Acceptance today of Focal Infection is so taken for granted that hardly anyone pays any attention to it. Such disagreements must seem incredible. Keep in mind such arguments about new ideas among doctors are numerous. New theories have a way of stimulating autocratic oppressive behavior which unfortunately stifles the advancement of medicine.

Percy R. Howe, M.D. published a paper stating that he had injected streptococcus bacteria into rabbits and found no adverse reactions in them,Thereby directly contradicting Price's work. This article is still being used as proof that root filled teeth can't be of harm to humans. However, the streptococcus bacteria Dr. Howe used in his experiment were the common ones found in the mouth.They usually aren't harmful to us unless they become part of the caries process or of some other disease.

As you learned earlier, upon entering into the dentin tubules and being subjected to medications and root canal fillings, these bacteria radically change and become different organisms. Those which are aerobic lose their usual placid characteristics. They become smaller and anaerobic - that is, they can now live without their usual need for oxygen from air. They also become more virulent, and their toxins more toxic.

The bacteria that cause infectious diseases such as measles, scarlet fever, mumps, chicken pox, etc. are found to live and act virtually the same way from patient to patient. Many doctors, when informed of the ability of focal infection bacteria to make radical changes and mutations and to become very virulent, found the studies hard to believe.

Most bacteria need very specific environments in which to thrive-similar to the beaver whose life depends on soft wood trees and the presence of water, or the wildcat family which needs mice nad gophers to catch for substance. The usual infectious bacteria, despite their devastating abilities, have very narrow ranges which govern their existence and the diseases they cause.

The problem is we expect focal infection organisms to have similar fixed requirements which govern what they can and cannot do. Probably Dr.Price's greatest contribution was the discovery that focal infection bacteria DO NOT HAVE THE USUAL BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS of most other organisms.

For the most part, oral bacteria proved to be STREPTOCOCCAL and DIPLOCOCCAL forms. A few other types were found in the mouth, but over 90 percent proved to be varieties of the steptococcus family. furthermore, he learned their growth and development proceeded according to the media upon which they were growing, but didn't depend on any one kind of sustanance.

The remarkable ability of focal infection bacteria to be polymorphic, that is, to mutate and adapt their lives to the most extreme and unexpected conditions, certainly appears incredible and admittedly quite hard to believe. who would ever imagine these tiny microscopic entities would be able to survive, let alone grow luxuriantly, in dentin tubules, in concentrated poisons in boiling water, or autoclaves - all of which stopped and controlled earlier generations of the same species?

These invading warrior organisms, while smaller than the species from which they originated, in providing to be more virile and their toxins more toxic, demonstrated their unique ability to drastically adapt to changes in their environment. These attributes allowed them now only to injure their human host but to even cause his or her death.

To a great extent, these invading bacteria are dependent on defects which occur in their host organism. When their host's tissues become traumatically injured, poorly nourished, or partially poisoned, the attack of the organisms occurs more easily and is more potent and deadly. In their effort to conquor, some of these invading organisms generate poisons which paralyze or kill tissues they contact, thereby paving the way for their eventual takeover of that organ or tissue.

Copyright (c) 2006 SSLI Health Group