The subject which occupied most of Dr. Price's research time was the multiple roles calcium plays in the functions of the body. These Studies virtually forced themselves upon him as medical and dental literature contained little information about calcium and its important functions.

A list of calcium functions follows:

Every cell is dependent on the presence of Ionic calcium. It isused in teeth and bones and the movement of muscles. It is required for the rhythmic action of the heart and the intestines. It is essential for the clotting of blood. It plays a role in infections, pregnancy, and in the maintenance of the acid-alkaline balance. Its presence or absence is a factor in the formation of tooth decay, phorrhea, and the degenerative disease.

The great contributions made by Melvin Page,D.D.S., which have advanced some of the Price findings were discussed; for instance, how routine calcium and phosphorous blood test readings can be used to balance body chemistry. In as much as this is not Price research, I suggest readings go over the chapter again to learn the significance of Dr.Page's contributions to our knowledge of calcium metabolism.

Dr. Price showed beginning awareness of what Page discovered later when he wrote, "What is important is not so much the presence or absence of an available supply of calcium, such as the calcium in foods, as it is the mechanisms that govern the metabolism of calcium."

Another great finding was that of the relationship between the thyroid gland's activity and that of the parathyroid. Low Ionic Calcium: Dental focal infections, in many instances, lower the ionic calcium level of the blood. When an infected tooth of a patient having degenerative illness is placed in a vessel of the patient's blood, the ionic calcium drops markedly.

Patients having degenerative diseases have low levels of ionic calcium and the total of the combined calcium present is also very low. However, when dental infections are removed, the balance is restored and ill-health symptoms of patients usually progressively disappear.

When an infected tooth of a patient was placed under the skin of a rabbit, the animal experienced a similar reduced ionic calcium of its blood and malfunctions of the blands of internal secretion were produced.

When organisms originating from infected teeth were grown in culture and injected into animals, they produced changes in the animal's blood, including a reduction in ionic calcium. Tooth decay occurs when ionic calcium level is below normal. When ionic calcium levels are persistently low, such individuals have denser bones and they have difficulty responding to local anesthetics.

Those with persistently low ionic calcium levels tend to have slow healing and repair and are likely to develop secondary infections of sockets following extractions.

Copyright 2006 SSLI Health Group