Positive Health Online

Dr Thomas Levy is undoubtedly one of the world’s foremost expert in vitamin C. As stated in a review of one of his previous books Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, & Toxins – Curing the Incurable (2002. Xlibris Corporation; www.Xlibris.com) – www.positivehealth.com/review/vitamin-c-infectious-diseases-toxins-curing-the-incurable, Dr Levy trawled through the vitamin C clinical and scientific literature (>24,000 publications on MedLine) and re-unearthed (over the past 50-60 years) the highly substantive clinical and scientific evidence documenting vitamin C’s therapeutic efficacy for a wide range of serious, frequently fatal diseases including polio, hepatitis, measles, mumps, encephalitis, chickenpox, influenza, rabies, AIDS, Ebola virus, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, tuberculosis, malaria, as well as against many deadly poisons and toxins including alcohol, barbiturates, paracetamol, endotoxin, pesticides, radiation, strychnine, snake and spider venoms.

In this book, Dr Levy describes in great detail, the genesis of how atherosclerosis develops, discussing the composition of the matrix of arteries and how narrowing and blockages develop. His thesis is that a  vitamin deficiency, or scurvy, is at the heart of the weakening of the blood vessels, as well as the  blockages, the mechanism of which he ascribes to the body’s attempt to counteract the deficiency of  vitamin C.

When I first picked up this book, I was somewhat put off by the some-what presumptuous title and the  author’s assertion that reversible vitamin C deficiency is the cause of coronary heart disease (CHD), as  well as pivotal in numerous other conditions, including high blood pressure, inflammation, lipid disorders,  obesity, diabetes, depression and others. However, Dr Levy is an excellent teacher and explains complex  medical phenomena in understandable language.

In almost every case, the cause of low vitamin C levels in the arterial linings is a significant daily toxin  exposure. These toxins keep neutralizing (Oxidizing) the body’s stores of vitamin C making the  maintenance of active (reduced or non-oxidized) vitamin C levels in the various tissues of the body virtually  impossible.

The arterial intima is especially prone to this localized deficiency. Whenever any toxins are released into  the blood, the inner lining of the arteries is logically one of the first ‘destinations’ for the toxins to gather and start neutralizing local vitamin C stores, at least partly explaining why arterial scurvy is probably the most common form of focal scurvy.

Dr Levy is a uniquely qualified individual to write this book and makes an outstanding contribution, both to  cardiac and dental health. He is a Board Certified Cardiologist, as well as the co-author, with H Huggins of the published research paper Routine dental extractions routinely produce cavitations in Journal of  Advancement in Medicine 9(4): 235-49. 1996.1 He is therefore, one of those rare individuals with the  knowledge of coronary heart disease (CHD), who has put together its causes and mechanisms, and  placed “Total Dental Revision” as the first steps in his Protocol for the Prevention and Reversal of  Atherosclerosis.

A.    Total Dental Revision
Removal of dental toxicity, or Total Dental Revision, requires the following:
•    Proper removal of root canal-treated teeth;
•    Proper treatment of chronic periodontal disease;
•    Proper cleaning of all cavitations;
•    Proper extraction of acutely and chronically abscessed teeth;
•    Proper replacement of mercury amalgam fillings and other toxic fillings with optimally bio-compatible materials;
•    Proper replacement of toxic dental metals used in crowns and other dental reconstructions with optimally biocompatible materials;
•    Proper removal of dental implants.

Levy goes on to further explain …the presence of root canal-treated teeth (‘root canals’) and advanced periodontal disease in the mouth are two very strong consumers of antioxidant stores by virtue of the chronic infections and chronic toxicities associated with these dental entities.

Huggins and Levy (1999)2 and Kulacz and Levy (2002)3 have addressed the scientific and clinical  evidence showing why root canals and periodontal disease are so reliably associated with a very high  incidence of atherosclerosis, cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases.

Issels (1999)4 noted over 50 years ago that cancer was strongly correlated with the presence of root  canal-treated teeth. Cancer is a prototypical chronic degenerative disease, and the same chronic lack of  antioxidant defences found in such patients is also seen with chronic heart disease (atherosclerosis) and  other chronic metabolic and degenerative diseases such as diabetes, collagen vascular diseases,
osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis.

The only way to begin the proper restoration of health in a heart patient is to properly extract all root canal-treated teeth. This involves more than mere extraction. The bony sockets must be properly cleaned after  the extraction of the teeth, or chronically infected holes (cavitations) will reliably form and remain after  superficial healing has closed over the holes.

These toxic pockets of infection in the jawbone are pathologically identical to wet gangrene, and they have essentially the same toxicity as the root canal-treated teeth themselves. This is also why so many  edentulous patients have clinical pictures consistent with large ongoing toxic challenges. When their  jawbones are properly explored, even many years after the extractions took place, long channels of toxic  cavitation are routinely found, as adjacent pockets often expand to the point that they merge, forming literal  tunnels of gangrene in the mouths of many older patients.

Dr Levy also provides additional Appendices including: B. Minimization Of Dietary Toxicity; and C.  Recommended Supplementation as well as over 60 pages of References to the Scientific Literature.

This book is a serious must for everyone, practitioner and patient alike, concerned with their health.

References
1.    Levy T and Huggins H. Routine dental extractions routinely produce cavitations in Journal of Advancement in Medicine 9(4): 235-49. 1996.
2.    Huggins H. and Levy T. Uninformed Consent: The Hidden Dangers in Dental Care. Hampton Roads Publishing Company. 1999.
3.    Kulacz R and Levy T. The Roots of Disease. Connecting Dentistry and Medicine. Xlibris Corporation. 2002.
4.    Issels J. Cancer: A Second Opinion. Avery Publishing Group. 1999.

Further Information
Available from www.livonbooks.com also available from www.amazon.com; Tel: 001-866 682 6193; 001-719 593 9616.