What is a cavitation in the jaw bone?
A cavitation is a jaw bone abnormally typically in an area of extraction, like a wisdom tooth, where the bone doesn’t form normally and the jaw area doesn’t heal properly. A dental cavitation is common term for “ischemic bone disease” or “sites of alternate healing” which means either an active infection or abnormal tissue growth in the bone of the maxilla or mandible. Ischemic Bone Disease aka “IBD” or cavitations are also called Chronic Ischemic Jawbone Disease – “CIBD”. At Natural Dentistry, we often diagnose areas of abnormal bone as Fatty Degenerative Osteonecrosis of the Jaw – “FDOJ” Chronic ischemic bone disease is a name used to describe a disease process involving pathological changes in the bone tissue related to impaired blood flow (ischemia). In the jawbones these pathological changes are usually triggered by a combination of systemic and oral factors.
Cavitation of the Jaw – Ischemic Bone Disease “IBD” or Chronic Ischemic Jawbone Disease “CIBD” or Fatty Degenerative Osteonecrosis “FDOJ”- In the jaws NICO can be complicated by the presence of chronic infections that can be related to periodontal and dental infections, including chronically infected root-canaled teeth. The fact that the jaws contain branches of the 5th cranial nerve ( trigeminal nerve) is also an situation unique to the jawbones. The frequent use of local anesthetics and specifically nerve blocks with high concentrations of vasoconstrictors (drugs that shrink blood vessels, specifically epinephrine found in most dental anesthetics) can also exacerbate the problem, in addition to the use of other pharmaceutical drugs such as corticosteroids. Toxins such as heavy metals (lead, mercury, nickel, cadmium) and acetaldehyde are contributory factors and trauma in any form can also play a role.
Over time a number of other names have also been used by various dental clinicians for jawbone with chronic ischemic damage such as:
Chronic Osteitis, Ratner’s Cyst, Robert’s Cyst, Osteocavitations and Neuralgia-Inducing Cavitational Osteonecrosis (NICO), the latter being more specific for cases when neuralgia is a dominant feature of the disease process since there are many cases where pain is either absent or a minor symptom.
How is a dental cavitation diagnosed?- Dental cavitation infections are diagnosed primarily with a 3D scan which is the current standard of care tool that can identify jaw bone abnormalities by examining each cross-section millimeter by millimeter of the affected infected jaw cavitation area and observe changes in bone density fluctuations, tissue changes and adjacent anomalies such as infected root canals. Importantly, while the 3D scan is the only tool that can properly diagnose a cavitation lesion, it MUST be interpreted by someone highly experienced in both radiological interpretation of the jaw bone cavitation but also experienced in the surgery itself. not just a holistic dentist, but specifically, a holistic dentist who ALSO performs surgery for dental cavitations. Often times, a holistic dentist who does NOT do the surgery and merely diagnose actually misdiagnoses since they are not properly experienced or trained in dental radiology nor can they correlate the radiological findings to real life bone and tissue that Dr. Litano sees regularly in surgery while performing cavitation surgery. Another tool that is used BEFORE an official diagnosis by a holistic surgery dentist is Thermography, which is a pre-diagnostic tool that can help identify areas of ischemia in the jaws and lymphatic abnormalities which can lead patients to explore whether they actually have dental cavitation by seeing the holistic dentist.
Why do Dental Cavitations develop? The Etiology of Ischemic Bone Disease
–Bacteria and tissue death are the simple and short answers to why cavitations or IBD ischemic bone disease develops. Bacteria that is poorly handled by the body’s immune system colonizes, feasting on existing cellular structure thusby destroying bone and blood supply to the surrounding bone. The term Ischemic Bone Disease medically means “no blood flow to the bone” which thereby creates dead, or “necrotic” tissue. As in many instances of generalized necrosis, which is cellular death, infection is a byproduct which can turn into systemic issues such as gangrene and sepsis.
- 1, Tooth extractions: Bacteria During tooth extraction surgery (wisdom teeth included) the bacteria is not properly neutralized or adequately flushed out after an oral surgery or extraction. Once the traditional dentist sutures the extraction site, the bacteria multiplies and makes its way into the bone where it begins its onslaught of destroying tissue and bone. Once trapped inside the post-surgery cavity these bacteria can incubate for years, potentially releasing toxic infection residue [bacterial debris and tissue waste (necrotic cells)] into the blood, circulating through the circulatory system and ultimately negatively impacting all the cells of the the body. This of course can cause a host of health issues, both local to the jaw and other areas of the body that we often observe for those patients positively diagnosed with alternative healing sites or IBD.
2.. Tooth Extractions: Periodontal Ligament While this remains controversial, it is the belief some oral physicians that upon extraction of a tooth, if the periodontal ligament is not removed along with the tooth, it can cause abnormal healing which results in abnormal tissue and is more likely to develop bacteria. The periodontal ligament supplies the tooth with blood and serum, and upon removing the tooth, the periodontal ligament will die and resorb. However, when the body rejects the left behind periodontal ligament, infection can occur which is thought to potentially turn into IBD, or infections in the jaw bone (aka cavitations.) This scenario can happen under what dentists consider the “normal” extraction situation: the tooth is removed but the ligament that holds the tooth in place is left behind and the area isn’t properly cleaned, and consequently toxins remain within the ligament that slowly seep into the body, potentially creating chronic health issues and other symptoms most doctors can’t diagnose (such as fibromyalgia, heart issues, endocrine issues, neurological issues, among others).
3.; Root Canal Infections: Root canaled teeth no longer have an active blood supply, and in the biological and holistic communities are referred to as “ischemic teeth” or “necrotic teeth” because essentially the tooth is a dead appendage due to lack of blood supply. Depending on the strength of the individuals immune system countered by oxidative stress on the cells and overall biological disease processes, individuals can develop secondary infections underneath root canaled teeth. Root canaled teeth with no dynamic pain receptors are especially dangerous because typically the individual does not feel any pain or discomfort until the infection is so large that it can spread to the adjacent teeth, tissues and bone can develop a massive abccess (pus filled infection). The infection in a root canaled tooth can also move vertically into the bone, with the bacteria “eating away” all tissues in its path, regardless of direction. Once the infection from a secondary infection in a root canaled tooth moves into the bone, it can become a case of IBD. While this process doesn’t happen overnight, once the infection has moved into he jaw bone, the patient may still not experience acute discomfort and only may exhibit symptoms of overall health decline.
4.Overuse of Poorly Chosen Local Anesthetic: Ischemia Dr. Litano is EXTREMELY selective about the anesthetic that he uses for all patients, and most notably, rarely uses local anesthetic with epinephrine. Most educated patients know that epinephrine, is a vasoconstrictor and therefore reduces blood supply to the anesthetized area during surgery. We prefer not to use vasoconstrictor, as for healing and tissue regeneration the biological system NEEDs blood flow. But stifling blood flow, some dentists are risking reducing the blood supply by such a degree that the result is “ischemia” which is “lack of blood flow.” Like the brain or any other part of the brain, without blood flow, there is no oxygen delivered to the cells, and without oxygen, our cells, like our brain, will being to die. At Natural Dentistry we specifically use shorter half life anesthetics like Carbocaine (Mepivicaine) and Prilocaine (Citanest) which are epinephrine free. While epinephrine free anesthetic made surgery messier as they do not reduce the flow of blood to the surgical sites, in biological surgery that is precisely the desired effect – increased blood flow to the surgical site to heal trauma and prevent or treat cavitational lesions. While cheaper local anesthetics like lidocaine can be purchased and used without epinephrine, the toxic byproducts formed by use of lidocaine are considered undesirable relative to other local anesthetics and thus avoided by the best biological dentists like Dr. Litano during surgical processes. By using shorter acting anesthetics with lower toxic byproduct creation and avoiding the use of vasocontrictors like epinephrine, Dr. Litano is able to not only avoid the formation of ischemia in patients but also reverse and regenerate ischemic disease processes such as cavitations in the jaw.
- Infection & Lowered Immune System: Bugs In addition to bacteria and infections arising from necrosis (a byproduct of several items on this list) other systemic secondary co-infections can thrive in the ischemic bacteria rich environment. It has been documented in many surgeries that resolve cavitations, that upon surgically opening up the “festering hole in the jaw” oral physicians have observed other harmful elements including viruses, fungi and parasites which were also verified by biopsies. This complication can potentially be due to the lowered immune response, as the body is already embroiled in trying to fight against the chronic jaw bone infection. The immune system cannot keep up fighting the opportunistic pathogens and therefore an overgrowth of fungi, viruses and parasites can occur in addition to neurotoxic bacteria. During such complications, it has been documented that bacteria from within the cavitation site may produce very strong chemicals that are highly neurotoxic. Research has shown these toxins can then combine with chemicals or heavy metals, such as mercury, and form even more potent toxins. These neurotoxins can over time be released into the bloodstream where they destroy many otherwise critically important enzymes within the body.
6. Low Vitamin Levels, Ineffective Immune Systems, Lyme Disease: With the inability to form healthy bone, strong angiogenesis (vascularization development) and overall low ability to heal and defend against inflammation, creates the perfect opportunitistic environment for cavitations to form where the wisdom teeth once grew. After the wisdom tooth extractions, which are often complicated by use of strong ischemia causing drug like lidocaine with epinephrine and conducted at inappropriate ages, a low vitamin D3 combined with the inability if the body to heal is the potential to help establish the very problem we aim to treat, ischemic bone disease which becomes a chronic source of infections, disease and malaise for patients. In addition, with such high diagnosis rates of Lyme Disease and various other Borrellia infections, it has been observed that the Borrellia virus tends to live and proliferate locally in the in the areas of cavitations, which have no ability to fight the Lyme infections as the immune system is not able to reach the areas of ischemia due to limited blood flow.
A cavitation is a jaw bone abnormally typically in an area of extraction, like a wisdom tooth, where the bone doesn’t form normally and the jaw area doesn’t heal properly. A dental cavitation is common term for “ischemic bone disease” or “sites of alternate healing” which means either an active infection or abnormal tissue growth in the bone of the maxilla or mandible. Ischemic Bone Disease aka “IBD” or cavitations are also called Chronic Ischemic Jawbone Disease – “CIBD”. At Natural Dentistry, we often diagnose areas of abnormal bone as Fatty Degenerative Osteonecrosis of the Jaw – “FDOJ” Chronic ischemic bone disease is a name used to describe a disease process involving pathological changes in the bone tissue related to impaired blood flow (ischemia). In the jawbones these pathological changes are usually triggered by a combination of systemic and oral factors.
Cavitation of the Jaw – Ischemic Bone Disease “IBD” or Chronic Ischemic Jawbone Disease “CIBD” or Fatty Degenerative Osteonecrosis “FDOJ”- In the jaws NICO can be complicated by the presence of chronic infections that can be related to periodontal and dental infections, including chronically infected root-canaled teeth. The fact that the jaws contain branches of the 5th cranial nerve ( trigeminal nerve) is also an situation unique to the jawbones. The frequent use of local anesthetics and specifically nerve blocks with high concentrations of vasoconstrictors (drugs that shrink blood vessels, specifically epinephrine found in most dental anesthetics) can also exacerbate the problem, in addition to the use of other pharmaceutical drugs such as corticosteroids. Toxins such as heavy metals (lead, mercury, nickel, cadmium) and acetaldehyde are contributory factors and trauma in any form can also play a role.
Over time a number of other names have also been used by various dental clinicians for jawbone with chronic ischemic damage such as:
Chronic Osteitis, Ratner’s Cyst, Robert’s Cyst, Osteocavitations and Neuralgia-Inducing Cavitational Osteonecrosis (NICO), the latter being more specific for cases when neuralgia is a dominant feature of the disease process since there are many cases where pain is either absent or a minor symptom.
How is a dental cavitation diagnosed?- Dental cavitation infections are diagnosed primarily with a 3D conebeam which is the current standard of care tool that can identify jaw bone abnormalities by examining each cross-section millimeter by millimeter of the affected infected jaw cavitation area and observe changes in bone density fluctuations, tissue changes and adjacent anomalies such as infected root canals. Importantly, while the 3D conebeam is the only tool that can properly diagnose a cavitation lesion, it MUST be interpreted by someone highly experienced in both radiological interpretation of the jaw bone cavitation but also experienced in the surgery itself. not just a holistic dentist, but specifically, a holistic dentist who ALSO performs surgery for dental cavitations. Often times, a holistic dentist who does NOT do the surgery and merely diagnose actually MISdiagnose since they are not properly experienced or trained in dental radiology nor can they correlate the radiological findings to real life bone and tissue that Dr. May sees regularly in surgery while performing cavitation surgery. Another tool that is used BEFORE an official diagnosis by a holistic surgery dentist is Thermography, which is a pre-diagnostic tool that can help identify areas of ischemia in the jaws and lymphatic abnormalities which can lead patients to explore whether they actually have dental cavitation by seeing the holistic dentist. Many patients ask about the Cavitat, and sadly, the Cavitat has been removed from the USA market by the FDA in 2016 after lawsuits claiming it cannot be a dependable diagnostic tool. Old cavitat machines are far and few between today, and are difficult to find in holistic offices. They are no longer supported by any technology company and are out of date – this is not a recommended tool for diagnosing dental cavitations and any results should be corroborated by a legitimate 3D dental scan conebeam and interpreted by a qualified surgical holistic dentist.
Why do Dental Cavitations develop? The Etiology of Ischemic Bone Disease
–Bacteria and tissue death are the simple and short answers to why cavitations or IBD ischemic bone disease develops. Bacteria that is poorly handled by the body’s immune system colonizes, feasting on existing cellular structure thusby destroying bone and blood supply to the surrounding bone. The term Ischemic Bone Disease medically means “no blood flow to the bone” which thereby creates dead, or “necrotic” tissue. As in many instances of generalized necrosis, which is cellular death, infection is a byproduct which can turn into systemic issues such as gangrene and sepsis.
- 1, Tooth extractions: Bacteria During tooth extraction surgery (wisdom teeth included) the bacteria is not properly neutralized or adequately flushed out after an oral surgery or extraction. Once the traditional dentist sutures the extraction site, the bacteria multiplies and makes its way into the bone where it begins its onslaught of destroying tissue and bone. Once trapped inside the post-surgery cavity these bacteria can incubate for years, potentially releasing toxic infection residue [bacterial debris and tissue waste (necrotic cells)] into the blood, circulating through the circulatory system and ultimately negatively impacting all the cells of the the body. This of course can cause a host of health issues, both local to the jaw and other areas of the body that we often observe for those patients positively diagnosed with alternative healing sites or IBD.
2.. Tooth Extractions: Periodontal Ligament While this remains controversial, it is the belief some oral physicians that upon extraction of a tooth, if the periodontal ligament is not removed along with the tooth, it can cause abnormal healing which results in abnormal tissue and is more likely to develop bacteria. The periodontal ligament supplies the tooth with blood and serum, and upon removing the tooth, the periodontal ligament will die and resorb. However, when the body rejects the left behind periodontal ligament, infection can occur which is thought to potentially turn into IBD, or infections in the jaw bone (aka cavitations.) This scenario can happen under what dentists consider the “normal” extraction situation: the tooth is removed but the ligament that holds the tooth in place is left behind and the area isn’t properly cleaned, and consequently toxins remain within the ligament that slowly seep into the body, potentially creating chronic health issues and other symptoms most doctors can’t diagnose (such as fibromyalgia, heart issues, endocrine issues, neurological issues, among others).
3.; Root Canal Infections: Root canaled teeth no longer have an active blood supply, and in the biological and holistic communities are referred to as “ischemic teeth” or “necrotic teeth” because essentially the tooth is a dead appendage due to lack of blood supply. Depending on the strength of the individuals immune system countered by oxidative stress on the cells and overall biological disease processes, individuals can develop secondary infections underneath root canaled teeth. Root canaled teeth with no dynamic pain receptors are especially dangerous because typically the individual does not feel any pain or discomfort until the infection is so large that it can spread to the adjacent teeth, tissues and bone can develop a massive abccess (pus filled infection). The infection in a root canaled tooth can also move vertically into the bone, with the bacteria “eating away” all tissues in its path, regardless of direction. Once the infection from a secondary infection in a root canaled tooth moves into the bone, it can become a case of IBD. While this process doesn’t happen overnight, once the infection has moved into he jaw bone, the patient may still not experience acute discomfort and only may exhibit symptoms of overall health decline.
4.Overuse of Poorly Chosen Local Anesthetic: Ischemia We are EXTREMELY selective about the anesthetic that he uses for all patients, and most notably, rarely uses local anesthetic with epinephrine. Most educated patients know that epinephrine, is a vasoconstrictor and therefore reduces blood supply to the anesthetized area during surgery. This is precisely the reason Dr.Litano prefers not to use vasoconstrictor, as for healing and tissue regeneration the biological system NEEDs blood flow. But stifling blood flow, some dentists are risking reducing the blood supply by such a degree that the result is “ischemia” which is “lack of blood flow.” Like the brain or any other part of the brain, without blood flow, there is no oxygen delivered to the cells, and without oxygen, our cells, like our brain, will being to die. At Natural Dentistry we specifically use shorter half life anesthetics like Carbocaine (Mepivicaine) and Prilocaine (Citanest) which are epinephrine free. While epinephrine free anesthetic made surgery messier as they do not reduce the flow of blood to the surgical sites, in biological surgery that is precisely the desired effect – increased blood flow to the surgical site to heal trauma and prevent or treat cavitational lesions. While cheaper local anesthetics like lidocaine can be purchased and used without epinephrine, the toxic byproducts formed by use of lidocaine are considered undesirable relative to other local anesthetics and thus avoided by the best biological dentists like Dr. Litano during surgical processes. By using shorter acting anesthetics with lower toxic byproduct creation and avoiding the use of vasocontrictors like epinephrine, Dr. Litano is able to not only avoid the formation of ischemia in patients but also reverse and regenerate ischemic disease processes such as cavitations in the jaw.
- Infection & Lowered Immune System: Bugs In addition to bacteria and infections arising from necrosis (a byproduct of several items on this list) other systemic secondary co-infections can thrive in the ischemic bacteria rich environment. It has been documented in many surgeries that resolve cavitations, that upon surgically opening up the “festering hole in the jaw” oral physicians have observed other harmful elements including viruses, fungi and parasites which were also verified by biopsies. This complication can potentially be due to the lowered immune response, as the body is already embroiled in trying to fight against the chronic jaw bone infection. The immune system cannot keep up fighting the opportunistic pathogens and therefore an overgrowth of fungi, viruses and parasites can occur in addition to neurotoxic bacteria. During such complications, it has been documented that bacteria from within the cavitation site may produce very strong chemicals that are highly neurotoxic. Research has shown these toxins can then combine with chemicals or heavy metals, such as mercury, and form even more potent toxins. These neurotoxins can over time be released into the bloodstream where they destroy many otherwise critically important enzymes within the body.
6. Low Vitamin Levels, Ineffective Immune Systems, Lyme Disease: With the inability to form healthy bone, strong angiogenesis (vascularization development) and overall low ability to heal and defend against inflammation, creates the perfect opportunitistic environment for cavitations to form where the wisdom teeth once grew. After the wisdom tooth extractions, which are often complicated by use of strong ischemia causing drug like lidocaine with epinephrine and conducted at inappropriate ages, a low vitamin D3 combined with the inability if the body to heal is the potential to help establish the very problem we aim to treat, ischemic bone disease which becomes a chronic source of infections, disease and malaise for patients. In addition, with such high diagnosis rates of Lyme Disease and various other Borrellia infections, it has been observed that the Borrellia virus tends to live and proliferate locally in the in the areas of cavitations, which have no ability to fight the Lyme infections as the immune system is not able to reach the areas of ischemia due to limited blood flow.
