As a result of that fall I suffered with neck and back pain and began epileptic seizures. I took medication to control the seizures and would spend at least one week out of the year flat on my back in pain.

My back and neck became so bad I decided to see a chiropractor. By this time the pain was so severe I had to be carried into the doctor's office. Dn William Yapp took x-rays, gave me an examination, and found vertebrae out of position in my neck and back. The doctor felt confident he could help me, and he did. After the first treatment I was able to walk out of his office, and with each treatment my back got better and better.

The most exciting benefit I received from chiropractic was that my epileptic seizures ceased! I have not had a seizure or had to take medication to control them since that time eleven years ago. I prefer chiropractic over any other health care provider because of the positive results I've experienced. Now, whenever I have any health problems, I always think chiropractic first.

Trent A.'s story is told by his parents, Doug and Tamie:

We felt as if we had to try anything for Trent. Medical doctors had given us no hope other than that he was just going to have to live with his problems. He was on medication for seizures; without it he would have fifteen to twenty-five per day. He was very depressed, rarely smiled or laughed, and was having terrible problems in school. He had not been able to understand anything he read since first grade, and he is now seventeen years old and In ninth grade. He had become so discouraged he was ready to quit school.

Since coming to Dr. Gordon it's as if we have a new person living in our house. He does not need the seizure medication, is not depressed, and now even smiles a great deal. He is improving in school, is taking more interest, and is able to concentrate for the first time. After about three visits to Dr Gordon, Trent said he had read a story and for once understood what he'd read.

DENTAL DISTRESS:

1) Housewife. aged 45. She wanted new dentures made because the old ones' were so loose that it was difficult chewing. The dentures were 16 years old, with fractured teeth and in disrepair. Her major complaints were tiredness, headache. aching muscles in the neck and shoulders and lower back. She had been having epileptic seizures for a period of four years. New dentures were constructed according to the principles of the American Academy for Functional Prosthodontics utilizing the lateral palatal walls of the maxilla and the buccal plates of the mandible for support.

Two weeks later she reported that she awakened rested, was free of headaches neck, shoulder and backaches and had not had a seizure since the dentures were placed. Two years later she reported continued freedom from seizures.

2) Student aged 22. She presented with a full compliment of teeth and premolar prematurities. A complete physical with a battery of tests had just been I completed at a neighboring university medical centre The diagnosis was epilepsy along with multiple health problems She was placed on 14 different medications and referred to me because of a TMJ problem.

Two occlusal amalgam fillings were replaced on the rnandibular second molars sufficiently high to eliminate the premolar prematurities. She returned one year later and reported that soon after her first visit to the author her health was so improved that she had returned to the medical center and insisted on'having all of the tests redone. They took her off of 13 of the rnedications but left her on the dilantin fearing she might still have seizures in spite a of normal brain wave tests and normalcy in the other areas where formerly problems had been found.

When asked why she had returned she responded "I have stuttered all my life. But after you corrected my occlusion, the stuttering stopped. The past two weeks I have started to stutter again, so I felt it was, time, to see you.

The same fillings were replaced with slightly higher restorations. The stuttering again ceased. No epileptic seizures have occured since her first dental visit.

DENTAL INFECTIONS CAUSING EPILEPSY:

Patrick Stortebecker, M.D.

60 cases with epileptic fits of grand mal type and onset at adult age (EPILEPSIA TARDA) examined as regards the incidence of chronic dental infectious foci, were reported in a lecture given at the 15th Scandinavian Congress of Neurology, Copenhagen in September 1960 (Stortebecker207'208).

At radiographic examination 51 out of the 60 patients, that is 85 per cent, showed signs of dental peri-apical osteitis on one or several teeth.

DENTAL TREATMENT, involving clearance of peri-apically localized infections, induced an amelioration of epileptic fits.

Thus in 2/3 of the patients, who underwent a dental clearance, their epileptic fits disappeared totally; and without any anti-epileptic drugs these cases went well during an observation time ranging from 1 to 3 years, at the date of the report in 1960207.

Moreover, the amelioration of epileptic fits could be registered on EEG.

A regression of EEG-abnormalities could be observed coinciding with the dental CLEARANCE, and in some patients a severe epileptiogenic activity vanished concurrently to removal of an abscess of the jaw under the root of a decayed tooth (for details see also papers by Stortebecker 1960,1961,1967,1975,1981).

The interested reader, who wants to penetrate this problem, is referred to my paper208 "Dental Infectious Foci and Diseases of the Nervous System" (1961), out of which the two ensuing cases are taken in order to illustrate this topic.

CASE 5

A 61-year-old housewife had a case history since 7 years ago, when she got impaired memory and a conspicuous drowsiness.

Earlier she had planned and managed a big household with a large deal of entertainment on behalf of her husband's representative duties. - After onset of her illness she became almost unable to attend social duties, do shopping, et cetera.

During recent years she had some attacks of convulsive disorder of type grand mal, and in the last year she suffered from ghastly sensations of a highly repugnant smell and taste, thus unc4nate fits (of p 85).

The NEUROLOGICAL EXAMINATION revealed a certain degree of sensory dysphasia, pointing to a lesion of her left temporal lobe, that might well correlate to her "uncinate fits".

EEG had been made at several occasions during the preceding years, and an increasing abnormality with epileptogenic discharges had been observed.

On the latest EEG-record there was a severe, partly episodic abnormality in the left fronto-temporal region. Moreover from the right temporal region another epileptogenic activity was registered.

In order to counteract her epileptic seizures, she was on a rather heavy medication of anti-epileptic drugs.

On account of her protracted mental deterioration, as well as the aggravation of the FEG-records, a brain tumor was suspected.

Radiographic examination of the skull, cerebral angiography from the left carotid artery, and pneumo-encephalography were all normal, except some enlargement of the left side ventricle.

At that time the patient was referred to me for a consultation, asking if anything further could be done about her illness?

In accordance with my way of working I was interested about knowing if any noxa could have spread from outwards to the patient's cranial cavity and in that canner evoked her brain lesions in both the fronto-temporal lobes.

Consequently I arranged that a dental examination should be performed, including roentgenograms of her teeth and jaws.

Strange to say, hitherto none of the physicians concerned had had the slightest idea of looking at the possibility of a dental infection as an origin to the patient's brain lesions:

The DENTAL ROENTGENOGRAMS (fig 3 above) revealed that all her teeth in the upper jaw were covered by golden crowns and bridges, and moreover a severe peri-apical osteitis was found on all teeth with abscesses of the jaws (cf a "mausoleum of gold" p 74).

A total DENTAL CLEARANCE of all infectious foci was performed, and the subsequent course was as follows:

Already a few weeks after the dental clearance the patient improved mentally, she got in a brighter mood, was able to attend social life, went shopping, et cetera.

Her fast recovery was so remarkable that about a month after the dental clearance all her ANTI-EPILEPTIC medication could be post-poned, without any recurrence of her epileptic symptoms:

At a FOLLOW-UP examination 2 years_later the patient did her full work as a housewife, and she was symptomfree, apart from a slight emotional instability.

All the severe abnormal paroxysmal discharges on FEG had disappeared, and solely a mild unspecific activity with left-sided frontal preponderance was registered as a remainder of her very serious earlier epileptic fits.

COMMENTS TO CASE 5

This woman, who suffered from mental deterioration, epileptic seizures of grand mal type, and hallucinations of smell and taste, made a RAPID RECOVERY in connection to a total dental clearance of severe infectious foci and abscesses peri-apically in her jaws.

Simultaneously vanished the severe epileptic abnormalities previously registered on EFG, and only a mild atypical activity remained on the recording.

Now it might be asked if the related case history merely represents a casual coincidence of miscellaneous happenings, thus comprising several events which lack all reciprocal coherence?

Might it be more than a "random harvest" that this woman, who suffered from a severe EPILEPSY, became symptomless??

How harmless are microbial toxins existent in abscesses of the upper jaw at a distance of simply 10 centimeters from the brain itself?

Furthermore, a temporal lobe lesion may evoke clinical symptoms of giddiness or VERTIGO, as examplified by the ensuing case.

CASE 6

A 55-year-old woman had a case history of about half a year with severe attacks of rotatoric vertigo and vomiting, often accompanied of a bursting headache behind the left eye.

Neurological examination showed normal findings. Her hearing was unimpaired, as well as the caloric responses.

EEG revealed a severe, partly episodic left-sided fronto-temporal abnormality, growing worse on renewed records.

Dental roentgenograms showed osteitis in the left lower jaw, around the roots of -3 and -4, with destructions the size of a peanut (see fig 4 above).

Initially the patient refused dental treatment and was very negative to all advise, as she had no local tooth-ache!

Soon she suddenly got a very severe tooth-ache, and -3 as well as - 4 were extracted.

Thereupon she became symptomless, her paroxysmal vertigo totally vanished, and she went back to work.

Contemporaneous EEG records showed regress of the episodic abnormality.

At a follow-up examination 2 years later there were no signs of recurrence, and moreover the EEG showed only an unspecific left-sided fronto-temporal abnormality (Cf Stortebecker208).

CONCLUSIONS

All patients suffering from EPILEPTIC FITS should be submitted to a qualified dental examination as regards possibly infectious foci.

As we know that MICROBIAL TOXINS from dental infections in the jaws may spread to the brain along venous pathways, as well as along cranial nerves, a clearance should be made of infectious foci existent in the ORAL CAVITY on all patients with neurologic symptoms from the brain.

Among all our very expensive medical investigations a thorough dental care and a prophylaxis against dental caries would certainly also constitute our best prevention against many nervous and mental disorders among people who belong to the Western industrialized "civilization".

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