This article first appeared in the November 2016 issue of Austin All Natural magazine.

© 2018, Austin All Natural

TO CHELATE, OR NOT TO CHELATE

If you’re going to do it, do it right

by Dr. Matthew Carpenter

It’s becoming widely known that metal, chemical, and environmental toxins are harmful to homeostasis, the ability to maintain a consistent level of good health. 

It’s also known humans have increased ambient mercury levels in the air a hundred times through mining, that birth rates are down and it’s more difficult to conceive healthy babies, that people living near polluted rivers have higher rates of cancer and other chronic illnesses, and that people are now aware of aluminum in their pans and deodorants, of toxic cleaning products, and kids’ water bottles containing BPA. 

As a biologic dentist, I help people reduce poisonous metals from dental work – mercury, nickel, aluminum, cadmium, chromium, titanium, and unhealthy resin fillings with aluminum, hormones, and fluoride. 

Except for resins, these are heavy, base metals normally found deep in the Earth’s crust. In my office, we remove these metals while running IV-C (intravenous vitamin-C) therapy and providing acupressure, in the safest environment possible – negative ion generators, metal-specific air filters, and activated charcoal air-conditioning filters. 

First instincts, and the bouncer. 

I’m frequently asked how best to reduce metal in the body after mercury and other metals have been removed from the mouth. Although the first instinct is to begin flushing them out of the body with chelation therapy, it can only be effective in conjunction with reducing daily exposure to metals and toxins in food and water.

You will literally pull toxins through your body, never reducing levels of poisonous metals, if you chelate or use medications or supplements to remove metals stuck in fat and connective tissue without limiting continued exposure from other sources. (This is why people see health benefits when moving to organic foods after removing mercury fillings and aluminum crowns – they’re allowing the body to catch up on taking out the trash.)

The main “bouncer,” the antioxidant in the body that removes mercury attached to hemoglobin or thyroid cells, or stops a virus from replicating after contracting a cold, is glutathione (GSH). Because of our current cultural abundance of toxins, most people have very low, deficient glutathione levels, as their GSH has been used up, making them more like to get a cold or not heal from an infection.

The more you piggyback or support the body’s inherent processes, the better chance you have for results . 

One of the more highly researched, comprehensive, and safe metal-detox delivery systems is from Quicksilver Scientific of Lafayette, Colorado. I resonate with its approach to ramp up the immune system naturally, safely, and efficiently to support excretion with vitamin C, R-Lipoic acid, glutathione, natural binders for supporting elimination of toxins from the bowel, and phytonutrient antioxidants to maximize metal detoxification pathways through cellular phases of activation, conjugation and elimination. 

Dr. Chris Shade runs the one mercury-specific lab in the world, and is an expert on metal toxicity and elimination. Shade’s methods employ the highest efficiency delivery vehicle in medicine right now – liposomal delivery. Liposomes are made of phospholipids – the basic building block of cell membranes – with encapsulated nutritional compounds enclosed, making them more bio-available than other delivery vehicles like traditional pills and herbs. This means you actually get more of the product into your cells. 

It’s not a program heavily relying on herbs that make you feel nauseous, or pills you struggle to intake consistently in a day. Lyposomal gel is absorbed through he mucosa of the mouth and begins having an effect immediately, not an hour after you take it when the contents of a pill finally hit the part of the small intestine where it’s absorbed into your blood stream. There are no needles, IV’s, or unsafe chelation drugs commonly employed in traditional urine challenge testing or IV chelation therapy.

  I believe metal exposure is linked to decreased immune function, autoimmune illness, and increased potential for health problems. I think Dr. Shade’s system can be used successfully by most people desiring reduced toxic dental-related metal loads. 

Dr. Matthew Carpenter of Transcend Dental Health uses drill-free air abrasion, ozone therapy, natural alternatives to antibiotics, non-surgical treatment of gum disease, and consultations regarding the Detox Qube from Quicksilver Scientific to lower existing metal loads, including a panoramic x-ray for visualizing remaining metals in the oral cavity. (512) 255-3618, www.tdhtx.com

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