Are Your Root Canals Making You Sick?

Originally published in Natural Awakenings Austin, July 2014

Conventional dentistry has fostered the belief that the tooth must be saved at all costs, but could that cost be our health? The traditional way of “saving” a dead tooth is root canal therapy, which takes the nerve and blood supply out of the tooth and fills it with a material that will occupy the space where the nerve and blood supply once were.

Essentially, one is embalming a dead tooth. The problem with this procedure is that the rest of the tooth, which consists mostly of dentin, is comprised of microscopic tubules. If these tubules were placed end-to-end, they would be two to three miles long.

Before the root canal is filled, the tooth is sterilized, but because the tooth is surrounded by living tissue, it does not stay sterile for long. When the tooth was alive, the blood supply and fluids in the canal flushed out the tubules and kept them clean. By removing that mechanism, there is no longer a way to keep them clean, creating a perfect environment for a bacterium or virus to hide, multiply, and create toxins.

Because there is no longer a blood supply to the tooth, it is hard for antibiotics to find their way into the small dentinal tubules, and every time the tooth is squeezed – as in chewing these pathogens and toxins are being emitted into the bloodstream and targeting the rest of the body, causing damage to organs, blood cells, and the immune system.

When patients’ root canal teeth or teeth that have died from trauma are genetically tested, pathogens are detected. Some examples of what is found include leprosy, E. coli, typhoid, salmonella, and human papillomavirus. Many studies are now linking root canals to cancer, autoimmune diseases, and a multitude of other health issues. The only treatment is to have the entire tooth removed, as well as the ligament and diseased bone around it, preferably by a biological dentist.

Root canals could be a silent, ticking bomb leaking in our mouths, slowly causing our health to deteriorate. It is time to take charge of our health and know what’s in our mouths.