The physicians who understand the harmful role teeth can play in their patient's lives will, I trust, keep in mind that none of this information in any way condones the wholesale condemnation of all teeth. Early in my practice I was horrified to find a number of patients whose physicians took the focal infection theory too literally and advised them to have all their teeth out, teeth that were in no way involved in their arthritic condition.

Then, too, bad this very revealing research of Dr. Price's not been buried, there is a good chance by now we would have solved the problems of how to sterilize bacteria trapped in dentin tubules.

In this chapter about degenerative diseases, I have included some of the more common ones Dr. Price presented in his two books, and pictures illustrating these conditions.

These exmaples should give you some idea of the thousands of different degenerative disease cases which were extensively studies. Because Dr. Price's investigations indicate those who have root canal fillings and/or periodontal gum disease have a higher incidence of degenerative diseases than do those free of such conditions, it behooves us to adopt sound preventive measures in our day to day lives.