While other factors may be involved, it appears likely that men have virtually no breast cancer because the amount of breast tissue is so much smaller than in women, and there is much less toxic and infected lymph from oral cavity infections getting continually filtered in that tissue. And even though there is a large difference in the average amount of breast tissue between men and women, the lymphatic drainage patterns are largely the same. [170] Also, larger and denser breasts, along with overly constrictive bras and clothing, can all impede the rate at which lymph can be conducted through the breasts. Anything that slows lymphatic flow, especially if it has a significant toxin/pathogen content, will be a factor in determining whether significant inflammation is allowed to take hold in an area of the breast draining the lymph from the oral cavity.
Consistent with this concept, studies have shown that very large-breasted women who undergo breast reduction surgery lower their chances of breast cancer. [171] Furthermore, it has been shown that women with larger breasts fare worse with breast cancer than women with smaller breasts. [172]
Root Canal-Treated Teeth
The root canal procedure is one of the most common dental procedures. A meta-analysis revealed that more than half of the subjects in the populations studied had at least one root canal. [173] A very large review and meta-analysis also found that at least half of the population has at least one abscessed tooth. [174] When combined with the prevalence of abscessed teeth that have not received a root canal treatment, the prevalence of infected teeth runs between 55% and 70% of the subjects in the studies. [175-180] Depending on the information source, between 25 and 45 million root canal procedures are performed in the United States every year. Even the low side of the estimate means that a significant majority of adults are always chewing on one or more infected teeth.
Another study found that over 60% of people in Europe had abscessed teeth, with the prevalence steadily increasing with age. [181] Furthermore, fully 25% of teeth that have had procedures other than root canal treatments end up chronically abscessed as well. [182]
Root canal-treated teeth are generally performed when a patient presents with a painful, acutely-abscessed tooth. The "successful" root canal procedure results in a tooth that no longer hurts, resulting in a happy patient and satisfied dentist, at least for the moment. However, the infection remains as long as the tooth remains unextracted, or when the socket infection remains is not completely cleaned out after extraction.
There is an enormous variety and a large total number of different pathogens and other microbes found in and around the root tips of root canal-treated teeth. Fungi, viruses, protozoa and over 460 different types of bacteria have been identified in these infections. [183]
The physiological core of the tooth, known as the pulp, contains the nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue matrix that keep the tooth alive and viable. Once this pulp has become infected, there is no way to eradicate the infection and restore the pulp to its normal, health-supporting state. Instead, the removal of the pulp by the root canal procedure permanently prevents immune system access to the pathogens in the tooth, especially in the miles of dentinal tubules extending away from the pulp throughout the tooth structure.
Without immune support, no infection can be resolved. Furthermore, even without the root canal procedure, the infected pulp quickly destroys the pulp structure itself, just leaving a collection of pus and dead (necrotic) cells that can never be returned to normal. Even though pain can still be felt in the root tips embedded in the jawbone, the upper part of the tooth and the pulp is simply a non-vital shell.
In order to stop the immediate infection-causing pain and remove much of the bulk (but never all) of the infection, the root canal procedure drills and routs out as much of the pulp as can be reached, after which it is filled in with an agent to maintain the overall tooth structure. The ends of the pulp space extend to the tooth root tips embedded in the jawbone, and the pulp infection and its necrotic debris effectively "collects" there. This results in well-defined abscesses surrounding the root tips.
Chronically infected teeth will usually be found to have clearly visible evidence of this pathology at the root tips. On X-ray or on computed tomography studies variably-sized abscesses will nearly always be seen, appearing as dark areas, or radiolucencies, surrounding the root tips. Rarely, the infected tooth might not contain enough infected debris to be visible in an imaging study, but the lack of an identifiable abscess does not mean the infection is still not there.
When a root canal procedure has been performed with optimal expertise, much of the associated root tip abscess will be removed (debulked), and follow-up imaging will no longer easily detect it. However, this does not mean the infection is gone, only that it has been effectively drained. Pathogens and their toxins are still readily expressed into the blood and lymph, especially during chewing.
Dr. Boyd Haley conclusively proved that all root canals produce and collect toxins. He devised a test using a process called nucleotide photo affinity labeling to measure the impact of the pathogen-generated toxins in extracted root canal-treated teeth on five key human enzymes.
After studying over 5,000 consecutive extracted root canal-treated teeth sent to him from around the country, the results were stunning. ALL tested teeth had significant toxin content. Differences in the degree of toxicity among the teeth were seen, but none were toxin-free. Such variability in toxicity is to be expected, as no two root canals have the same pathogen population. [184]
Furthermore, normal teeth extracted for orthodontic purposes never demonstrated any toxicity, even to a minor degree, ruling out "mouth contamination" as a potential reason for the results.
Of note, Dr. Haley found similar toxin profiles in the specimens sent to him from cavitation surgery. Cavitations occur when chronic infection remains in the healed-over sockets of extracted teeth. [185] Cavitations have a comparable connection to chronic diseases, including breast cancer, although it is much less extensively studied than the relation between abscessed teeth and chronic disease. [186-189]