Probiotic

In the early 1900's, Dr. Metnikoff of Russia found that certain Bulgarians lived longer, pain free and disease free lives. He attributed their healthy longevity to their diet. The diet consisted of yogurt, sauerkraut, sour dough bread and buttermilk. Dr. Metnikoff discovered that these fermented foods contained friendly beneficial bacteria that were able to take rotten putrescence food and digest them to release byproducts that were full of nutrients and destroyed the foul odor. These friendly bacteria kept the potential bad guys from causing disease. Out in nature, bacteria clean up dead matter to keep other living organisms from becoming sick. Bacteria need the carbon and nature's gases to metabolize and survive. Toxic chemicals have taken away these resources and have driven bacteria to reside in hosts. A few of these bacteria turn into pathogens that cause disease. The majority of the bacteria are harmless and some are even beneficial. It is the beneficial bacteria that keep the pathogens from doing damage. Bacteria set up house in the body where the beneficial bacteria compete with the pathogens for the spoiled food particles. This competition keeps the ecological system in balance. In this kind of eco-system, all the bacteria are able to survive.

The eco-system became disrupted when man exposed the bacteria to toxic chemicals in the form of medicine, polluted water, polluted air and polluted food. Most all of the bacteria were killed. A few survived and became resistant to the toxic chemicals. These resistant bacteria were mostly pathogens. The pathogens grew and changed the eco-system in the digestive tract so that there were far more pathogens than beneficial bacteria. The pathogens hoarded the food and gas resources so that the beneficial bacteria began to die and disappear from the digestive tract. The digestive tract became a putrescence toxic dump that resulted in many of the diseases in the body  Holistic doctors realized that the diseased condition could be changed by restoring the ecological balance. They used the friendly bacteria identified by Dr. Metnikoff to change the balance to be favorable to good health. The beneficial bacteria were called probiotics because they are pro life to humans. 

Probiotics have been used in agriculture to restore fertility to the soil. Probiotics have been used in wastewater systems to eliminate the odor. Probiotics have been used in the animal and poultry industry to prevent disease foods. Probiotics have been used wherever there is pathogens that may cause damage. 

The reason that probiotics is so effective is enzymes. The beneficial bacteria produce the enzymes that are necessary to prevent infectious disease. Enzymes are necessary for digestion and for metabolism. Bacteria have the enzymes to grow bacteria and bacteria have the enzymes to destroy bacteria. Beneficial bacteria produce enzymes to control pathogens by competing for the same food and gases, and they are able to control pathogens by producing enzymes to stop the growth of pathogens. There are two ways of stopping growth. One is to block breathing and the other is stop synthesis of proteins. Antibiotics kill bacteria by stopping growth of bacteria with chemicals that block breathing or chemicals that stop synthesis of proteins. The problems with antibiotics are that they create resistant bacteria and they kill the good bacteria. Antibiotics may be necessary for biological warfare and other emergency situations, but the use of antibiotics should be limited and not abused.

Probiotics have been successful for treating digestive related diseases but it has not been used to treat dental disease. Dental disease stems from a digestive problem, therefore probiotics should be used as a supplement to treat dental disease. In fact, probiotics will be more effective in treating dental disease than it is for the inner body digestive diseases. Many of the beneficial bacteria are destroyed  by the hydrochloric acid in the stomach. The way to avoid this pitfall is to freeze the bacteria and put them in a pill. Many of the frozen bacteria do not become rejuvenated and die once they reach the gut. This makes the probiotic less effective because high concentrations of beneficial bacteria are needed to restore the ecological balance in the gut. Live cultures can be used in the mouth because there is no danger from the hydrochloric acid of the stomach. Probiotics can be introduced into the oral cavity at much higher concentrations with very little loss in numbers.

Beneficial bacteria control many of the pathogens in the digestive tract by changing the Acid Base Chemistry of the digestive tract. Beneficial bacteria are mostly fermentation bacteria that produce acids that lower the pH. Bacteria are sensitive to changes in pH. Most of the food pathogens die or disappear in an acid environment. Even many of the acid bacteria die or disappear when the pH drops below 4.5. Most of the beneficial bacteria survive the fermentation process. The reason is attributed to what is called symbiosis. Beneficial bacteria feed off each other and need each other to survive. Pathogens try to hoard the environment and disappear in changes in pH. This was proven by tests conducted at the University of Wisconsin. Bacteria were measured during the fermentation of cabbage. The food pathogens disappeared first, then most of the acetic acid bacteria disappeared, leaving a combination of beneficial bacteria at the end of the process. Symbiosis may be why a primordial soup of probiotic bacteria can be so effective in fighting infectious diseases.

Probiotics used in the oral cavity will help the dentist control pathogens from causing dental disease. Gingivitis is the result of pathogens attacking spoiled food particles. Probiotics control growth of the pathogens and compete for same spoiled food particles to prevent gingivitis. Probiotics lower the pH so that plaque bacteria can not form dental plaque and calculus that causes periodontal disease. 

Probiotics make an excellent maintenance product because they produce antioxidants. Antioxidants prevent stain and plaque formation by neutralizing the free electrons that are needed for mineral formation. Probiotics are able to breakdown putrescence odors by fixating on the toxic gases and changing them to gases needed for metabolism. 

The most effective Probiotics are called soil based organisms because they are a combination of beneficial bacteria that are team players. There are bacteria to digest all four food substances, carbohydrates, proteins, fats and fibers. There are bacteria to digest all six sugars, maltose, glucose, dextrose, lactose, fructose and sucrose. There are bacteria to breakdown all odors, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus gases. There are bacteria to guard the fermentation bacteria from invading pathogens. All the bacteria play a vital role in preventing pathogens from causing dental disease.