Sixteen heart and other circulatory disease conditions were mentioned as disease problems which can occur as effect to the presence of root canal filled teeth.

Such a large number of different heart involvement conditions is surprising as during World War I it was disclosed that 10 to 11 percent of all deaths in United States and England were due to heart involve- ment, and at that time most cases involved the heart valves.

During that period most doctors believed these heart cases were caused by streptococcus infections and that this organism species was involved in 90 percent of such cases. The major cause for infective endo- carditis according to the Mayo Clinic Health Letter in 1986 was the streptococcus veridans family of bacteria - the very same one Dr. Price found most often araising from infected teeth.

The number of deaths from heart disease has increased from 10 percent during Dr. Price's time to over 50 percent of all deaths today. In view of Dr. Price's disclosures about the relationship of root canal therapy to the high number of heart cases and other degenerative diseases related to endodontic treatment, the time is overdue for the dental profession to reassess its role in the occurrence of these diseases.

A good example of the seriousness of this enquiry can be seen in the endocarditis case of nine year old girl. She had been bedridden for five of her nine years. A culture made from her two infected baby teeth was injected into the ear veins of three rabbits, each of which developed endocarditis and myocarditis, and one of them also developed rheumatism. One of the rabbits developed the largest heart ever seen in a rabbit.

Number of other heart conditions were covered in this chapter. Many of the cases proved difficult to classify as the patients were suffering from several organ or tissue disturbances all at the same time.

Investigations revealed that in a good number of these cases patients made substantial recoveries when root canal filled teeth were removed!!!!

Phlebitis cases were few in number, but the infection of a culture from a woman patient with phlebitis caused a rabbit's ear to swell 10 to 20 times the thickness it had been. In addition, the rabbit developed an acute gall bladder disturbance, multiple ulsers,and infections of the walls of the blood vessels.

The case discussed and shown are only a small percentage of heart and circulation cases presented in the two Dr. Price books, but they are representative.

Why these focal infection cases clear up and don't just continue on after the infected tooth or teeth are removed is a question often asked. Undoubtedly, when the condition has persisted for a long period, healing is not fully possible, but it is the getting rid of the continual outpouring of bacteria and their toxins from the infected teeth which enables the body's immune system to get rid of the infection at the focal infection site and allows the body to heal itself.