Root Canal Issues

What is clear in the work cited is that root canals are linked to a wide range of age related disease syndromes that could benefit from a careful review of the underlying dental health.  What is more disturbing is the complete lack of curiosity from medical science.  The biological scenario is convincing and informs us.

A root canaled tooth loses its biological support against the establishment of infectious reservoirs.  Worse, the body does seal such a problem of but it is hardly leak proof.

All this begs a careful review of this grandfathered practice that has served its purpose well enough but may need to be replaced or significantly modified.  Deep penetration methods that irrigate and heal come to mind.  Also a course of antibiotics will often solve the problem.  The difficulty is that you have to discover the problem.

Why You Should Avoid Root Canals Like the Plague

November 16, 2010 | 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/16/why-you-should-avoid-root-canals-like-the-plague.aspx

Many people have had questions about root canals, so I thought it would be wise to repost this article.

It was an interview with Dr. George Meinig, who was dentist and leader in teaching people about the dangers of root canals. He wrote the book Root Canal Cover Up.

Because I first became aware of this information in the early '90s I was able to avoid having any root canals. I elected to have three teeth extracted and now have two bridges to replace those teeth.

At the time, that was my best option, as I believe that metal implants should be avoided. However in the last few years non-reactive metal implants made from zirconium have become available and that is what I would use now if I had to have an alternative to a root canal.

Why I Encourage You to Think Twice Before Getting a Root Canal

Please don't let your dentist mislead you that a root canal is your only option, or that it is entirely safe.

Teeth are similar to other organ systems in your body in that they also require a blood supply, lymphatic, and venous drainage, and nervous innervations. Root canals, however, are dead teeth, and these dead teeth typically become one of, if not the worst, sources of chronic bacterial toxicity in your body.

If your kidney, liver, or any other organ in your body dies, it will have to be removed so that bacteria and necrosis will not set in and kill you… but teeth are commonly left dead in your body.

Teeth have roots with main canals and thousands of side canals, and contained in those side canals are miles of nerves. When dentists perform a root canal, they remove the nerve from the main canals; however they do not have access to the microscopic side canals, which have dead nerves left behind in those spaces.

Anaerobic bacteria, which do not require oxygen to survive, thrive in these side canals and excrete toxicity from digesting necrotic tissue that leads to chronic infection. Blood supply and lymphatics that surround those dead teeth drains this toxicity and allows it to spread throughout your body. This toxicity will invade all organ systems and can lead to a plethora of diseases such as autoimmune diseases, cancers, musculoskeletal diseases, irritable bowel diseases, and depression, to name just a few.

Even antibiotics won't help in these cases, because the bacteria are protected inside of your dead tooth.

It appears that the longer root canal-treated teeth stay in your body, the more your immune system becomes compromised.

Seek Out a Biological Dentist Who Is Aware of Root Canal Dangers

If your dentist is not actively engaged in continuing education, and is not open to alternative, toxin-free forms of dentistry, there's a good chance he or she is not aware of the risks of -- and alternatives to -- root canals. A biological dentist will be able to provide you with a more comprehensive, holistic solution for your teeth that will not harm your health.

Knowledgeable biological dentists can be hard to come by, so start your search by asking a friend, relative, or neighbor who knows of one. If that fails you can contact several good natural health food stores in your area and ask a number of the employees or even the owner. The following links can also help you to find a biological dentist:

·         Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions: e-mail dams@usfamily.net or call 651-644-4572 for an information packet

·         Consumers for Dental Choice

·         International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine

·         International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology

·         Holistic Dental Association

·         International Association of Mercury Safe Dentists

An Interview with George Meinig, D.D.S.

Dr. Meinig brings an interesting perspective to expose the latent dangers of root canal therapy. Dr. Meinig is particularly well qualified to comment on this topic as 60 years ago he was one of the founders of the American Association of Endodontists (root canal specialists)!

So he's filled his share of root canals -- and when he wasn't filling canals himself, he was teaching the technique to dentists across the country at weekend seminars and clinics.

After he retired he decided to read all 1,174 pages of the detailed research of Dr. Weston Price, (D.D.S.). Dr. Meinig was startled and shocked as he found a valid documentation of systemic illnesses resulting from latent infections lingering in filled roots.

After reviewing Dr. Price's materials he wrote Root Canal Cover Up.

Please explain what the problem is with root canal therapy.

GM: First, let me note that my book is based on Dr. Weston Price's 25 years of careful, impeccable research. He led a 60-man team of researchers whose findings -- suppressed until now rank right up there with the greatest medical discoveries of all time. This is not the usual medical story of a prolonged search for the difficult-to-find causative agent of some devastating disease.

Rather, it's the story of how a "cast of millions" (of bacteria) become entrenched inside the structure of teeth and end up causing the largest number of diseases ever traced to a single source.

What diseases? Can you give us some examples?

GM: Yes, a high percentage of chronic degenerative diseases can originate from root filled teeth. The most frequent were heart and circulatory diseases and he found 16 different causative agents for these.

The next most common diseases were those of the joints, arthritis and rheumatism. In third place -- but almost tied for second -- were diseases of the brain and nervous system. After that, any disease you can name might (and in some cases has) come from root filled teeth.

Let me tell you about the research itself. Dr. Price undertook his investigations in 1900. He continued until 1925, and published his work in two volumes in 1923. In 1915 the National Dental Association (which changed its name a few years later to The American Dental Association) was so impressed with his work that they appointed Dr. Price their first Research Director.\

His Advisory Board read like a Who's Who in medicine and dentistry for that era. They represented the fields of bacteriology, pathology, rheumatology, surgery, chemistry, and cardiology.

At one point in his writings Dr. Price made this observation: "Dr. Frank Billings (M.D.), probably more than any other American internist, is due credit for the early recognition of the importance of streptococcal focal infections in systemic involvements."

What's really unfortunate here is that very valuable information was covered up and totally buried some 70 years ago by a minority group of autocratic doctors who just didn't believe or couldn't grasp - the focal infection theory.

What is the "focal infection" theory?

GM: This states that germs from a central focal infection -- such as your teeth, teeth roots, inflamed gum tissues, or maybe tonsils -- metastasize to hearts, eyes, lungs, kidneys, or other organs, glands and tissues, establishing new areas of the same infection.

Hardly theory any more, this has been proven and demonstrated many times over. It's 100 percent accepted today. But it was revolutionary thinking during World War I days, and the early 1920's!

Today, both patients and physicians have been "brainwashed" to think that infections are less serious because we now have antibiotics. Well, yes and no. In the case of root-filled teeth, the no longer-living tooth lacks a blood supply to its interior. So circulating antibiotics don't faze the bacteria living there because they can't get at them.

You're assuming that ALL root-filled teeth harbor bacteria and/or other infective agents?

GM: Yes. No matter what material or technique is used -- and this is just as true today -- the root filling shrinks minutely, perhaps microscopically. Further and this is key -- the bulk of solid appearing teeth, called the dentin, actually consists of miles of tiny tubules.

Microscopic organisms lurking in the maze of tubules simply migrate into the interior of the tooth and set up housekeeping. A filled root seems to be a favorite spot to start a new colony.

One of the things that makes this difficult to understand is that large, relatively harmless bacteria common to the mouth change and adapt to new conditions. They shrink in size to fit the cramped quarters and even learn how to exist (and thrive!) on very little food. Those that need oxygen mutate and become able to get along without it.

In the process of adaptation these formerly friendly "normal" organisms become pathogenic (capable of producing disease) and more virulent (stronger) and they produce much more potent toxins.

Today's bacteriologists are confirming the discoveries of the Price team of bacteriologists. Both isolated in root canals the same strains of streptococcus, staphylococcus, and spirochetes.

Is everyone who has ever had a root canal filled made ill by it?

GM: No. We believe now that every root canal filling does leak and bacteria do invade the structure. But the variable factor is the strength of the person's immune system.

Some healthy people are able to control the germs that escape from their teeth into other areas of the body. We think this happens because their immune system lymphocytes (white blood cells) and other disease fighters aren't constantly compromised by other ailments. In other words, they are able to prevent those new colonies from taking hold in other tissues throughout the body.

But over time, most people with root filled teeth do seem to develop some kinds of systemic symptoms they didn't have before.

It's really difficult to grasp that bacteria are embedded deep in the structure of seemingly hard, solid-looking teeth.

GM: I know. Physicians and dentists have that same problem, too. You really have to visualize the tooth structure -- all of those microscopic tubules running through the dentin. In a healthy tooth, those tubules transport a fluid that carries nourishment to the inside. For perspective, if the tubules of a front single-root tooth were stretched out on the ground they'd stretch for three miles!

A root filled tooth no longer has any fluid circulating through it, but the maze of tubules remains. The anaerobic bacteria that live there seem remarkably safe from antibiotics. The bacteria can migrate out into surrounding tissue where they can "hitchhike" to other locations in the body via the bloodstream.

The new location can be any organ or gland or tissue, and the new colony will be the next focus of infection in a body plagued by recurrent or chronic infections.

All of the "building up" done to try to enhance the patient's ability to fight infections - to strengthen their immune system - is only a holding action. Many patients won't be well until the source of infection - the root canal tooth - is removed.

I don't doubt what you're saying, but can you tell us more about how Dr. Price could be sure that arthritis or other systemic conditions and illnesses really originated in the teeth -- or in a single tooth?

GM: Yes. Many investigations start with the researcher just being curious about something - and then being scientifically careful enough to discover an answer, and then prove it's so, many times over.

Dr. Price's first case is very well documented. He removed an infected tooth from a woman who suffered from severe arthritis.

As soon as he finished with the patient, he implanted the tooth beneath the skin of a healthy rabbit. Within 48 hours the rabbit was crippled with arthritis!

Further, once the tooth was removed the patient's arthritis improved dramatically. This clearly suggested that the presence of the infected tooth was a causative agent for both that patient's and the rabbit's - arthritis.

Here's the actual story of that first patient from Dr. Meinig's book:

"(Dr. Price) had a sense that, even when (root canal therapy) appeared successful, teeth containing root fillings remained infected. That thought kept prying on his mind, haunting him each time a patient consulted him for relief from some severe debilitating disease for which the medical profession could find no answer.

Then one day while treating a woman who had been confined to a wheelchair for six years from severe arthritis, he recalled how bacterial cultures were taken from patients who were ill and then inoculated into animals in an effort to reproduce the disease and test the effectiveness of drugs on the disease.

With this thought in mind, although her (root filled) tooth looked fine, he advised this arthritic patient, to have it extracted. He told her he was going to find out what it was about this root filled tooth that was responsible for her suffering.

"All dentists know that sometimes arthritis and other illnesses clear up if bad teeth are extracted. However, in this case, all of her teeth appeared in satisfactory condition and the one containing this root canal filling showed no evidence or symptoms of infection. Besides, it looked normal on x-ray pictures.

"Immediately after Dr. Price extracted the tooth he dismissed the patient and embedded her tooth under the skin of a rabbit. In two days the rabbit developed the same kind of crippling arthritis as the patient - and in ten days it died.

"..The patient made a successful recovery after the tooth's removal! She could then walk without a cane and could even do fine needlework again. That success led Dr. Price to advise other patients, afflicted with a wide variety of treatment defying illnesses, to have any root filled teeth out."

In the years that followed, he repeated this procedure many hundreds of times. He later implanted only a portion of the tooth to see if that produced the same results. It did. He then dried the tooth, ground it into powder and injected a tiny bit into several rabbits. Same results, this time producing the same symptoms in multiple animals.

Dr. Price eventually grew cultures of the bacteria and injected them into the animals. Then he went a step further. He put the solution containing the bacteria through a filter small enough to catch the bacteria. So when he injected the resulting liquid it was free of any infecting bacteria. Did the test animals develop the illness? Yes.

The only explanation was that the liquid had to contain toxins from the bacteria, and the toxins were also capable of causing disease.

Dr. Price became curious about which was the more potent infective agent, the bacteria or the toxin. He repeated that last experiment, injecting half the animals with the toxin-containing liquid and half of them with the bacteria from the filter. Both groups became ill, but the group injected with the toxins got sicker and died sooner than the bacteria injected animals."]

That's amazing. Did the rabbits always develop the same disease the patient had?

GM: Mostly, yes. If the patient had heart disease the rabbit got heart disease. If the patient had kidney disease the rabbit got kidney disease, and so on. Only occasionally did a rabbit develop a different disease -- and then the pathology would be quite similar, in a different location.

If extraction proves necessary for anyone reading this, do you want to summarize what's special about the extraction technique?

GM: Just pulling the tooth is not enough when removal proves necessary. Dr. Price found bacteria in the tissues and bone just adjacent to the tooth's root. So we now recommend slow-speed drilling with a burr, to remove one millimeter of the entire bony socket.

The purpose is to remove the periodontal ligament (which is always infected with toxins produced by streptococcus bacteria living in the dentin tubules) and the first millimeter of bone that lines the socket (which is usually infected).

There's a whole protocol involved, including irrigating with sterile saline to assure removal of the contaminated bone chips, and treating the socket to stimulate and encourage infection-free healing. I describe the procedure in detail, step by step, in my book [pages 185 and 186].

Perhaps we should back up and talk about oral health -- to PREVENT needing an extraction. Caries or inflamed gums seem much more common than root canals. Do they pose any threat?

GM: Yes, they absolutely do. But let me point out that we can't talk about oral health apart from total health. The problem is that patients and dentists alike haven't come around to seeing that dental caries reflect systemic -- meaning "whole body" -- illness.

Dentists have learned to restore teeth so expertly that both they and their patients have come to regard tooth decay as a trivial matter. It isn't.

Small cavities too often become big cavities. Big cavities too often lead to further destruction and the eventual need for root canal treatment.

Then talk to us about prevention.

GM: The only scientific way to prevent tooth decay is through diet and nutrition. Dr. Ralph Steinman did some outstanding, landmark research at Loma Linda University. He injected a glucose solution into mice -- into their bodies, so the glucose didn't even touch their teeth. Then he observed the teeth for any changes. What he found was truly astonishing.

The glucose reversed the normal flow of fluid in the dentin tubules, resulting in all of the test animals developing severe tooth decay! Dr. Steinman demonstrated dramatically what I said a minute ago:

Dental caries reflect systemic illness.

Let's take a closer look to see how this might happen. Once a tooth gets infected and the cavity gets into the nerve and blood vessels, bacteria find their way into those tiny tubules of the dentin. Then no matter what we do by way of treatment, we're never going to completely eradicate the bacteria hiding in the miles of tubules.

In time the bacteria can migrate through lateral canals into the surrounding bony socket that supports the tooth. Now the host not only has a cavity in a tooth, plus an underlying infection of supporting tissue to deal with, but the bacteria also exude potent systemic toxins.

These toxins circulate throughout the body triggering activity by the immune system -- and probably causing the host to feel less well.

This host response can vary from just dragging around and feeling less energetic, to overt illness -- of almost any kind.

Certainly, such a person will be more vulnerable to whatever "bugs" are going around, because his/her body is already under constant challenge and the immune system continues to be "turned on" by either the infective agent or its toxins -- or both.

What a fascinating concept. Can you tell us more about the protective nutrition you mentioned?

GM: Yes. Dr. Price traveled all over the world doing his research on primitive peoples who still lived in their native ways. He found 14 cultural pockets scattered all over the globe where the natives had no access to "civilization" - and ate no refined foods.

Dr. Price studied their diets carefully. He found they varied greatly, but the one thing they had in common was that they ate whole, unrefined foods. With absolutely no access to tooth brushes, floss, fluoridated water, or toothpaste, the primitive peoples studied were almost 100% free of tooth decay.

Further -- and not unrelated -- they were also almost 100% free of all the degenerative diseases we suffer -- problems with the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, joints, skin (allergies), and the whole gamut of illnesses that plague Mankind. No one food proved to be magic as a preventive food. I believe we can thrive best by eating a wide variety of whole foods.

Amazing. So by "diet and nutrition" for oral (and total) health you meant eating a pretty basic diet of whole foods?

GM: Exactly. And no sugar or white flour. These are (and always have been) the first culprits. Tragically, when the primitives were introduced to sugar and white flour their superior level of health deteriorated rapidly. This has been demonstrated time and again.

During the last 60 or more years we have added, in increasing amounts, highly refined and fabricated cereals and boxed mixes of all kinds, soft drinks, refined vegetable oils, and a whole host of other foodless "foods."

It is also during those same years that we as a nation have installed more and more root canal fillings -- and degenerative diseases have become rampant. I believe -- and Dr. Price certainly proved to my satisfaction -- that these simultaneous factors are NOT coincidences.

I certainly understand what you are saying. But I'm still a little shocked to talk with a dentist who doesn't stress oral hygiene.

GM: Well, I'm not against oral hygiene. Of course, hygiene practices are preventive, and help minimize the destructive effect of our "civilized," refined diet. But the real issue is still diet. The natives Dr. Price tracked down and studied weren't free of cavities, inflamed gums, and degenerative diseases because they had better tooth brushes!

It's so easy to lose sight of the significance of what Dr. Price discovered. We tend to sweep it under the rug -- we'd actually prefer to hear that if we would just brush better, longer, or more often, we too could be free of dental problems.

Certainly, part of the purpose of my book is to stimulate dental research into finding a way to sterilize dentin tubules. Only then can dentists really learn to save teeth for a lifetime.

But the bottom line remains: A primitive diet of whole unrefined foods is the only thing that has been found to actually prevent both tooth decay and degenerative diseases.

For More Information

Dr. Meinig's Root Canal Cover Up and Dr. Price's book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration can be purchased at the Price Pottinger Foundation.

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

As Dr. Meinig stressed in the interview above, in the quest for healthy teeth and gums, nothing may be more important than your diet.

In the 1900s, Dr. Weston A. Price, a dentist, did extensive research on the link between oral health and physical diseases. He was one of the major nutritional pioneers of all time, and his classic book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration is full of wonderful pictures documenting the perfect teeth of the native tribes he visited who were still eating their traditional diets.

Dr. Price noticed some similarities between the native diets that allowed the people to thrive and maintain such healthy smiles.

Among them:

·         The foods were natural, unprocessed, and organic (and contained no sugar except for the occasional bit of honey or maple syrup).

·         The people ate foods that grew in their native environment. In other words, they ate locally grown, seasonal foods.

·         Many of the cultures ate unpasteurized dairy products, and all of them ate fermented foods.

·         The people ate a significant portion of their food raw.

·         All of the cultures ate animal products, including animal fat and, often, full-fat butter and organ meats.

So, if you want to eat your way to healthy teeth, taking a lesson from these previous native generations is essential. You should:

·         Find out your nutritional type, and eat accordingly. This will tell you which foods are ideal for your unique biochemistry.

·         Eat at least one-third or more of your food raw.

·         Avoid processed foods, sugar, refined flour and all artificial flavorings, colorings, and artificial sweeteners. Instead, seek outlocally grown foods that are in-season.

·         Enjoy fermented foods like natto, kefir and cultured veggies.

·         Make sure you eat enough healthy fats, including those from animal sources like omega-3 fat, and reduce your intake of omega-6 from vegetable oils.

All of the brushing and flossing in the world will not give you the healthy teeth that the above steps will, so if you value your pearly whites – and want to steer clear of root canals and other dental work -- get started eating a healthier diet today.

97% of Terminal Cancer Patients Previously Had This Dental Procedure…

by DR MERCOLA

Do you have a chronic degenerative disease? If so, have you been told, “It’s all in your head?”

Well, that might not be that far from the truth… the root cause of your illness may be in your mouth.

There is a common dental procedure that nearly every dentist will tell you is completely safe, despite the fact that scientists have been warning of its dangers for more than 100 years.

Every day in the United States alone, 41,000 of these dental procedures are performed on patients who believe they are safely and permanently fixing their problem.

What is this dental procedure?

More than 25 million root canals are performed every year in this country.

Root-canaled teeth are essentially “dead” teeth that can become silent incubators for highly toxic anaerobic bacteria that can, under certain conditions, make their way into your bloodstream to cause a number of serious medical conditions—many not appearing until decades later.

Most of these toxic teeth feel and look fine for many years, which make their role in systemic disease even harder to trace back.

Sadly, the vast majority of dentists are oblivious to the serious potential health risks they are exposing their patients to, risks that persist for the rest of their patients’ lives. The American Dental Association claims root canals have been proven safe, but they have NO published data or actual research to substantiate this claim.

Fortunately, I had some early mentors like Dr. Tom Stone and Dr. Douglas Cook, who educated me on this issue nearly 20 years ago. Were it not for a brilliant pioneering dentist who, more than a century ago, made the connection between root-canaled teeth and disease, this underlying cause of disease may have remained hidden to this day. The dentist’s name was Weston Price—regarded by many as the greatest dentist of all time.

Weston A. Price: World’s Greatest Dentist

Most dentists would be doing an enormous service to public health if they familiarized themselves with the work of Dr. Weston Pricei. Unfortunately, his work continues to be discounted and suppressed by medical and dental professionals alike.

Dr. Price was a dentist and researcher who traveled the world to study the teeth, bones, and diets of native populations living without the “benefit” of modern food. Around the year 1900, Price had been treating persistent root canal infections and became suspicious that root-canaled teeth always remained infected, in spite of treatments. Then one day, he recommended to a woman, wheelchair bound for six years, to have her root canal tooth extracted, even though it appeared to be fine.

She agreed, so he extracted her tooth and then implanted it under the skin of a rabbit. The rabbit amazingly developed the same crippling arthritis as the woman and died from the infection 10 days later. But the woman, now free of the toxic tooth, immediately recovered from her arthritis and could now walk without even the assistance of a cane.

Price discovered that it’s mechanically impossible to sterilize a root-canaled (e.g. root-filled) tooth.

He then went on to show that many chronic degenerative diseases originate from root-filled teeth—the most frequent being heart and circulatory diseases. He actually found 16 different causative bacterial agents for these conditions. But there were also strong correlations between root-filled teeth and diseases of the joints, brain and nervous system. Dr. Price went on to write two groundbreaking books in 1922 detailing his research into the link between dental pathology and chronic illness. Unfortunately, his work was deliberately buried for 70 years, until finally one endodontist named George Meinig recognized the importance of Price’s work and sought to expose the truth.

Dr. Meinig Advances the Work of Dr. Price

Dr. Meinig, a native of Chicago, was a captain in the U.S. Army during World War II before moving to Hollywood to become a dentist for the stars. He eventually became one of the founding members of the American Association of Endodontists (root canal specialists).

In the 1990s, he spent 18 months immersed in Dr. Price’s research. In June of 1993, Dr. Meinig published the book Root Canal Cover-Up, which continues to be the most comprehensive reference on this topic today. You can order your copy directly from the Price-Pottenger Foundationii.

What Dentists Don’t Know About the Anatomy of Your Teeth

Your teeth are made of the hardest substances in your body.

In the middle of each tooth is the pulp chamber, a soft living inner structure that houses blood vessels and nerves. Surrounding the pulp chamber is the dentin, which is made of living cells that secrete a hard mineral substance. The outermost and hardest layer of your tooth is the white enamel, which encases the dentin.

The roots of each tooth descend into your jawbone and are held in place by the periodontal ligament. In dental school, dentists are taught that each tooth has one to four major canals. However, there are accessory canals that are never mentioned. Literally miles of them!

Just as your body has large blood vessels that branch down into very small capillaries, each of your teeth has a maze of very tiny tubules that, if stretched out, would extend for three miles. Weston Price identified as many as 75 separate accessory canals in a single central incisor (front tooth). For a more detailed explanation, refer to an article by Hal Huggins, DDS, MS, on the Weston A. Price Foundation website.iii (These images are borrowed from the Huggins article.)

Microscopic organisms regularly move in and around these tubules, like gophers in underground tunnels.

When a dentist performs a root canal, he or she hollows out the tooth, then fills the hollow chamber with a substance (called guttapercha), which cuts off the tooth from its blood supply, so fluid can no longer circulate through the tooth. But the maze of tiny tubules remains. And bacteria, cut off from their food supply, hide out in these tunnels where they are remarkably safe from antibiotics and your own body’s immune defenses.

The Root Cause of Much Disease

Under the stresses of oxygen and nutrient deprivation, these formerly friendly organisms morph into stronger, more virulent anaerobes that produce a variety of potent toxins. What were once ordinary, friendly oral bacteria mutate into highly toxic pathogens lurking in the tubules of the dead tooth, just awaiting an opportunity to spread.

No amount of sterilization has been found effective in reaching these tubules—and just about every single root-canaled tooth has been found colonized by these bacteria, especially around the apex and in the periodontal ligament. Oftentimes, the infection extends down into the jawbone where it creates cavitations—areas of necrotic tissue in the jawbone itself.

Cavitations are areas of unhealed bone, often accompanied by pockets of infected tissue and gangrene. Sometimes they form after a tooth extraction (such as a wisdom tooth extraction), but they can also follow a root canal. According to Weston Price Foundation, in the records of 5,000 surgical cavitation cleanings, only two were found healed.

And all of this occurs with few, if any, accompanying symptoms. So you may have an abscessed dead tooth and not know it. This focal infection in the immediate area of the root-canaled tooth is bad enough, but the damage doesn’t stop there.

Root Canals Can Lead to Heart, Kidney, Bone, and Brain Disease

As long as your immune system remains strong, any bacteria that stray away from the infected tooth are captured and destroyed. But once your immune system is weakened by something like an accident or illness or other trauma, your immune system may be unable to keep the infection in check.

These bacteria can migrate out into surrounding tissues by hitching a ride into your blood stream, where they are transported to new locations to set up camp. The new location can be any organ or gland or tissue.

Dr. Price was able to transfer diseases harbored by humans to rabbits, by implanting fragments of root-canaled teeth, as mentioned above. He found that root canal fragments from a person who had suffered a heart attack, when implanted into a rabbit, would cause a heart attack in the rabbit within a few weeks.

He discovered he could transfer heart disease to the rabbit 100 percent of the time! Other diseases were more than 80 percent transferable by this method. Nearly every chronic degenerative disease has been linked with root canals, including:

-Heart disease

-Kidney disease

-Arthritis, joint, and rheumatic diseases

-Neurological diseases (including ALS and MS)

Autoimmune diseases (Lupus and more)

There may also be a cancer connection. Dr. Robert Jones, a researcher of therelationship between root canals and breast cancer, found an extremely high correlation between root canals and breast cancer.iv He claims to have found the following correlations in a five-year study of 300 breast cancer cases:

-93 percent of women with breast cancer had root canals

-7 percent had other oral pathology

-Tumors, in the majority of cases, occurred on the same side of the body as the root canal(s) or other oral pathology

Dr. Jones claims that toxins from the bacteria in an infected tooth or jawbone are able to inhibit the proteins that suppress tumor development. A German physician reported similar findings. Dr. Josef Issels reported that, in his 40 years of treating “terminal” cancer patients, 97 percent of his cancer patients had root canals. If these physicians are correct, the cure for cancer may be as simple as having a tooth pulled, then rebuilding your immune system.

Good Bugs Gone Bad

How are these mutant oral bacteria connected with heart disease or arthritis? The ADA and the AAE claim it’s a “myth” that the bacteria found in and around root-canaled teeth can cause diseasev. But they base that on the misguided assumption that the bacteria in these diseased teeth are the SAME as normal bacteria in your mouth—and that’s clearly not the case.

Today, bacteria can be identified using DNA analysis, whether they’re dead or alive, from their telltale DNA signatures.

In a continuation of Dr. Price’s work, the Toxic Element Research Foundation (TERF) used DNA analysis to examine root-canaled teeth, and they found bacterial contamination in 100 percent of the samples tested. They identified 42 different species of anaerobic bacteria in 43 root canal samples. In cavitations, 67 different bacteria were identified among the 85 samples tested, with individual samples housing between 19 to 53 types of bacteria each. The bacteria they found included the following types:

-Capnocytophagaochracea
-Fusobacteriumnucleatum
-Gemellamorbillorum
-Leptotrichiabuccalis
-Porphyromonasgingivalis

Are these just benign, ordinary mouth bugs? Absolutely not. Four can affect your heart, three can affect your nerves, two can affect your kidneys, two can affect your brain, and one can infect your sinus cavities… so they are anything BUT friendly! (If you want see just how unfriendly they can be, I invite you to investigate the footnotes.)

Approximately 400 percent more bacteria were found in the blood surrounding the root canal tooth than were found in the tooth itself, suggesting the tooth is the incubatorand the periodontal ligament is the food supply. The bone surrounding root-canaled teeth was found even HIGHER in bacterial count… not surprising, since bone is virtual buffet of bacterial nutrients.

Since When is Leaving A Dead Body Part IN Your Body a Good Idea?

There is no other medical procedure that involves allowing a dead body part to remain in your body. When your appendix dies, it’s removed. If you get frostbite or gangrene on a finger or toe, it is amputated. If a baby dies in utero, the body typically initiates a miscarriage.

Your immune system doesn’t care for dead substances, and just the presence of dead tissue can cause your system to launch an attack, which is another reason to avoid root canals—they leave behind a dead tooth.

Infection, plus the autoimmune rejection reaction, causes more bacteria to collect around the dead tissue. In the case of a root canal, bacteria are given the opportunity to flush into your blood stream every time you bite down.

Why Dentists Cling to the Belief Root Canals are Safe

The ADA rejects Dr. Price’s evidence, claiming root canals are safe, yet they offer no published data or actual research to substantiate their claim. American Heart Association recommends a dose of antibiotics before many routine dental procedures to prevent infective endocarditis (IE) if you have certain heart conditions that predispose you to this type of infection.

So, on the one hand, the ADA acknowledges oral bacteria can make their way from your mouth to your heart and cause a life-threatening infection.

But at the same time, the industry vehemently denies any possibility that these same bacteria—toxic strains KNOWN to be pathogenic to humans—can hide out in your dead root-canaled tooth to be released into your blood stream every time you chew, where they can damage your health in a multitude of ways.

Is this really that large of a leap? Could there be another reason so many dentists, as well as the ADA and the AAE, refuse to admit root canals are dangerous? Well, yes, as a matter of fact, there is. Root canals are the most profitable procedure in dentistry.

What You Need to Know to AVOID a Root Canal

I strongly recommend never getting a root canal. Risking your health to preserve a tooth simply doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately, there are many people who’ve already have one. If you have, you should seriously consider having the tooth removed, even if it looks and feels fine. Remember, as soon as your immune system is compromised, your risk of of developing a serious medical problem increases—and assaults on your immune system are far too frequent in today’s world.

If you have a tooth removed, there are a few options available to you.

1)Partial denture: This is a removable denture, often just called a “partial.” It’s the simplest and least expensive option.

2)Bridge: This is a more permanent fixture resembling a real tooth but is a bit more involved and expensive to build.

3)Implant: This is a permanent artificial tooth, typically titanium, implanted in your gums and jaw. There are some problems with these due to reactions to the metals used. Zirconium is a newer implant material that shows promise for fewer complications.

But just pulling the tooth and inserting some sort of artificial replacement isn’t enough.

Dentists are taught to remove the tooth but leave your periodontal ligament. But as you now know, this ligament can serve as a breeding ground for deadly bacteria. Most experts who’ve studied this recommend removing the ligament, along with one millimeter of the bony socket, in order to drastically reduce your risk of developing an infection from the bacterially infected tissues left behind.

I strongly recommend consulting a biological dentist because they are uniquely trained to do these extractions properly and safely, as well as being adept at removing mercury fillings, if necessary. Their approach to dental care is far more holistic and considers the impact on your entire body—not JUST your mouth.

If you need to find a biological dentist in your area, I recommend visiting toxicteeth.org, a resource sponsored by Consumers for Dental Choice. This organization, championed by Charlie Brown, is a highly reputable organization that has fought to protect and educate consumers so that they can make better-informed decisions about their dental care. The organization also heads up the Campaign for Mercury-Free Dentistry.

Read more at http://www.realfarmacy.com/97-of-terminal-cancer-patients-previously-had-this-dental-procedure/#A7i6FgRqgPcg13tj.99

ROOT CANALS CAUSE MAJOR LONG-LIFE PROBLEMS

Monday, March 26, 2012

http://birthofanewearth.blogspot.ca/2012/03/root-canals-are-you-putting.html

Of all the dental procedures and dental materials utilized throughout the field of dentistry there is none more destructive to human health than root canals.

“It’s like putting a bullet in your mouth, and then just waiting for the day it might kill you.”
~ A Dental Consultant after years of observing the ravages of root canal ‘treatment’

Let’s first draw the picture – in living color – for you to look at closely before you choose to do a root canal(s) in your mouth.

This routine procedure involves the following technique every time the endodontist or general dentist gets busy in your mouth making canals in your teeth, some of which may be stubs at that point.

First the dentist removes all the dental pulp from the tooth. “The dental pulp is the part in the center of a tooth made up of living connective tissue and cells called odontoblasts.” This vital pulp, which is necessary for a living tooth to remain living, is full of blood vessels and nerve tissue. When this blood supply and network of nerves is extracted, the tooth is essentially devitalized, aka killed. The tooth is then completely unable to perform all the normal activities which are required for optimal tooth health.

So, the first question any rational person would ask themselves is: “Why would I want a dead tooth in my mouth … for the rest of my life?”

Good question!

Answer: You don’t want a dead tooth in your mouth for the rest of your life.

Please show us — The Health Coach — another instance in your body where a dead organ, tissue, limb, digit, etc. is purposefully kept in or attached to your body by the Medical Practitioner. Show us just one example.

Our experience has been that wherever an organ dies, the doctor removes it pronto. Whenever a limb becomes gangrenous, the surgeon amputates post haste. If your eye were to “die” due to some traumatic injury which became infected, the ophthalmologist would completely remove the eye leaving an empty socket cleaned out of all infected tissue, yes?

Why then does an endodontist go out of his way to keep your white shiny tooth in place even though he has just killed it?! The only reason he is able to get away with this extremely dangerous procedure is because of our ignorance often coupled with vanity, together with his/her ‘compelling’ sales pitch as to why you don’t want to lose the tooth (that’s another very long story for another dental coaching session).

Let’s revisit the dead tooth that sits in your mouth after the root canal is completed. Because it still appears white does that mean it is okay. If it turned black and oozed pus, what would you do with it? Wouldn’t you take it out? Well, here’s what’s REALLY going on with that tooth.

The human body was designed to rid itself of all dead and infected cells, tissues, organs, etc. Teeth are no different and it’s why we see so many toothless people around the world where there is not adequate preventive dental care and maintenance-oriented oral health. The body gets rid of the tooth that’s “gone bad”… one way or another.

You see, the tooth dentin* is full of thousands of microscopic dentin tubules which are critical to maintaining healthy teeth. Once the root canal is performed these tubules become home to all sorts of pathogenic bacteria and accumulated toxins which can no longer be removed because the tooth’s vascular system has been removed (and the tooth’s natural self-healing system has been totally incapacitated). All the normal activities that are carried out within this matrix, “which radiate outward through the dentin from the pulp to the exterior cementum or enamel border“, cease to take place. It’s important to understand that “these tubules contain fluid and cellular structures. As a result, dentin has a degree of permeability which can increase the sensation of pain and the rate of tooth decay.“

*“Dentin is bone-like matrix characterized by multiple closely packed dentinal tubules that traverse its entire thickness and contain the cytoplasmic extensions of odontoblasts that once formed the dentine and maintain it.” (Per Wikipedia)

That’s enough anatomy for the time being; the upshot is that your dead, root-canaled tooth has now become a haven for all sorts of nasty pathogenic microorganisms which sit there for the lifetime of the body doing more damage than you’ll ever know. Much of the havoc actually starts around the roots of the root-canaled tooth. This is where the body sets up it first line of defense against a tooth that has died and is on the way to becoming necrotic.

What are Focal Infections?

They are called focal infections and they are found around the roots, especially the tips of every root-canaled tooth. These infections are almost always subclinical in nature which means the dentist or doctor doesn’t pick up any symptoms upon physical examination. Those who observe their bodies closely and are intuitive rarely miss the telltale signs that something has gone awry in their mouth.

Incidentally, many abscesses in the mouth are directly the result of infections that occur around the roots of root-canaled teeth. These often start out as a very small swelling, but they can easily evolve into painful inflammations requiring the use of antibiotics and the immediate extraction of the tooth. The swelling, pain and inflammation is simply the body’s response to the dead tooth. The older the root canal, the greater the likelihood that a full-blown infection will require urgent, if not emergent, care.

This unfortunate state of affairs is not the most serious aspect of root canals, however. The real caveat surrounding this extraordinarily harmful procedure are the FOCAL INFECTIONS which inevitably result in teeth which exhibit no symptoms, have no pain, and seem perfectly ‘healthy’.

Just what is a focal infection? Here you go from The Free Dictionary (by Farlex):

focal infection

n. A bacterial infection localized in a specific part of the body, such as the tonsils, that may spread to another part of the body.

n. the site or origin of an infectious process. Endodontically treated teeth have frequently been accused of being the source of septicemias….

This is where root canals really rear their ugly heads. However, it takes a very perceptive individual to recognize that ugly head for what it is before it takes an awesome toll on their health, even to the point of death.

What we have seen with root canals with over 25 years of close observation is that each individual possesses his/her own signature points, weaknesses if you will, which are targeted by these focal infections. In one person it may be their heart, another their thyroid, yet another it may be their brain or kidneys which are targeted. No matter what the target organ(s)/tissues(s), the particular organ or tissue or bodily location becomes the recipient (focus) of the infection that began in the mouth (most often a root-canaled tooth).

What ultimately can occur if this condition is allowed to proceed undiagnosed or unattended ranges anywhere from a heart attack or worse, cardiac arrest, to a brain attack or stroke. When the cerebrovascular accident is less severe it may only take the form of a TIA (transient ischemic attack) or mini-stroke. Nevertheless, you hopefully get the picture of how serious these focal infections can be.

After reviewing the thorough and painstaking work of Dr. Weston A. Price, it has become clear that many a heart attack which has killed its victim actually started in the tooth socket cavitation, the root-canaled tooth or the infected crowned tooth which went unnoticed or untreated for two or three or four decades. By removing the infected teeth of an individual who died of cardiovascular disease and implanting them under the skin of a rabbit, Dr. Price documented that the rabbit then succumbed to the same type of heart disease as the original human victim.

Dr. George Meinig to the rescue

The Health Coach who is the author of this Root Canal coaching session was fortunate to study under Dr. George Meinig, DDS, FACD. With Dr. Meinig as our mentor for over ten years we were able to fully apprehend the catastrophic consequences to the health of those countries where root canals are performed in the greatest numbers. Clearly the incidence of the Alphabet Soup Diseases, Multi-Infection Syndromes and New Millennium Maladies have skyrocketed in those areas where root canals are prevalent. Dr. Meinig’s book Root Canal Cover-Up nicely details all the reasons why you ought to re-consider the dentist advice of root canal ‘therapy’.

There is no question that autoimmune disorders have become a predominant theme in the aforementioned groupings of syndromes, diseases and infections. Here’s why:
When the human body is subjected — day after day, month after month, year after year — to relentless, raging focal infections, completely under the radar, they take a HUGE toll on the individual’s immune system. So huge, as a matter of fact, that the immune system goes into a fritz. Call it auto-immune dysregulation, autoimmune disorder, autoimmune disease, or autoimmune syndrome; you know when you have it, because your quality of life is absolutely miserable.

So important is this connection to dental procedures/materials that we reflexively recommend all clients who have autoimmune type symptoms to check out their mouth very carefully. If they refuse to address those areas of obvious need, we can no longer guide them on the healing journeys so profound and fundamental is the origination of disease in the mouth.

The Health Coach has also had the good fortune of consulting with Dr George Meinig’s top two students and experts on the ongoing health disaster known as root canal treatment. Both Dr. Christopher Hussar, DDS, DO of Reno, NE and Dr. Robert Kulasc, DDS of Mt Kisco, NY have made great contributions to this field of study and have written and spoken extensively on the scientific basis of the inherent risks associated with root canal treatment, as well as actual case studies which graphically illustrate the dangers to human health.

Some of the other unintended consequences of root canal treatment include periodontitis, bacteraemia and infective endocarditis. Each of these medical conditions have been documented through biomedical research published at the National Library of Medicine to have a causal relationship with root-canaled teeth, as seen at the hyperlinked abstracts. Feel free to make copies of these PubMed research papers and bring them to your dentist/endodontist for his review and serious contemplation.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A GOOD ROOT CANAL.

In closing let us say that of all the medical and dental operations which are regularly performed on the unsuspecting public, the root canal procedure is the most misrepresented, potentially injurious and underestimated in its repercussions to systemic health. No matter which tooth has been compromised beyond repair, we universally recommend that the tooth be extracted and the tooth socket be thoroughly cleaned out as per the protocols offered by Dr. Meinig in Root Canal Cover-Up.

In the final analysis it has been determined that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A GOOD ROOT CANAL. They are all infected and only differ by the degree and outward signs of infection. Therefore, there can only be one solution which we will take up in our next dental coaching session: Root Canals: What is the best and only alternative?

With every good wish,

The Health Coach

Caveat to all Parents: Systemic health risks are the REAL concern with root canals, so everyone is well advised to be extra special careful not to subject our delicate and sensitive children to such a pernicious procedure as root canal treatment at such a tender age.

The Coach’s Personal Testimony:

Back in the mid ’90s, I consulted with an oral surgeon in South Florida about the best way to address a number of cavitation sites. An old root canal site was particularly challenging. We decided to re-open the site and completely clean it out. What we found was an inordinate amount of black, dead, necrotic bone where the roots of the tooth used to be. What happened?

When a tooth is root canaled, it dies and becomes very brittle lacking the resilience and flexibility of a living tooth. With year after year of continued chewing, the stresses can easily cause the delicate roots to crack. When this occurs the filling material – gutta-percha and all – seep into the jawbone forever compromising it based on the toxicity load of the mix of filling ingredients.

Therefore, in this case, the surgeon was compelled to saw out little chunks of black, dead, necrotic bone and put them on the silver tray for my consideration.
You can imagine that the post-surgical therapies and treatments were then much more creative and time-consuming than the surgery itself. Needless to say, it’s the last root canal ever performed on this body.

Warning to all who read this:

Many laboratory studies have been conducted on teeth and cavitation sites where root-canaled teeth once sat and the results have been alarminig. There are strains of anaerobic bacteria which proliferate in these sites that have not been found anywhere else on earth. Not only that, but these same anaerobic bacteria have been found to produce toxins that are as detrimental to the human body as any that have ever been found in vivo. These same toxins have likewise never been found in any other environment on the planet – either living or inanimate – and are considered poisonous by toxicologists who have studied them.

Correlation between the teeth and their respective meridians:

As you may already know, each tooth sits on a meridian the correlation of which can be very revealing about the linkage between longstanding health complaints and imbalanced tooth sites (cavitation sites are notorious for reflexing to the respective body part). We found this Tooth Meridian Chart at Oasis Advanced Wellness to be particularly helpful. This just might be the only tool available for some of us to track down some of our more intractable ailments. All it takes is focus, intuition and self-observation.

Dr. George Meinig, a true American Health Hero:

Dr. George Meinig was a founding member of the American Association of Endodontics, the organization of dental specialists who perform root canal treatment. Therefore, you can imagine how profoundly and dramatically his life changed when he happened upon the conclusive research conducted by Dr. Weston Price. From that day forward, Dr. Meinig never offered traditional root canal treatment again.

In fact he spent the rest of his dental career treating the many patients to whom he had originally given root canals. He also spent much of his professional and personal time offering counsel and consultation to the many seriously ill individuals whose immune systems had been gravely affected by this procedure. He gave of himself tirelessly up until the day he died at 93 years old.

He was ostracized by his peer professionals, marginalized by the dental establishment and belittled by those who never even reviewed the hard science undergirding his rock solid refutation of root canal safety. Through it all, he remained stalwart in his crusade and unintimidated by anyone who attempted to undermine the evidence which he accumulated. In spite of any obstacles thrown before him or ridicule heaped upon him, he remained unusually cheerful, gracious and generous to the max.

Truly, he was a HERO of Global Health and Wellness.

Advice to those whose dentists are clueless:

Here again The Health Coach has two experiences to share which are quite instructive.

I. After having x-rays taken of my root-canaled tooth I asked the dentist what the shiny, narrow reflection was on the x-ray. The dentist replied casually and without hesitation: “Oh, that’s a broken piece of the instrument that the previous dentist used to pack in the filling material in the root of the tooth.”

I replied, “So is that standard operating procedure to leave the broken instrument in the tooth?!”

“Yes it is”, he responded. “After all, it just becomes part of the filling material.”

“Maybe we should just throw in the kitchen sink while we’re at it.” <——I didn't really say this but wanted to.

II. A second experience brought me to another dentist (I've been fired by many of them over the years) where we again were reviewing my full mouth x-rays. I asked him what the obvious discoloration the size of a quarter around my root-canaled tooth was. He said it was nothing and not to worry. I persisted and asked again what he thought it might be. I left his office without an answer. A few days later my wife and I received a letter in the mail in which he terminated our dental relationship. A few days later I had the same x-rays reviewed by an oral surgeon who confirmed my fears that the discoloration was an obvious sign of long-term infection surrounding the entire root-canaled tooth. He recommended immediate surgery before it abscessed.

Sources:
Root Canal Cover-Up by Dr. George Meinig, DDS

The Weston A. Price Foundation"