Focal Dental Infection

What is a dental focal infection?

The theory assumes that an infection in one part of the body can cause symptoms in another part of the body. The way this works is by bacteria from an infection site getting into the bloodstream and being carried around in the blood vessels to other parts of the body.

There are four main sources:

  • Cavitation; Neurogalia Inducing Cavitational Osteolysis (NICO) and/or fatty degenerative osteolysis of the jawbone (FDOJ)

  • Infected Root fillings

  • Dead and infected teeth

  • Gum disease

What is dental cavitation?

Dental cavitation is a hole in the jawbone most likely develops in the area where a tooth has previously been extracted and the bone hasn’t healed properly around a root treated or dead teeth usually where the blood supply to the bone is disrupted.

Why do antibiotics not cure cavitations?

The bacteria form a slimy mucilaginous biofilm membrane to protect themselves from the immune system.

How can a cavity be diagnosed?

They can sometimes be detected on x-rays but are not easily seen and are often overlooked. They can sometimes be detected by their smell (like stale smoke or a strong sour smell). This can happen if a fistula has formed from the cavitation into the mouth.The most reliable diagnostic is using a CaviTAU Scan. The CaviTAU scan shows the extent of a cavitation infection in 3D surrounding bone density. An increased inflammation marker RANTES/CCL5 is indicative of cavitation along with more local tests.

What is the most common therapy?

The most common therapy at present is to surgically remove the osteolysis within the jaw.

How is this therapy carried out?

  • The most important part is the opening of the bone and manually removing the diseased bone completely leaving only hard bone behind.

  • Afterwards, we rinse with ozonated water and ozone gas.

  • Then we place a PRGF (Plasma Rich Growth Factor) membrane, made from your blood, into the cleaned area.

  • We finish by placing stitches on top of the surgery site