Dick Van Dyke Traces Mystery Illness to Dental Implants

Newsmax Health

Legendary actor Dick Van Dyke says he has solved a medical mystery that has baffled him and his doctors for years. The cause of pounding headaches that have plagued him for seven years are his titanium dental implants, he says.

Fans and friends of the 87-year-old star had been concerned about his health ever since he canceled a public appearance in April and announced that he was fatigued and suffered from insomnia as a result of an undiagnosed neurological disorder.

Van Dyke was so desperate that he appealed for help from his fans through Twitter. "My head bangs every time I lay down," he said. "I've had every test come back that I'm perfectly healthy. Anybody got any ideas?"

The beloved star of TV's The Dick Van Dyke Show and the movie Mary Poppins added, "It's been going on for seven years. I've had every test you can think of, including an MRI and spinal tap."

Van Dyke took to Twitter again to announce that the source of his mystery illness had been discovered — titanium dental implants. "It seems that my titanium dental implants are the cause of my head pounding," he Tweeted. "Has anyone else experienced this?" he asked. "Thanks for all your replies."

Dental implants replace damaged or missing teeth. The "roots," which are usually made from titanium, are placed within the jawbone.

Dr. David Brownstein, holistic doctor and author of Dr. Brownstein's Natural Way to Health newsletter, says that problems with dental implants often cause patients to go from doctor to doctor for years without finding a solution. "As long as there's no infection, no one considers the implants as the source of the patient's problems," he tells Newsmax Health.

There are tests for titanium allergies, says Dr. Brownstein, but that doesn't explain what happened to Dick Van Dyke.

"Titanium is metal and it creates kind of a lightning rod in the head," he said. "It doesn't happen to everyone, and most doctors don't look for it. Most people have other metals in their mouths, like fillings, and saliva combines with the metal to give a battery-like effect.

"Any metal can do this, and it can be a big problem," he says. "I just had a patient with issues similar to Van Dyke's — headaches and facial pain that no one could identify."

Although titanium is generally considered safe, one study showed that patients had severe health problems after receiving dental implants. Medical issues included neurological problems, depression, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Once the implants were removed, the patients' health improved dramatically.

Studies have also found that implanted titanium can cause abnormal cells to form, which could precede the beginning of oral cancer. Two articles published in the Journal of the American Dental Association indicated that dental implants either caused or aggravated oral cancers.

"There's no easy answer," Dr. Brownstein says. "If a patient has a hole in his mouth, his bite is going to be compromised. The dentist is going to have to do something to fix that space and most of the answers involve some kind of metal.

"I don't advise people not to have dental implants," he says. "I am just cautious and say that if problems develop, the implants should be considered as a possible cause."

Zirconium dental implants, which use high-impact ceramic (zirconium oxide), are more compatible with the human body and may be a safer choice. "Zirconium is an inert metal, and zirconium implants are becoming more widely available in this country," says Dr. Brownstein.

"I think zirconium would be a better choice than titanium.

"Putting any type of metal in the mouth can disrupt the electrical activity and result in a lot of problems," says Dr. Brownstein. "This includes fillings, root canals, caps, bridges, and implants.

"So, if you are suffering and not getting any answers, fillings, root canals, and implants should be considered as possibly upsetting the electrical activity of the head and neck causing headaches, brain fog, and other symptoms people don't ordinarily connect with dental implants."

Related:   Dick Van Dyke Undergoes Tests for "Cranial Throbbing"

Higher Levels of BPA in Children and Teens Significantly Associated With Obesity

Science Daily

Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have revealed a significant association between obesity and children and adolescents with higher concentrations of urinary bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical recently banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from sippy cups and baby bottles. Still, the chemical continues to be used in aluminum cans, such as those containing soda.

The study appears in the September 19 issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), dedicated to the theme of obesity.

“This is the first association of an environmental chemical in childhood obesity in a large, nationally representative sample,” said lead investigator Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, associate professor of pediatrics and environmental medicine. “Our findings further demonstrate the need for a broader paradigm in the way we think about the obesity epidemic. Unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity certainly contribute to increased fat mass, but the story clearly doesn’t end there.”

BPA, a low-grade estrogen, was until recently found in plastic bottles labeled with the number 7 recycling symbol, and is still used as an internal coating for aluminum cans. Manufacturers say it provides an antiseptic function, but studies have shown the chemical disrupts multiple mechanisms of human metabolism that may increase body mass. BPA exposure has also been associated with cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, neurological disorders, diabetes and infertility.

“In the U.S. population, exposure [to BPA] is nearly ubiquitous, with 92.6 percent of persons 6 years or older identified in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) as having detectable BPA levels in their urine. A comprehensive, cross-sectional study of dust, indoor and outdoor air, and solid and liquid food in preschool-aged children suggested that dietary sources constitute 99 percent of BPA exposure,” the investigators wrote.

Using a sample of nearly 3,000 children and adolescents, ages 6 through 19 years, randomly selected for measurement of urinary BPA concentration in the 2003-2008 NHANES, Dr. Trasande and his co-authors, Jan Blustein, MD, PhD, and Teresa Attina, MD, PhD, MPH, examined associations between urinary BPA concentrations and body mass.

After controlling for race/ethnicity, age, caregiver education, poverty to income ratio, sex, serum cotinine level, caloric intake, television watching, and urinary creatinine level, the researchers found children with the highest levels of urinary BPA had 2.6 times higher odds of being obese than those with the lowest measures of urinary BPA. Among the participants with the highest levels, 22.3 percent were obese compared with 10.3 percent of the participants with the lowest levels.

Further analyses showed this association to be statistically significant in only one racial subpopulation, white children and adolescents. The researchers also found that obesity was not associated with exposure to other environmental phenols commonly used in other consumer products, such as sunscreens and soaps.

“Most people agree the majority of BPA exposure in the United States comes from aluminum cans,” Dr. Trasande said. “This data adds to already existing concerns about BPA and further supports the call to limit exposure of BPA in this country, especially in children. Removing it from aluminum cans is probably one of the best ways we can limit exposure. There are alternatives that manufacturers can use to line aluminum cans.”

The researchers wrote in their study that advocates and policy makers have long been concerned about BPA exposure. “We note the recent FDA ban of BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, yet our findings raise questions about exposure to BPA in consumer products used by older children. Last year, the FDA declined to ban BPA in aluminum cans and other food packaging, announcing ‘reasonable steps to reduce human exposure to BPA in the human food supply’ and noting that it will continue to consider evidence on the safety of the chemical. Carefully conducted longitudinal studies that assess the associations identified here will yield evidence many years in the future.”

Food Irradiation, Cats, and Doublespeak: Researchers Reinvent Reality

Gaia Health

To paraphrase Art Linkletter’s comment about children, Researchers say the darndest things! To promote a recent study involving irradiation of food, cats, and neurological damage, the study’s author and promoter has resorted to doublespeak. He claims:

Irradiated food causes neurological damage in cats, but that has no bearing on humans.

In other words: What happens in cats has nothing to do with humans.

Cats can heal from the neurological damage, so humans may be able to heal from neurological damage, too.

In other words: What happens in cats has everything to do with humans.

Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(1), reports that cats were fed irradiated food because it’s known to cause neurological damage, specifically demyelination, resulting in neurological dysfunction, including movement disorders, vision loss and paralysis. Withdrawal of the irradiated food resulted in slow recovery of the protective myelin cover, along with recovery of lost functions.

Study author and promoter, Ian Duncan, said:

We think it is extremely unlikely that [irradiated food] could become a human health problem. We think it is species specific.

That’s magical thinking, based on nothing but a desire for the statement to be true. Nor does Duncan explain why he also believes that the opposite is true, that cats’ ability to heal from such nerve damage may apply to humans.

Demyelination of nerves is a hallmark of multiple sclerosis. This study holds out a big dollop of hope for MS sufferers, since it had previously been assumed that, once gone, the myelin sheath could not be rebuilt and nerve damage is irreversible.

Of course, the researchers are not assuming that humans will spontaneously heal themselves of multiple sclerosis. They are, instead, going to push for more research to find drugs that do for human nerves what cats can do for themselves.

With the logic the researchers use to relate cats and humans, though, one must wonder about the likelihood of anything beneficial coming out of such research.

Well, on second thought, there are a couple of benefits. Just imagine the amount of money that will be funneled to researchers! If they come up with something—no matter how dubious—that they claim will benefit multiple sclerosis sufferers, just think of how much money Big Pharma might rake in—not to mention how much doctors will make by pushing the pills!

Messages that we can take from this nonsense:

Until proven otherwise, it’s likely reasonable to assume that the support for any mainstream medical claim is pseudo science.

Claims that irradiated food is safe are surely untrue. The fact that cats were given irradiated food for the purpose of causing neurological damage clearly demonstrates that researchers are fully aware of the danger associated with it.

When modern medicine says that something is so, don’t assume it’s true. Claims are made using the guise of science, but often have no basis in evidence.

Finally, don’t ever forget that researchers trying to justify and obtain research funding can be subject to magical thinking, including the ability to spew two contradictory and mutually exclusive ideas at one go:

What happens in cats has nothing to do with humans.

What happens in cats has everything to do with humans.

How can we possibly trust the results of researchers who can spout such nonsense?

Diet, nutrient levels linked to cognitive ability, brain shrinkage

Science Blog, Jan 12, 2012

New research has found that elderly people with higher levels of several vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids in their blood had better performance on mental acuity tests and less of the brain shrinkage typical of Alzheimer’s disease – while “junk food” diets produced just the opposite result.

The study was among the first of its type to specifically measure a wide range of blood nutrient levels instead of basing findings on less precise data such as food questionnaires. It found positive effects of high levels of vitamins B, C, D, E and the healthy oils most commonly found in fish.

The research was done by scientists from the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., and the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. It was published today in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Measles Vaccines Turn Fatal

MedIndia, Mar. 17, 2011

A vaccine campaign took a fatal turn at a government hospital in Kutch, Gujarat, when four infants died immediately after being vaccinated for measles, report officials.

On ‘Mamta Day’, organized by the district health department, children and pregnant women from a slum colony in Adipur, a town in Kutch, were vaccinated. Seven under-one year olds had been administered the vaccine, when four developed complications and were rushed to the hospital where they died.

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MSG and cause of death

Bangkok Post, Opinion, Mar. 15, 2011

Re: Mysterious deaths at a Thai hotel (BP, March 6). Here are some quotes from people who conduct research on monosodium glutamate:

''MSG explains many ailments in many people. Much legend and myth is being passed around about MSG to make it seem innocent. In fact, it can cause many different reactions, in some people fatal.''

"May cause itching, nausea, nervous system and reproductive disorders, high blood pressure.''

''MSG is a highly reactive amino acid. It is used by scientists in studies to purposely cause death to areas of the brain and is fed to rodents to make a strain of obese and pre-diabetic test subjects. MSG is classified as a neurotoxin: too much of it introduced to the brain can cause rapid cell death.''

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EFSA review dismisses artificial sweetener critics

Beverage Daily, Mar. 1, 2011

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reviewed two studies published last year: a carcinogenicity study in mice from the Ramazzini Institute (Soffritti et al., 2010) and an epidemiological study linking artificially-sweetened soft drinks to premature birth (Halldorsson et al., 2010).

Following a review conducted with the co-operation of the French food safety agency Anses, EFSA concluded that the studies “do not give reason to reconsider previous safety assessments of aspartame or of other sweeteners currently authorised in the European Union.”
...
EFSA said incidence of these tumours reported in the study fall within the historical control range. In addition, hepatic tumours in mice are not regarded by toxicologists as being relevant for human risk assessment when induced from substances like aspartame that do not damage DNA.

EFSA is requesting the complete data set from the Ramazzini Institute and said that as it stands it therefore cannot comment fully on the validity of the study, its statistical approach or results.

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Many studies with dubious funding sources (Anjinamoto, Searle, Merisont, etc.) will attest to the safety of aspartame. Non-industry funded studies may be found at this link: http://sweetremedyfilm.blogspot.com/p/dr-ralph-waltons-compiled-list-of-non.html -Ed.

The Beetlejuice World of Brian Deer

A question more media outlets reporting on autism and vaccines should be asking: Who is this Brian Deer character, anyway?

Age of Autism, Jan. 28, 2011

When asked about why autism is rising or what is causing autism. Deer responds, “I don’t know, I am not a doctor.” Fair enough. Yet why did the British medical authorities hire this squirrelly “free-lance” journalist to “investigate” and evaluate the complex medical records of sick children with autism? Insane. Why doesn’t our government hire Jane Brody, who writes a health column for the NYT, to investigate brain surgery frauds and report back to the NIH? Why hasn’t the Surgeon General hired Emily Smith (a good detective!) of “Page Six” to investigate hoax heart valve surgeries? Anyone is free to “investigate” and report anything they want but our government doesn’t commission wacky reporters off the streets to evaluate children’s confidential and complex medical histories. Can you even imagine how many personal injury lawyers would retire for life if they worked on this case here in the U.S.?

The saddest part in all this is seeing how Deer’s warped medical “evaluations” of these childrens’ records were taken seriously by any authority at all...

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Why Your Children Should Never Have MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) or Aspartate

Peak Testosterone

What if I told you that modern life made it INCREDIBLY easy to destroy the hypothalamus of your child? It's true and this can have devastating long term consequences for your little one as I document below. Yes, it's easy to slowly poison one of the major regions of your child's brain and below I will show you how many parents are unwittingly doing it.

First of all, let me explain the chemicals, collectively called excitotoxins, that we're talking about here: glutamates and aspartates. These two chemical families are actual neurotransmitters used extensively by the brain. The food industry has for decades poured it into our processed foods as flavor enhancers. It makes food taste better, so they throw it into anything and everything. Almost anyone, in the U.S. at least, has consumed signficant amounts of autolyzed vegetable proteins, MSG, monosodium glutamate, aspartame in chewing gum and diet drinks and on and on the list goes. Soups, sauces, powders and seasonings are very common sources as well.

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USDA Certified Organic’s Dirty Little Secret: Neotame

Farm Wars, Jan.22, 2011

Just when we thought that buying “Organic” was safe, we run headlong into the deliberate poisoning of our organic food supply by the FDA in collusion with none other than the folks who brought us Aspartame. NutraSweet, a former Monsanto asset, has developed a new and improved version of this neurotoxin called Neotame.

Neotame has similar structure to aspartame — except that, from it’s structure, appears to be even more toxic than aspartame. This potential increase in toxicity will make up for the fact that less will be used in diet drinks. Like aspartame, some of the concerns include gradual neurotoxic and immunotoxic damage from the combination of the formaldehyde metabolite (which is toxic at extremely low doses) and the excitotoxic amino acid. (Holisticmed.com)

But surely, this product would be labeled! NOT SO!!! For this little gem, no labeling required. And it is even included in USDA Certified Organic food.

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Was Vaccine Safety Conference The Target Of Wakefield Media Blitz?

From Hell to Veins, Jan. 21, 2011

The International Vaccine Safety conference was held the very week of the heaviest media blitz against Dr. Wakefield. Was this ‘world wide’ media blitz meant to send a ‘chilling effect’ to all the professionals who attended this vaccine safety conference? Was the message to the attendees...don’t question vaccine safety or else!!

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Related: DR. ANDREW WAKEFIELD AND THE MMR CONTROVERSY

Thimerosal in Vaccines

AllVoices, Dec 19, 2010

Dr. Mark R. Geirer, MD, PhD and David A. Geier had conducted a study which had evaluated doses of thimerosal in childhood vaccines. Their examination had shown there is an increased risk between the mercury levels and neurodevelopmental disorders and heart disease. The study was published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

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