BPA: A Real Life Case Study

An interesting occurrence just happened with our dog Celeste. She has been with us since the age of 9 weeks, so we pretty much know her personal doggie health and habits. She has always eaten very healthy home cooked food from stainless steel or ceramic bowls. But about 6 months ago, we started serving her food from the plastic container that it was stored in from the refrigerator.

Shortly thereafter, she developed a little growth on her lip. The veterinarian said that Celeste probably bit herself and that the little fibroma could be surgically removed or left there. The thought of putting Celeste under anesthesia to remove a benign small growth was quickly dismissed. Maybe it will go away on its own (Hah! That almost never happens.)

Then about 3 weeks ago, part of her nose started changing color from black to pinkish white. It was on the same side of her face as the fibroma. There was nothing in my mind that even put these same two facial anomalies in the same category. But as most of us know, there are no coincidences. Further detective work was started.

This time I went online to see if I could find the answers myself. (Those who know me, know that I do not give up easily when it comes to health challenges). The internet has a plethora of solutions for every problem. We just have to use discernment and some common sense when filtering through these websites.

Not wanting to buy into the gloom and doom of my dog being old (she’s only 3) or has a weird skin condition or blame it on the weather (hard to believe but seasonal change will cause this nose color shift), I looked into it further. I think it was somewhere around page 5 of the Google search, that other causative factors surfaced.

There was something I found about chemicals in plastic dishes possibly creating the color change. I figured this would be a simple thing to correct. We immediately changed all her serving bowls back to stainless or ceramic. Guess what? In three days, not only was her nose changing back to its normal color but that growth on her lip was also disappearing. One week later, there was no trace of any dis-ease on her nose or lip. My beautiful healthy puppy had her baby face back.

Thank you Celeste for that personal real live lesson on the dangers of plastics in our environment!!!

The thing to realize is that Celeste is a 12 pound dog. The effects on her were visually seen. If you are a 100 or 200 pound person, the effects will not be so obvious. And Celeste is EXTREMELY healthy so her immune system was able to keep these toxins at the skin surface without being deeply absorbed into her internal organs. That is probably the real reason why everything resolved so quickly.

Which brings me to the dangers of BPA.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) has become epidemic in our plastic reliant society. It not only affects our current population, but there is also evidence that it is passed on to newborns in utero as well. It is an endocrine disrupter; a synthetic estrogen mimicker (xenoestrogen). Hormonal disruption or imbalance leads to infertility, puberty, sexual and gender identity problems, diabetes, obesity and possibly even estrogen related cancers.

It is used in most plastic bottles, the inner linings of beverage and food cans, inks for store receipts, printers and paper money, and some cosmetics and clothing apparel. Even the CDC reported in 2004 that BPA has appeared in the urine of over 90% of people tested.

So why is this important in dentistry?

Because many of the composites and most of the sealants used in dentistry have bisphenol- A in them. Yep. You read that right. You took out your toxic silver mercury fillings and may have replaced them with toxic white ones. Not what I would call progress.

So you as the educated consumer need to stop being so trusting of your health professional (see my personal experience in Choosing a Holistic Dentist ), educate yourself some more, and make some better choices. It sure worked for Celeste.

And by the way, the sealants and white filling materials that we use in our office are BPA free.