The Oral Microbiome Secret to Preventing Cancer | Dr. Gerry Curatola

Introduction to the Belzhansky Cancer Talk Show 0:00

I didn't want to be a mechanic of teeth. I really wanted to become a physician of the mouth. It started me down the path of what we call biologic dentistry, but I was early on in that. Really looking at the fact that we need to understand the connection of mouth to the whole body. That's what led me to write this book. Welcome to the Belzhansky Cancer Talk Show, where integrative science and holistic healing come together. I am Sylvie Belchanski, and in each episode, we explore nutrition, lifestyle, mental health and research-backed approaches to support the whole person through cancer and chronic diseases.

Hello! I have the pleasure today to invite to the Belgiansky Cancer Talk Show Dr. Jerry Curetola is an internationally recognized biologic dentist, author, inventor, and pioneer in oral systemic medicine. He is the founder of Rejuvenation Dentistry and Revitin Oral Wellness, creator of the oral microbiome stability protocol and author of a best-selling book, The Mouth-Body Connection. For more than four decades, Dr. Curatola has been at the forefront of research, exploring how the oral microbiome influences inflammation, immunity, and chronic disease, helping redefine health care with a simple but powerful message.

Dr. Curatolau2019s Early Path to Biologic Dentistry 1:34

The journey to the whole body wellness begins in the mouth. Dr Curatorla, welcome to The Belgiansky Cancer Talk Show. Thank you. And I would like to ask you, when you were growing up, you did not think, I want to become a biologic dentist. I don't think that was the dream. So tell me, a little bit briefly, how did you get there? I have to reach around because in this book, in my book The Mouth Body Connection, on this page is the business card. that I made, the publisher actually reprinted, I've made a business card to be a dentist at six years old, six-years-old.

So I have to give you a little bit of background. The first is I grew up down the block from a penny candy store and I was always sneaking, you know, with my cousin who is Dr. Genie Creco's father, who's in my practice. We would go to the candy story together and we would get this candy. At the age of four and five years old, I had my first cavity and it was a terrible experience. As a matter of fact, you know, the dentist, he was really nice guy. He was dating my aunt. So he kind of a family friend.

But he was a sadist. He would drill the tooth. No anesthetic. And it was so painful. I really remembered the fear and the terror I had back then. So, I remember when I was young boy, my mother used to come around and say, boys, say your prayers before you go to bed. Said a prayer, God, what should I be when grow up? And I heard a voice, you know, really early on, like I want you to work for me. So I thought that meant, you know, going up Italian, American, Catholic, that I was going to be a priest.

And I told my mom, my mother's like, You know priests don't get married and have children, Gerald, and I said, well, she goes, why do you want to a be priest? I think God told me he wants me to work for him. And she said, well, you should work for God in everything you do. This is a true story. The next night I went to sleep. And again, I said God, a you know, want to work with you, but I want get married and have children like my mother and father. All of a sudden I remember thinking, what could that be?

You know? Lawyer, policeman, fireman, doctor, dentist. And I hated the dentist from that experience I just shared, but it wouldn't move off that it was dentist, dentist. So I have to say I woke up the next day. It was Sunday and I made this business card. I took my father's card and ended up actually with scotch tape and his card, I cut out the words, you know, good dentist And I gave it to, and my mother saved that card. That card is now over 60 years old, over 63 years-old, that car, because I'm going to be 69. And, I just have to say, looking back, It wasn't calling.

It was a calling and I loved it, right? I was left-handed, but I would also ambidextrous. I use the left and right, But I do fine motor dexterity with my left, gross motor skills with right. So in college, I as a neuroscience major and was an art minor. And I love the artistic side of dentistry, and also love medicine. When I came out of dental school, I felt very prepared to be a mechanic of teeth and I wasn't, you know, I didn't want to a be mechanic teeth. I really wanted to to position of the mouth.

And it started me down the path of what we call biologic dentistry, but I was early on in that. was really looking at the fact that we need to understand the connection of mouth to the whole body.

Sweatfest and Supporting the Foundation 5:49

and that's what led me to write this book. which was you know this is now 10 years old. I have a new book coming out which we could talk about but and it ties together all of these experiences because you there are a lot of young dentists graduating that are now they're open and they are interested in understanding this oral systemic link the mouth body connection and how the materials that we use the procedures that root canals which have a very controversial reputation because of the fact that it's not just about, you know, root canal is like embalming a tooth, we take the guts out and it is filling material in the roots.

But when you do that you actually have non-vital structure in human body and anything that is not alive or non vital is going to decompose and that can have profound effects on your systemic immune system. So with this approach, I mean, you have become quite successful. I means, this is working. This is recognized. It is appreciated by a number of people. And now you a beautiful dentistry facility in Manhattan. efficient. And you have another one also in the Hamptons and you are very generously going to host the first Sweatfest festival in Hampton.

Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yes, well, I am really proud to support your organization. And from when the first time we met and I heard about your history and your work and even helping your father, you know, when he had his difficulties and really unfair, unfair difficulties, but the wonderful, wonderful research that he did, it resonated with me. Being involved in supporting Belgiansky and all of the initiatives, I knew we had to bring something to the Hamptons because there is a wonderful opportunity there for people to know about this great work and to get more people, A, aware, B, involved, and C, supporting the organization.

So this Sweatfest is the first one. I love that, Sweattfest. I said to Marnie the other day, Manny Salop, who is the event coordinator, I say, you know, we don't even have to exercise. All we got to do is walk outside in 100 degrees. But it is an exercise thing. She has done a great job getting lots of its action packed. I think it's a fantastic way for people to make a contribution to the organization that stacks deductible, but also have an opportunity to participate in, I don't know, it was like 30 different events that are going on with.

Tracy Anderson, SoulCycle, and all these other organizations that have contributed services for the participants to take place in.

Oral Health, Gum Disease, and Cancer Risk 8:51

So it's going to be a whole day of athletic activity, a day a fitness activity. A whole of wellness events. Our center in East Hampton is going be open. We just heard last night that Dr. Jonathan Quo is going to join me and offer peptide therapies for skin, for everything from sexual health to joint mobility and everything else. He's going be there offering that and we have an organization that's gonna be offering the catering happier grocery. has agreed to come and support the event. We have a wonderful party.

I think that's going to be great. And, you know, I, think, there are so many organizations doing so different things in the Hamptons at this time of year, that this is something that is different. It's not just an event party at night. it's really a lot of activities that give people an opportunity to really support Yeah, and the event is about also funding research on cancer stem cells or cells which are responsible for cancer metastasis and relapse and chemotherapy is not recognize those cells because they are very slow dividing.

So it is this really funding independent research at the forefront of integrative oncology. But when you speak at conferences and I had the privilege to hear you a few times, you are also speaking about cancer and also about the connection between oral disease and cancer, right? What can you tell us about this link between those two things? Absolutely. And by the way, cancer stem cells are a major problem. There are people I know, for example, that have had breast cancer and they have, you know double mastectomy and radiation and chemo and everything.

But really this issue of stem cell can be really the fuel for the cancer. Stem cells, I think is an inflammation, chronic inflammation. So the connection between the mouth and more than, I think it's now nine types of cancer from breast cancer, lung cancer esophageal cancer oral cancer pancreatic cancer. Huge connection, pancreatic cancer colon cancer prostate cancer and then ovarian cancer all rooted in all with high increases in statistical risk. from gum disease, for example, which is epidemic.

Over 80% of the American adult public right now have some stage of gum diseases. What's the significance about gum disease? It's probably the body's number one source of chronic low-grade inflammation. And chronic, low grade inflammation is like a silent alarm bell going off that no one's answering. It causes a dysregulation of the immune system. And when you dysregulate the immune system and you have a more pro-inflammatory genotype, it changes genetic expression, right? So chronic inflammation, you know, in 2015, there's a big study coming out that came out, that said that gum disease was a major link to cancer.

And what they were talking about then, and now the studies have become more sophisticated and actually tying together. For example, Harvard University had a study on men with advanced periodontal disease had 67% higher incidence of pancreatic cancer, which is frightening. That pancreatic cancer of course is one of the most scary cancers. So we're really looking, and that's why we were looking at the mouth as a gateway And a mirror and a gateway. You know, in my book, The Mouth-Body Connection, I talk about the mouth as a mirrored that we have over 80% of infectious disease has signs in the mouse.

And now we look at the math as gateway, especially There are specific bacteria, the number one bacteria in colorectal tumors, colo-rectal cancer tumors. Fusobacterium nucleatum. So F-nucleatium is a commensal bacteria. What we call a community bacteria that exists in the mouth. But when the oral microbiome is at a balance, you have basically benign organisms start to flip a pathogenic switch and they wreak havoc.

Microbiome Balance and the Mouth-Body Connection 13:48

Another one, so F-nucleotidum is one of them and that's the number one bacteria they found in colorectal tumors. And then the other one is porphomonas gingivalis or P-gingivalus. And when that's out of balance, P. gingivalis has been linked to so many different cancers, including heart disease and other issues, stroke and dementia, Alzheimer's. So this is an interesting phenomenon where you know, health begins in the mouth. And so at your dental office, you are testing for that. I mean, this is some kind of very unique information that people cannot get somewhere else.

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At belgianski.org, you will find evidence-based resources, expert-led conferences, books, and conversations that explore integrative approaches to cancer and chronic disease alongside conventional care. Whether you are a patient, a caregiver, or practitioner, this is the place to learn, to question, Visit belgianski.org to explore the research, attend upcoming events, and connect with the Belgiansky community. Because informed choices begin with credible science. Now we're doing a lot of salivary testing where we can see your risk.

we can see your risk for cancer just from salivary markers that indicate whether you are at low, moderate, or high risk, for oral cancer, but also many different types of cancer in the body. So this is interesting. Salivory testing has started to grow in recognition and use. The earlier salivary tests were not very descriptive and it just showed that if you have P. gingivalis, porphyromonas gingvalis that bacteria I was just talking about. Oh, if have this, you're at risk. No, it's not so much the the organisms, it's how they're expressing themselves.

So the human microbiome project from the, you know, early 2000, I think 2006, 2008, started to show that there are bacteria that behave basically peacefully in the body and they perform a lot of important functions, very important function. In your mouth, the oral microbiome regulates not just the immune system in your in mouth but systemic immune systems is regulated by the oral microbiome. And the important thing is promoting balance, what we call microbial homeostasis. The approach in most oral care products were all about kill, kill kill.

Kill plaque, killed germs, and we were stuck in this germ theory, going back to Louis Pasteur, where bacteria are invaders, you have to kill them. Well, the human microbiome project completely flip the game. It completely flipped the understanding. And the understand is that, one, we're made of bacteria, basically. We're like walking bacteria containers, and they run every aspect, every organ system. They run us. we don't run them. So I had these commandments. One, were made a microbes, two, the microbes run us, we don't run them.

And if you try to go to war against your microbes, which we have in the antibiotic wars from way back from the origin of penicillin, you know, try and go into battle with our microbes. If you do, then we're going to lose. There are people who are vancomycin, one of the most powerful antibiotics. They're people that are laying in a hospital that is antibiotic resistant. and we build this because what we know is that these microbes have an intelligence that goes even before we even walk the planet.

It's an ancient intelligence where when you try to kill microbes, especially in the mouth, They exchange genetic information and then they flip a pathogenic switch. And now you have what I call pissed off bacteria. When pissed-off, they travel all over the body. You have inflammation like in the gums when your gumbs are bleeding. These organisms can travel in a bloodstream. We also know, we used to believe that the oral bacteria when you swallow and it hits the stomach with the hydrochloric acid, it kills them.

Well, that's not true. We know that there are bacteria called persisters. They secrete or they insulate themselves and then they can pass into the small intestine and the large intestine. So diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn's, they have found bacteria from the mouth that have been identified in tissues that are infected by these

Revitin, Prebiotics, and Oral Wellness 19:48

organisms because of their pathogenic expression. So your approach is that we should not try to kill all the bacteria, good and bad. We should instead strive to maintain equilibrium, a balance, healthy balance in the body and everywhere in body, including in mouth. Right. Absolutely. Well said. I said it a lot. It's really, you know, we got to get out of the pesticide approach with our relationship with When you are facing cancer, the choices can feel overwhelming, conflicting advices, endless options, and very little clarity.

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So my favorite line is make peace with your microbes. Because when you do, they do great things. I just had a paper accepted for publication in a major peer-reviewed dental journal. And it's about prebiotic approaches to oral health. It's part of the science behind Revitan. When I spent 20 years in oral microbiome research, what I came away with is we do not want to kill bacteria, we really want to foster that balance. Now, with that said, when there is an overwhelming infection, where there's a pathogenic state where it's kind of a little too little, too late, that's where an antibiotic is definitely indicated.

Everyday care, like everyday toothpaste, everyday products should be designed to nourish and support a healthy, balanced oral microbiome. And this aspirate, you have created riveting, my favorite toothpaste. Can you tell us a little bit more about it? And by the way, I love the new citrus taste. Fantastic. Yeah, actually, we have a We have a bunch of new flavors and a lot of products. So where Viton was developed, or Revitine, I actually like the way that sounds even better. When I was trying to come up with a name for the product, And I was like, well, revitalize vitamin and revitalized vitamin, you know, so it's R-E-V-I-T- I-N.

And Sylvie, I think we offer a discount for your podcast and we'll have a code that we could put up like Ravitan20 and they will get a... If they want to try, but the product was developed with really 20 years of research, multiple double-blind clinical studies, to get the product. My approach at first was that toothpaste should not be a detergent. Toothpaste really developed as a deturgent product. Colgate, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, they were all coming. It was, I think, Lever Brothers when they came out.

They had a product called AIM. So it was all these detergents companies. A hundred years ago, that were like, oh, it's flavored detergeant for your mouth. That never sat right with me because I was like, you know, one of the studies that I looked at from Japan in the 1970s, they biopsied diseased gums and they found that it was deficient in two key nutrients that are important. One is vitamin C. So we knew like sellers on ships who were vitamin c deficients, They got scurvy and scurry was a horrible gum condition, horrible, painful gum, condition.

And it was a deficiency in vitamin C. The other one was, a molecule that had been isolated in the 1950s, that's in every cell of our body and it's involved in, the manufacture of ATP. So ATP is like the gas in a tank for the cell. so the more energy that is needed, and the three areas where this is the most needed are your gums, your skin and your heart, and it's coenzyme Q10. I had a good friend who passed sadly recently, not that long ago, his name was Dr. Steven Sinatra. He did a lot of research on CoQ10 in the heart and he was doing a supplementing his patients with coenzyme Q10 and I was testing it on the gums and it was amazing.

Vitamin C and CoQ10 were so powerful for helping to restore and reduce inflammation, gum stop bleeding in a matter of days. And then we looked at vitamin E and MSM which is methyl sulfonylmethane which stimulates stem cells in the periodontal ligaments.

Practical Steps to Lower Cancer Risk Through Oral Health 26:18

So it was this whole nutrition approach. But secondary to that was the emerging science of the oral microbiome which showed that you don't want to nuke everything, but when you take a prebiotic, not probiotic, probiotics are interesting, right? Try to put good bacteria in body and help to balance everything. the reality is probiotics in the mouth have a limited usefulness because the mouse environment makes it very inhospitable for good and bad bacteria to set up shops. So you don't see salmonella and E.

coli infections in mouth, you see it in gut. And that's why probiotic are a little more effective in closed system of the gut, but in really prebiotics, which aren't nourish and support the indigenous microbes, rather than trying to throw good bucks in and say, oh, I'm throwing good bugs in. And studies have shown that that is really has a very, very limited amount of efficacy. So we take a more pre-biotic approach to nourishing with a lot of nutritionals. And that's why Ravitan is a product that you could swallow.

It's basically almost a dietary supplement in the form of a toothpaste. So that was where the research came from, taking a prebiotic supportive approach. to nourishing and balancing this essential ecology. And the oral microbiome does amazing things. It transports minerals from saliva to the surface of your teeth. And it's called the Cialomicrobial Dental Complex, SMDC, which is what the paper that's coming out in the dental journal this fall, Journal of Frontiers in Oral Health, we talk about this prebiotic approach to the oral microbiome.

So this is Belgian anti-cancer talk show. So what would you recommend to our listeners to reduce the risk of cancer and by using better oral health? So, and that is the million dollar question for this podcast. What can you do because your approach to prevention has been terrific, both with systemic supplements, but people have to understand that When you take a systemic supplement, the effects in the mouth are minimal, right? Like vitamin C and Coke 10, you could take it systemically and it has systemic effects.

But in mouth, it's really important to understand that if your gums bleed, if you're waking up in morning and your mouth is dry, or you waking in middle of the night and you have to go to the bathroom, those are signs of sleep apnea. So, you need good nutrition. You need a good sleep because sleep is really interesting because it's two things. One is, when you sleep, your body can regenerate. When you're asleep, we repair. We have this amazing capacity to self-regulate and heal, but you have to sleep.

over 80% of obstructive sleep apnea has to be with what's going on in the mouth. So I want everyone on this podcast to, number one, understand that your mouth is a gateway. It is the front line. And inflammation in mouth puts you at terrible risk of so many different types of cancer. Reducing inflammation You can start with good nutrition. You wanna make sure that you're breathing, you have a good airway. Everyone should be, believe it or not, exercise is not just for your body, but exercise helps with the production of short-chain fatty acids for you mouth.

And by the way, if you are mouth breathing and you were, and have sleep apnea, it affects your bodies ability to make nitric oxide. Nitric Oxide is really important. for reducing inflammation, for cardiovascular health, or the regulation of your immune system. Nitric oxide is an important part of the regulations of you whole body. So again, sleep, nutrition, and of course, what you're using in your mouth. If you are using a product that's killing, there's so much garbage out there and there is a lot of things that disturb the microbiome.

But everyone should know that the essential ecology of your mouth, the oral microbiome, is a building block for systemic health and wellness. And you have to respect it with good quality products. And that's why, you know, the first thing, even if you are in cancer treatment, if want to prevent cancer, treatment. If you were after cancer. You should really be using a product that helps to balance and support the natural ecology. So that type of information is really important. And then I wanted to say one other thing is that that often gets left out, right?

We have nutrition, exercise, breathing and sleep. and good oral care products, not stuff that strips or kills. I mean, there's a lot of talk about, oh, what about hydroxyapatite and this and that. It's another, again, treating the symptoms of disease, but not the root cause. Your teeth are not like ceramic tiles to be spackled. with this synthetic mineral that was developed goes back to the 1970s. So hydroxyapatite is trying to replace fluoride, which has a lot of connections to cancer and other things.

There's been a lots of research on the fact that fluorite, stimulate remineralization of teeth, right? It makes enamel harder, but it makes it more brittle too. So you had lots of hip fracture studies that were looking at skeletal fluorosis and the effects of that. It's important, the last thing that I wanted to say about what can you do to really make yourself cancer-proof would be managing stress. We are in a society right now, we're in an age where there is so much fear and anxiety being through the airways.

I tell people, turn on your TV, please. The news is either filled with nonsense or fear, and I think everyone should meditate. Meditation is a wonderful way to manage stress and manage anxiety, especially if you are battling a major life threat like cancer. If you're battling that or if you are just really having difficulties in other areas, managing your stress like meditation is such a powerful tool for prevention and really helping your body regulate and heal. Yeah, absolutely. But it's not always easy to achieve when you are under high stress.

Yeah. That's why, you know, there's great apps on phones, and there are lots of good meditation courses.

Stress Management and Final Takeaways 33:38

And everyone can meditate. I've had people say, oh, no, I tried it, but I can't do it. You know I'm too wound up. and that's the problem is that you don't wind and unwinding is a great exercise in itself. So, what would be the one message you would like the listeners to remember? Your mouth is on the front line of your ability to live a longer, healthier life. Don't look at your mouth as just being oral disease, just about what's going on in your, you know, going in on your own mouth. It is affecting the entire body.

So, so well said. Thank you so much, Dr. Kuratala. This was awesome. And everybody look for the promo code, generous promo codes for Revitin, Revitan, whatever it is the best. That's great. Thank you. And let's get everybody to sweat fast. Yes, we're going to have a great time. For more resources and to see what we offer, please visit belchanski.org.