For a few years now I have noticed, as has my dentist, that I have a lot of dental plaque. Really a lot. My dentist hints I am not cleaning my teeth nor flossing but I floss (almost) daily, and brush my teeth up to four times a day. Every day. Every thing I drink or eat seems to immediately pile on the plaque and I look like I've not brushed in weeks so have to go and brush again. My partner brushes only once daily and has no plaque.
I researched this and apparently it is due to excess calcium in the blood, but my research stopped there as I couldn't find a causal factor for the excess calcium.
Until last night, when reading Stop the Thyroid Madness.
Calcitonin is the fifth component of the thyroid, and the fifth component of NDT. But I'm on T4 & T3, so no added in calcitonin, and I have all the symptoms of under treated hypothyroidism. I then read that calcitonin responds to too-high levels of calcium in the blood and inhibits the release of more calcium from the bones to the blood. It plays a role in prevention of osteoporosis - I have osteopenia.
So (possibly) QED, does my excessive dental plaque indicate a lack of calcitonin and thereby, under-treatment of my hypothyroidism? Would my GP accept this "evidence"?
Does any one have any views on my "logic" about this?
I think your logic is GOOD ! However I have nothing to add at the moment - just wanted to say that my gum/teeth health improved hugely once on high levels of VitD... Oh yes my Dentist did notice too....
Thanks Marz. Good to hear it. I have done my postal Vit D test today although I may have messed it up, but will await the results and see if I will benefit from supplementing
When you say high levels Marz, can I ask how much you are taking? My mood swings/depression were getting beyond a joke so after reading Vit D can help, I am now taking 2x5000iu but to be honest I'm a bit worried it's too much. I have cut down to one tablet this week but will revert to 2 again next week. It may be the placebo effect but I definitely have seen an improvement
I too take 5000IU's x 2. I have Crohns. It does support the immune system too as well as being anti-inflammatory. VitD does improve the production of calcium and too much of that can be a problem - so if you have concerns then maybe have the Calcium and Adjusted Calcium tested to check it is in range. High calcium can affect the heart.... I am not an expert - have just learnt from others who know more than me....
VitD best taken with fatty foods as it is fat soluble....
Oh god!!! I might just do it for a little while longer then go back to one tablet. I thought it would take ages to kick in but TBH I noticed an improvement almost straight away...or maybe I'm cured...I wish
Sorry to hear about the Crohns Marz. One of my sons has it (I believe he's had it from birth but every GP I took him to told me I was just an over anxious Mother and if I was really worried I should feed Adam raisins ..... Presumably the collapsing and emergency hospital admissions were due to a dearth of raisins)
Do GPs do the two calcium tests on demand?
Thanks for the info re fat soluble. Unfortunately on weekdays I have just high protein / no fat shakes as if I go over 600 cals per day I gain weight.......
Not sure about the Calcium tests - one of the posters here - Jackie always mentions it.
My Crohns is well behaved - have never had any drugs for it except in the beginning - some 40 years ago - when I was also being treated for Ileo-caecal TB. A veritable cocktail of drugs... There is an article on vitamnindcouncil.org about Crohns and LOW VitD - could be helpful.
Your GP should do your D test - after all they have all been informed by the Chief Medical Officer in a letter - in my opinion thyroid sufferers should be in the vulnerable group too
Its a point I will argue with my GP Marz, but the bloods taken on Monday didn't include it, and as I've got to wait weeks before I see him I thought I would take it along with me (if the results support my case) as evidence that "something must be done" ha ha.
That's an interesting theory. My dentist told me I had loads of plaque and even made a point of showing it to me on my dental xray back in January. I was surprised because I look after my teeth pretty well and I've never been told I have this problem before. I believe I'm undertreated at present. It will be interesting to see if any others have this problem.
If lack of calcitonin leads to osteoporosis then maybe that's why some bright spark mistakenly came up with the idea that a supressed tsh/over replacement of levo causes osteoporosis. What it is really down to is that we don't get adequate calcitonin which to my mind means we should all be on ndt!
The calcitonin prevents calcium from leaving the bones and entering the blood stream. Te problem is when calcium leaves bones they loose density but calcium in the blood makes the heart beat, like clenching your fist..... You need to balance it with magnesium to make it relax. Like un clenching your fist. So too much calcium in the blood not a great idea..... Calcitonin is in NDT but not in synthetics. This point seems to have been conveniently overlooked by the medics. I don't believe the signs are evident until its too late and osteoporosis has set in. :-(.
So adding together the dental plaque, the osteopenia, and the palpitations it might seem that I can at least postulate there's evidence of a lack of calcitonin & ergo, of under-treated hypothyroidism. Probably a weak hypothesis that a scientist would balk at but from the perspective of living the symptoms, it works for me
Hypnoteq I realise that you wrote this 2 months ago but it is very interesting, I agree with you and I'm wondering how you got on? Did you find a doctor to back this up and are you now taking NDT?
Hi Riverfrog. My GP's reaction to NDT was an absolute NO and the conversation went off down another track so I didn't get the opportunity to voice my "theory". I did however, get a referral to a new Endo in Sheffield, so all wasn't entirely lost ..... Am hoping I can raise it with him. I have bought NDT and plan to move from T3/4, to self-medicating once I've had a raft of private blood tests done in India, as a benchmark for where I am now on synthetic meds.
Hypnoteq, I hope you manage to get your message cross with the Endo, I will be very interested to hear how you get on. Why will you have the blood tests done in India?
Paul from Blue Horizon recently posted on here that they had set up an arrangement with a lab in India, to provide fully accredited testing (it does 63m assays per annum!) but at a fraction of the cost here. So I've ordered a full thyroid and another wider group of tests which I couldn't otherwise have afforded. The bloods first go to Perth for initial processing and then on to India. So at least part of me gets to be well-travelled! Fingers crossed
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Oh yes my Dentist did notice too....
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