(A Weekly Wellness Story from Total Care Dental and Wellness)
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Every week we see patients that aren’t completely well.
Some have chronic long term issues, like fatigue and auto-immune issues. And others have acute life-threatening conditions like cancer and ALS.
It’s our job to see if there is a dental piece to their wellness puzzle.
Today’s story is about a rancher with cancer…at least that’s what he had been told.
He had a terrible bought with throwing up and diarrhea – 6 days straight. He was diagnosed with a severe stomach ulcer that had swollen and completely blocked the opening to his stomach. The doctors surgically placed a stent to allow him to eat and biopsied the ulcer to find a cause.
They found H Pylori – a bacteria commonly found in stomach ulcers, and after the third biopsy, “A few scattered cancer cells”.
He was told there weren’t many, but it was enough to get a diagnosis – stomach cancer.
The doctors recommended chemotherapy immediately to stop the spread, but he wasn’t convinced, and he was frustrated!
No one was addressing the root cause of the problem – what caused the cancer and the ulcer??
He visited with an excellent practitioner that looks for root causes throughout the entire body.
His first recommendation – “Visit Total Care Dental because I think the cause is in your mouth”.
Why did the practitioner send him to the dentist for stomach cancer??
The answer is H Pylori.
New research has shown that, “H. pylori infection should always be considered a pro-cancerous factor.” 1 This means H. pylori in the gut can lead to stomach cancer. Where does this bacteria come from? One of the main sources is the MOUTH.
Recent research has definitively shown that, “the successful rate of eradication of gastric H. pylori bears a significant relationship to the oral infection from H. pylori.”2,3
In simpler English, this means you can not get rid of H. Pylori in the stomach without addressing the mouth, because the mouth is another breeding ground for the bacteria.
There is also a significant correlation between gum disease and H. Pylori. 4 If you have gum disease, there is a high likelihood you have H. Pylori overgrowth in the mouth.
All of this adds up to:
Mouth infection can = stomach ulcers and H. Pylori (and possible stomach cancer)
You can’t treat one without treating the other. Simple as that.
This is why chronic conditions often don’t resolve, and drastic treatments like chemotherapy don’t always lead to healing or elimination of the disease. The mouth connection is missing.
So…did this patient have any infection in his mouth?
Yes!
He had a badly abscessed front tooth that had been destroying bone in the area for years. He also had generalized gum infection. My recommendation – get the infected tooth out ASAP and have the gum infection treated.
He asked about Antibiotics – he wanted a refill to fight the H. Pylori. I had different recommendations.
Anti-Biotic means “anti-life”. We don’t want everything killed, only the bad guys.
So the better defense is to bring in more good soldiers. Where do those good soldiers come from? From Probiotic foods.
His prescription – Natural Yeast bread, Kefir, Kombucha and fermented veggies like Sauerkraut.
His wife was on board, but these were all new words to him. However, a prescription of bread sounds much better than a prescription for chemo-therapy!
If you are interested in learning more about Natural Yeast breads, you can get my ebook and video course here!
It is one of the best things you can do for your overall gut health.
I don’t know the end of this gentleman’s story because we aren’t to the end, but I know taking care of the infection in his mouth is an absolutely essential piece to his wellness journey.
Stay tuned…for Weekly Wellness stories and idea for improving your health and wellness.
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To health!
Dr. Michelle Jorgensen
- Chmiela M, Karwowska Z, Gonciarz W, Allushi B, Stączek P. Host pathogen interactions in Helicobacter pylori related gastric cancer. World J Gastroenterol. 2017;23(9):1521‐1540. doi:10.3748/wjg.v23.i9.1521
- Yee JK. Helicobacter pylori colonization of the oral cavity: A milestone discovery. World J Gastroenterol. 2016;22(2):641‐648. doi:10.3748/wjg.v22.i2.641
- Wang XM1, Yee KC, Hazeki-Taylor N, Li J, Fu HY, Huang ML, Zhang GY. Oral Helicobacter pylori, its relationship to successful eradication of gastric H. pylori and saliva culture confirmation. Physiol Pharmacol. 2014 Aug;65(4):559-66.
- Chen Z, Cai J, Chen YM, et al. A meta-analysis of the association between the presence of Helicobacter pylori and periodontal diseases. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019;98(22):e15922. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000015922
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