Bone cavitations can be diagnosed by x-rays, kinesology, and muscle testing. Should such a diagnosis be made, treatment of the area is usually straightforward.
Access to the area is made by lifting back the gum and removing the hard outer cortical bone. Curettes are then used to remove all softened areas of diseased inner bone.
The area is then irrigated with plain anaesthetic and sutured closed.
Healing is usually better than extractions.
Occasionally they can recur, and further investigations of symptoms may be required.
A mercury amalgam tattoo is a bluish discolouration created when a piece or pieces of amalgam drop into bone or cuts in the gum during extractions or fillings and become submerged.
All amalgam needs to be removed to enable the body to release its mercury stores. The body makes no distinction between amalgam in teeth or in the gum.
Unfortunately, small amounts rarely show on x-rays and, if more than several millimetres deep, do not show in the gum. Sometimes they often surface 3-4 years post amalgam removal.
Most are very minor, yet some require extensive bone curettage and require surgical excision.
They are essential to remove to facilitate mercury detoxification.
We get many people asking us if we remove all the periodontal ligament post extraction. The answer is no.
What we do is remove much of it – the aim being to irritate the bone in the socket so that it remodels and repairs properly. We make the area bleed so the socket fills with blood to allow the immune system to act on the area and any toxic material.
Removing the whole ligament has consequences. In the aesthetic zone (areas you can see) it will create unsightly hollow areas above the teeth. In the lower molars you risk nerve damage that can create indefinite numbness or pain. In the upper molar area, you can easily perforate the sinus.
The statement that all must be removed is a myth with big possible consequences. Like most things a middle path (partial removal) is optimal.
