A Look at Root Canals – Part 2

As promised in the last newsletter (Root Canals – Part 1), this month I will discuss the toxic aspects of root canals.

Remember, a tooth is made up of thousands of tiny tubules. Bacteria can enter into these tubules. If the tooth is abscessed, or if there is periodontal disease, bacteria can invade this area. When a root canal is performed, these bacteria go from being aerobic (they thrive on oxygen) to being anaerobic (they thrive in low oxygen).  When the bacteria become anaerobic they give off toxins which are extremely potent.

Dr. Weston Price showed over sixty years ago the potential adverse effects of root canals.

Dr. Price would extract a tooth from a person with a degenerative disease, i.e. arthritis, implant this under the skin of a rabbit, and guess what happened – the rabbit developed arthritis. If the person had heart disease the rabbit would come down with heart disease.

These bacteria become very specific in their disease producing qualities depending on the host they developed in. Dr. Price would also grind the root-canaled teeth, sterilize them in various manners, and then inject a small amount into rabbits. The rabbits still got sick; the toxins from the bacteria are virtually indestructible!

Dr. Price and other researchers found a root-canaled tooth can be involved with just about every chronic disease. They had tremendous results in their treatment of very ill patients after removal of these toxic teeth.

What happened to this knowledge? Why is this frowned upon today by traditional dentistry?

In trying to help patients, this research was used indiscriminately and many, many teeth were extracted unnecessarily and without the sought after result. Also, antibiotics came onto the scene and this forever changed the approach to disease.

However, the truth is always the truth. Root canals still are potentially dangerous. Recently, this was shown to be the case by Dr. Boyd Haley, former head of chemistry at the University of Kentucky. He ran experiments and found that root canaled teeth are more toxic than botulinum.

You are now faced with the decision of whether or not to do a root canal. What do you do?

The safest action is extraction of the tooth. However, if the idea of extracting the tooth is extremely upsetting for you, what are the factors you need to weigh?

First, remember every tooth is on an acupuncture meridian. What is the health of that meridian? For instance, if you have liver and gall bladder problems, it probably would not be a good idea to do a root canal on a tooth associated with this meridian.

Keep in mind that toxins from a root canal are not necessarily confined to a specific meridian. In fact, your genetic areas of weakness, are the most likely targets which the toxins will wreak their havoc. For example, if both your mother and father have arthritis, your chances of developing arthritis from a root canal are fairly high.

The psychological impact must also be considered. A healthy, twenty-five year old woman is faced with the decision of whether to do a root canal or to extract an upper tooth. Even though the tooth can be replaced in a manner that will make the loss undetectable, she may be so traumatized by the thought of losing this tooth, that the negative psychological effect of removal may be worse than having the root canal. (A future e-zine will explore The Power of Thought).

Also, the overall health of the individual must be considered. Someone who is not constitutionally strong, or is ill with a serious disease, e.g. cancer, in my opinion, should not consider doing a root canal.

Let’s look at lasers, ozone and biocalex

When doing a root canal, some are using a laser to kill the bacteria in the tubules. Others are using ozone for the same reasons. I would say that the jury is still out on the efficacy of these treatments. Will the amount of bacteria be decreased? Yes. Will they stay decreased? I doubt it. Biocalex, a calcium hydrate, is also used for the same reason, to create an environment in which bacteria cannot thrive. It does this initially. However, after about a year, the toxicity is back.

The biggest factor as to whether you will tolerate a root canal is YOU.

If you are healthy and constitutionally strong, the better the odds that the toxins from the root canal will be quarantined and not have a systemic effect. It is also important that other stressors on your body be minimized, especially those of the toxic type like heavy metals, chemicals and pesticides.

In practice, when I test root canals with EAV (a type of energetic testing- see past newsletter on this topic) in a sick patient, I will always find them to be a problem. In retesting, after relieving their toxic load, I may find the root canals test OK, or if there is more than one, one may be OK and another may not be. The patient then has to decide whether to extract all the teeth with root canals or perhaps just the ones that test poorly.

To sum it up, the safest treatment is to extract a tooth rather than to have a root canal. Such decisions are not always easily made. What if it means that you will have no back teeth to chew with? Now, you either go without molars, and possibly cannot chew your food properly (with the ensuing nutritional consequences), or you have to consider implants. I think that implants may pose many of the same dilemmas as root canals.

Therefore, it is necessary to weigh all the things I have discussed, and you have to decide on what you think is best for YOU.

Considering the possible sequelae of root canals, make sure if you are told to have a root canal that you really need one. Of course, if you are in pain and can see an abscess on an x-ray some action must be taken. However, some dentists like to prophylactically do a root canal. For instance, if they are doing a crown, they will recommend a root canal to save you having problems later. Also, just because a tooth is sensitive does not mean you need a root canal. Sometimes, just adjusting the bite or changing a filling can alleviate the sensitivity.

As I have stated in the past, I find too many full crowns are done where a more conservative restoration could have been done. Because of the amount of tooth structure removed with a full crown and its impact on the pulp of the tooth, a full crown should always be the restoration of last resort.

You can see why dentistry was much easier to practice when I didn’t know anything about the systemic effects of dentistry.

© 2005, Mark A. Breiner, DDS

The information presented is for educational purposes only. You should consult a qualified dentist or health practitioner for diagnosis and treatment.

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