By TDH Office
•
April 30, 2020
It’s important to understand that ozone is not a poison and that it has been used to help human health for more than 100 years. To give you a little history, In 1785, the Dutch chemist Martinus van Marum was conducting experiments involving electrical sparking above water when he noticed an unusual smell, which he attributed to the electrical reactions, failing to realize that he had in fact created ozone. A half-century later, Christian Friedrich Schönbein noticed the same pungent odor and recognized it as the smell often following a bolt of lightning. In 1839, he succeeded in isolating the gaseous chemical and named it “ozone,” from the Greek word ozein, meaning “to smell.” For this reason, Schönbein is generally credited with the discovery of ozone. The formula for ozone, O3, was not determined until 1865 by Jacques-Louis Soret and confirmed by Schönbein in 1867. Some other historical uses of ozone demonstrating its safety include its use as a disinfectant in drinking water in 1893, its use as a food preservative for cold storage of meats in 1909 and in 1939 ozone was found to prevent the growth of yeast & mold during the storage of fruits. Most people have heard of ozone because of the concerns with the holes forming in the ozone layer. Ozone in the ozone layer filters out sunlight wavelengths from about 200 nm UV rays to 315 nm, with ozone peak absorption at about 250 nm. This ozone UV absorption is important to life due to the fact that radiation intensity is 350 million times as powerful at the top of the atmosphere as at the surface on the earth. So ozone actually makes life on earth possible. Nevertheless, enough of UV-B radiation at similar frequency reaches the ground to cause some sunburn, and is responsible for the production of vitamin D in humans. In fact, even Benjamin Franklin believed that the presence of cholera was connected with the deficiency or lack of ozone in the atmosphere, a sentiment at the time that was shared by the British Science Association. Industrially, ozone is used to disinfect laundry in hospitals, food factories, and nursing homes and can be used as a disinfectant for water in place of chlorine. Ozone kills bacteria on food or on contact surfaces, can be used to sanitize swimming pools and spas. Ozone is very safe when used properly. The science behind ozone is somewhat complex, but basically the thing to understand is that it can kill viruses, bacteria, fungi, molds and parasites approximately 4000 times as effectively as bleach, but will not harm human cells if used at the correct dose. Ozone has many health benefits with respect to stopping pain and inflammation, building the immune system naturally and helping to treat and prevent cancer, but we use it extensively in my dental office because of its remarkable ability to improve healing.
