The breasts have an extensive lymphatic circulation, and much of its lymph comes from drainage of the head and neck. A portion of the breast lymph subsequently flows into a large collecting vessel (thoracic duct), which then empties into the venous circulation. The rest of it first flows into the extensive lymphatic network in the armpits before eventually reaching the thoracic duct and the blood.
The lymphatic vessels have a limited ability to contract and promote a one-way flow of lymph. [9] However, this lymphatic movement can be slowed, stopped, or even reversed in direction by the presence of sufficient inflammation and structural damage in the tissue being drained. When there is sufficient impairment of normal lymphatic flow, tissue swelling (lymphedema) can result.
In the breast, this impairment of lymphatic drainage can result from either the chronic inflammation in the cancerous tissue, or much more commonly, following the surgical removal of cancer-laden axillary lymph nodes draining the breast. [10,11] The fewer draining lymphatic pathways available, the more likely lymph flow will slow enough to accumulate. Together, both situations result in about 20% of women with breast cancer eventually developing arm swelling due to the back-up of lymph. [12,13]
As with tissues elsewhere in the body, the lymphatic system also drains the superficial gum tissue, the deep gum tissue (periodontium), the teeth, and the tonsils. This drainage largely follows gravity and is filtered in the lymphatic vasculature in the floor of the mouth and then the neck. From there much of the drainage proceeds further down into the rich network of lymphatic vessels in the chest and the breasts, with most of the breast lymph then draining directly into the armpits. [14-16] Deep periodontal infection (periodontitis) has been "linked" to many different cancers, including the breast.
Of significant note,
Maintenance of periodontal health has been found to be effective in the primary prevention of breast cancer. This indicates that periodontal infection has a cause-and-effect relationship to breast cancer, not just a link, association, or correlation. [17]
Left unresolved, periodontitis seeds pathogens and their associated toxins throughout the body. To assert that disease occurring after such typical oral pathogens start growing in different tissues is some ill-defined "association" and not a straightforward cause-and-effect relationship defies simple logic. Aside from breast disease and breast cancer, chronically infected gums have been significantly linked to nearly all diseases and conditions. Some studies also document improvement of the "linked" disease with effective periodontitis treatment, as well as a worsening of the disease as periodontitis progresses. This further indicates that periodontitis has a cause-and-effect with most chronic diseases.
These diseases and conditions include the following:
· Cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, including atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, heart failure, abnormal lipid and cholesterol metabolism (metabolic syndrome), diabetes, and arterial calcification [18-32]
· Neurological disease, including migraine, seizure, depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, brain abscess and multiple sclerosis [33-53]
· Chronic pulmonary disease, pneumonia, asthma, allergic rhinitis [54-60]
· Vascular disease [61,62]
· Obesity [63,64]
· Inflammatory bowel disease [65-67]
· Inflammatory bone diseases, including arthritis and osteoporosis [68-73]
· Kidney disease [74-76]
· Cancers (pancreatic, lung, liver, colorectal, esophageal, oral cavity and throat, head and neck, stomach, prostate, blood, skin, and cancer in general) [77-92]
· Female infertility and adverse pregnancy and neonatal/birth outcomes [93-95]
· Thyroid disease [96]
· Anemia [97,98]
· Eye disorders [99,100]
· Psoriasis [101-104]
· Ear disorders (hearing loss, vertigo) [105-107]
· Polycystic ovary syndrome [108]
· Autoimmune disease [109-111]
· Erectile dysfunction [112]
· Increased body-wide inflammation (elevated C-reactive protein levels) [113-115]
· Depressed vitamin levels (C and D) and antioxidants [116-122]
The data above on chronic disease and periodontal infection is vital to understanding the impact of root canals and other infected teeth on the general health. Because the pathogens found in infected teeth only come from deep gum infections (except when large cavities allow the pulp to become infected from above), the infections found around the root tips of affected teeth have the same infectious profile as is found in periodontitis. However, the infected teeth, which include all root canal-treated teeth, are even more disease-causing than the infected gums, since they also have the additional following characteristics:
· The infected teeth have a much greater
amount of infectious material, often manifest as root tip (apical) abscesses on X-ray.
· The infectious content in and around the root tips of the infected teeth drains directly into the venous circulation.
· The infectious content in and around the root tips of the infected teeth are also released into the extracellular fluid and drained directly into the lymphatic system of the teeth and jawbone.
· The act of chewing on the infected teeth greatly magnifies the expression of pathogens and toxins into the blood and lymph, as extraordinary pressures are generated between opposing teeth. Since pathogen release into the lymph occurs in addition to their release into the venous blood, the delivery of these oral pathogens and toxins to the entire body is more effective and efficient with chewing on infected teeth than if the pathogens and toxins were just directly injected into a vein with a syringe.
The release of highly pathogenic bacteria into the blood during a root canal procedure has been clearly documented. Of note, their release occurs in the absence of any chewing pressure that would further promote pathogen release. [123,124]
Traditional dentists and endodontists (root canal specialists) somehow deny and/or blind themselves to the massive documentation that all root canals are infected. Instead, they collectively maintain that a successful root canal procedure leaves the tooth infection-free just because a root tip abscess was reduced in size and the pain associated with the acute abscess was relieved.
Nevertheless, all the research on the impact of periodontitis and abscessed teeth on all chronic disease applies to all root canals as well, regardless of how well they were performed technically. Although less extensively studied than the relation of just periodontitis with chronic diseases, a great deal of research has also established a link between chronically abscessed teeth (CAP-chronic apical periodontitis) and many different diseases. CAP simply means an extension of and a more advanced form of deep gum inflammation and infection (periodontitis), with root tip abscesses seen on imaging. Significant research studies have documented this abscessed tooth-chronic disease link, which includes all root canals that have resulted in the reduction of root tip abscesses on imaging studies.
These studies directly mirror the many studies on early periodontitis and chronic diseases cited above and include the following: