Toxins of Bacteria in Dental Infection were more Lethal than The Direct Action of Bacteria

Even though Price felt confident his research and interpretations were sound and factual, he encouraged future investigators to further test his findings.

To Dr. Price, the uncovering of truth was the most important objective of his research. He hoped the future would shed more light on his studies - and take them further. That his deductions would be ultimately proved or disproved was of little concern. What was of concern was that truth be found.

It was determined the toxins produced by the bacteria, not the bacteria themselves, killed the rabbits, and it was supposed the toxic substances in the tooth would gradually diminish with each implantation. The actual amount of poison in a single tooth isn't very great, so it was expected to be completely gone after 20 rabbits had been used. It was also assumed that with each succeeding rabbit, the rabbit's life span would become longer than the first rabbit's as the poins dissipated. Instead, they all died within six days, except for one that lived 1o days.

This particular rabbit was a very large and vigorous male and an ugly fighter that tried to kill others in the cage. Within six hours of the tooth implantation, it lost all of its pugnacity and viciousness. In a couple of days, blood changes such as the reduction of ionic calcium appeared and the rabbit began to lose weight.

Calcium values of the animals that developed capsulations about the embedded teeth tended to stay the same, while in others the calcium progressively became less and less, and in some it dropped to zero. Whenever a rabbit failed to build an encapsulating membrance, it would die quickly. In other words, the encapsulation provided some degree of temporary immunity.

It may prove difficult for the average person to comprehend the concept that these deaths are not being caused by bacteria but by the poisons or toxins, they produce. To demonstrate these infirmities can be due to toxins, Price crushed the roots of root filled teeth, washed them, and passed the washings through a Berkefeld filter, a method which removes all bacteria.

Culturing the remaining solution to see if any bacteria had been retained proved none had. Nevertheless, the remaining liquid, when it was inoculated into rabbits, would start their decline. In addition, there occurred a depression of their normal ionic calcium level and a progressive loss of weight. Death usually resulted in a few weeks. These facts suggested the encapsulating sack is not a typical neoplasm (tumor), but is a protective membrane developed by nature to protect the animal carrying it.

What occurs appears to be defense mechanism to save the rabbit, but in these cases it can do so only temporarily because of the virulence of the toxins continually being produced by the bacteria in the dentin tubules.

In the experiments Price did with rabbits, the most surprising results occurred when he removed an infected tooth which had been embedded in a rabbit that had died, and then placed it in boiling water for one hour. When the tooth cooled off, it was re-embedded in another rabbit. An encapsulation took place and in about two weeks blood changes started to occur which resulted in that rabbit's dying in a period of 22 days.

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