publishing: Aurora, CO, 2000.
