Fast Diet Program

The Tooth Fairy Killed My Father

My father died of inflammation -- cancer and heart disease initiated by smoking and gum disease

My father died during the summer of my graduation from high school. Without his social security benefits, I wouldn’t have attended UCSD and become a research biologist.

He died of colon cancer followed by a heart attack. After surgery for colon cancer he had stopped smoking, a forty-year habit. I must have inherited some potent tolerance for bodily abuse, if he could inhale and swallow a huge barrage of carcinogens and inflammatory compounds for decades before showing the effects. But I think it was his poor dental health that nailed his coffin. He was physically active in his youth and was a boxer in the marines before the Second World War. I think that he had a reasonable diet and active lifestyle, but smoking, cavity-prone teeth and poor dental care led to gum disease and dentures. This is the huge inflammatory event that ultimately shortened his life.

Gum disease can shorten life expectancy. Alternatively, flossing and good oral hygiene can lengthen your life by an average of two years. What this means is the accumulation of a biofilm of bacteria on your teeth, plaque, next to your gums will cause your gums to become inflamed. That constant chemical annoyance triggers chemical signals, inflammatory cytokines, that move from your teeth throughout your body. This chronic inflammation can ultimately lead to other symptoms, and in the case of my father, to cancer and heart disease.

My father had a reasonable diet -- he had avoided many of the modern killers, vegetable oils, high starch/sugar, trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. He also got plenty of exercise, because his job required that he walk five miles a day. He could not, however, survive the double whammy of periodontal disease and smoking. Once the colon cancer reduced his physical activity, the coronary artery disease accelerated in his inflammatory context and he didn’t have a chance. The inflammation in the lining of his coronary arteries led to the deposition of fat and calcification, and these arteries could not stretch adequately with the contractions of his heart.

Today people can exercise, avoid smoking and have good oral hygiene and the prevailing Western diet will still lead to inflammation and ultimately to cancer and degenerative/autoimmune disease. The sequelae to a life of chronic dietary-induced inflammation are dependent on personal genetic predispositions (diabetes, arthritis, cancer, etc.) and experience, e.g. sports injuries leading to arthritis. These Western diseases are associated with aging, but are symptoms of chronic inflammation and they can be avoided by an anti-inflammatory diet.

My father was assassinated by Joe Camel and the Tooth Fairy. for details click below