The Dangers of Root Canals | Hashimotos & Autoimmunity, Oral Health and Biological Dentistry Series Part 2

Welcome to part two of my Biological Dentistry Series. This post will be all about The Dangers of Root Canals. Don’t forget to read Part 1 if you missed it!

The series includes the following articles:

I Know You’ve Heard of a Root Canal

We’ve all heard of a root canal before. It’s the procedure often suggested by a conventional dentist when the pulp of the tooth becomes inflamed or infected. The inner pulp of the tooth can become infected due to a cracked tooth, overall inflammation in the body, faulty dental work like bad fillings, or deep decay. In conventional dentistry, this is a pretty routine procedure that many people think is normal and very safe to have done.

However, in the past few years in studying the importance of oral health and digging into certain dental procedures, the reasons root canals are performed and with the risks involved they are actually a very dangerous and an often unnecessary dental practice.

My Root Canal Story

Before I was diagnosed with Hashimotos Thyroiditis and three months after I had my first son, I had a dentist tell me that I needed two root canals and crowns done on my upper back molars. He said my current fillings that were in my teeth there were cracking and causing a problem. Due to my trust of those in conventional medical practice as well as my naivete, I agreed to have that work done. The fact of the matter was that even though my filling may have been cracked (no way I can prove that or disprove it) I was not having any issues at all with those teeth or gums and in my case, this work was completely not needed. Instead, all that needed to be done was replace the fillings. In hindsight, I believe that the dentist offered to do that work on my mouth for his profit only not for my well being.

Within nine months of having those routine root canals and crowns done, I started having symptoms of Hypothyroidism and Hashimotos. My choice to have those root canals done and crowns put on was the last straw for my body and what triggered my Hashimotos genes to “turn on” or express themselves.

What regret I have to this day for that decision I made. There were so many alternatives that could have happened that I wished I had known about at the time. Knowing what I know now, I would never have authorized that dental work and chalked this dentists decision up to quackery.

However, God doesn’t waste anything and I love that. He has used my story of healing to help many as well as to refine me and grow me closer to Him. For that I am grateful.

Based on my experience, I want to pass on what I know to you so that if this situation arises in your life you will know about alternatives and you’ll know the dangers in having these procedures done as well as the tragic end results they can cause.

What Is a Root Canal?

A root canal is done to “save a tooth.” Conventional dentists believe that in doing a root canal you are reducing the chances that a tooth will further decay resulting in a lost tooth. Underneath the dentin of the tooth are the root canal chambers. That area houses the pulp and the living tissue of our tooth. As you can see in the image the nerve and blood supply run right through the center of the root canal chambers. Thus making it the “living” area of the tooth.

During a root canal procedure, the patient will be given a topical anesthetic for numbing and the tooth will be drilled into. The inflamed pulp will be removed as well as the nerves and blood vessels. The open cavity is then cleaned with a synthetic antiseptic and antibacterial solution. Then, the canal area is usually rinsed again to remove any debris that was left behind. Sometimes an x-ray is done to be sure that all of the inflamed pulp and infection has been removed. *We’ll get to why that isn’t effective in the next section.

After that the root area is then filled with a thermoplastic or gutta-percha material. A filling is then placed back in the tooth if there is enough tooth structure left after drilling it. If there is not enough tooth structure then the tooth will be ground down, a metal post will be placed in the root canaled area to give extra support for the crown that will be placed. You are then sent home with a round of antibiotics that will indiscriminately kill all the good and bacteria in your body (as well as your tooth.)

In my case I had the full root canal done in two molars that previously had fillings and because there wasn’t enough tooth structure left the dentist placed posts in each tooth and placed crowns on top of that. I specifically asked him for no metal in my mouth and he disregarded my request and used a metal post and crowns placed on metal bases. Grrrr…

Why Is The Root Canal Procedure Dangerous?

Now that you understand the actual procedure of dental root canals (and a bit about crowns) I would like to talk to you about the risks involved as well as the ways that these dead teeth can hinder our health.

Because the pulp, nerves and blood vessels are removed during a root canal the tooth is now dead inside. There is no blood supply to the tooth or good living enzymes inside the pulp chamber. It becomes a haven for bacteria. The bad kind of bacteria, not the good! What conventional dentists fail to recognize is that even though they have sterilized the pulp chamber and root canals there are still little tubules in the dentin of the teeth. These tubules house bacteria that in a normal tooth the blood supply will remove. The bacteria in there left unchecked can cause pain, smell and infection. You can even have an infection that is “silent” with no pain.

In a root canaled tooth, the bacteria get back in the chamber of the tooth and often times migrate down the root canal in the little microscopic places they can find and eventually find your bone at the bottom. Those bacteria can cause major infections which are often silent because there are no nerves to tell our bodies something is wrong and they can also create holes in the bones as well as trigger chronic disease in the whole body.

Dr. Weston A. Price (1870-1948), who is a world renowned, yet controversial dentist, because he goes against the grain, understood the relationship between nutrition dental health and physical health. He came to the conclusion that no sterilization of teeth can fully clean out the dead tissue. There are accessory canals that aren’t even addressed in the sterilization of root canals and “this necrotic tissue creates a home for multiple bacterial infections outside the tooth in the periodontal ligament.”¹

“Price was concerned about the pathological bacteria found in nearly all root canal teeth of that time. He was able to transfer diseases harbored by humans from their extracted root canal teeth into rabbits by inserting a fragment of a root canal root under the skin in the belly area of a test rabbit. 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. Transference of heart disease could be accomplished 100 percent of the time. Some diseases transferred only 88 percent of the time, but the handwriting was on the wall.”²

Dr. Price, while head of research for the now-defunct National Dental Association, took one thousand extracted teeth and reamed them out as dentists normally do, prior to filling the canals with wax. Price sterilized the canals with forty different chemicals far too toxic to be used in a live human situation; he wanted to see whether the canals could be permanently sterilized. After forty-eight hours, each tooth was broken apart, and cultured for the presence of bacteria. Nine hundred ninety out of one thousand cultured toxic bacteria just two days after treatment with chemicals designed to make the tooth sterile.³

These dangers are well known by biological dentists but most conventional dentists refuse to acknowledge the proven science, refute the claims and continue with the root canal procedures. It is also important to note that even though the American Dental Association claims that root canals are safe and there are no dangers, that there is also not ONE published study proving this claim. Instead, there are numerous published studies backing up the understanding and dangers of a patient’s health in having a root canal. Food for thought!

Specific Risks of Root Canaled Teeth

Some of the bacteria that can be living in the dead tissues of those root canaled teeth are

When these toxic, pathogenic bacteria are floating around our oral cavity and migrating to other areas of our body they literally cause havoc. Specifically, these bacteria can cause attacks on the heart, lung, nerve dysfunction, kidney and brain dysfunction, severe sinus problems and circulatory maladies. Dr Mercola says that “97% of Cancer patients have previously had a root canal procedure.”

Many chronic and degenerative diseases are triggered and/or caused by root canaled teeth that are incubators for these extremely toxic bacterium. Some of them are:

Heart disease
Kidney disease
Arthritis, joint, and rheumatic diseases
Neurological diseases (including ALS and MS)
Autoimmune diseases (Lupus , Hashimotos, Asthma, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, RA and more)

“Toxins tax immune systems and attack enzymes that are essential for survival.” Dr. Stuart Nunnally D.D.S

Remember when I said that when a root canal is being done often times an x-ray is performed to be sure the infection and inflamed area has been removed? Guess what? X-rays may be able to detect some levels of bacteria but they are not able to detect silent infections or microscopic levels of bacteria that remain in the root canals and pulp chamber. They also can’t detect the bacteria left behind in the accessory chambers or tubules. So the X-ray is literally a pointless procedure to be done to determine if all bacteria has been dealt with in a situation like this.

What Can You Do Instead of a Root Canal?

First

First of all you need to discern whether or not the root canal is absolutely necessary and why the dentist thinks it is. That will be different in many cases and often a second opinion will be necessary. When obtaining a second opinion it is recommended going to a biological dentist to get the second opinion (see part 1 for links on how to find one.)

If it’s deemed not necessary then the dentist should give you alternative, holistic methods to help reduce inflammation in your teeth like nutritional remedies, essential oils that are known to remit bacteria like clove oil, etc. In my case the root canal or crown was not necessary. Rather a new filling would have sufficed. Wished I had known then! I might not have Hashimotos now.

Second

Secondly, if the root canal is confirmed to be something that should be done then knowing what I know now, this is what I would do…

Extract the tooth with a biological dentist. “Saving” the tooth as conventional dentists think they are doing with a root canal is only happening at the expense of the long-term health of the patient. Think about it – are we ever, in medicine, told to keep a dead or malfunctioning part of our body? If a baby has passed away in utero our body naturally is designed to miscarry it. Sorry for the thought but our bodies are designed to dispel dead things because otherwise, they affect our overall health and well being. Why would we want to keep a dead tooth in our body just to pretend we “saved” the tooth?

It’s important to have the tooth extracted by a biological dentist because you will get conscious sedation, IV vitamin C, treatment with ozone which truly does kill pathogenic anaerobes in the cavity and the hole will often be filled back up with your own LIVING platelets to prevent dry socket and induce quick uninfected healing with your own tissues. It is also recommended, if needed to follow up treatment with grade 1 essential oils.

If a conventional dentist does the removal of a tooth, they will give you a local anesthetic or nitrous oxide (which can be fatal to those of us who have the MTHFR gene), extract the tooth, put some synthetic disinfectant (foreign to our body) in the cavity, pack it full of gauze and send you home with antibiotics. Holistic (or biological dentistry) takes into account your entire body when a oral procedure is done which is why they go to great lengths with all the things I mentioned above.

Third

Thirdly, once you have the tooth extracted you will be able to place a bridge, splint or implant in the area your original tooth was. Again, you’ll want this done by a biological dentist because they will only use dental materials that are compatible with YOUR body. Everyone is different in what their body can handle so a good biological dentist will do a blood test to confirm which dental materials are compatible with your body. They will then use only those materials in the devices (or implant) they put in your mouth.

In Summary

For me the reason why my body triggered my gene for Hashimotos to turn on after the root canals and crowns were two fold. The first part was due to the dead tooth factor that we have talked about in this entire post. The other reason was because of the metal alloy that the original conventional dentist placed in my mouth. It had many metals that I am sensitive too in it and, much to my dismay, that, along with the pathogenic bacteria, caused the genesis of my autoimmunity.

Don’t be like me in this scenario! Do your homework. Don’t have dentistry done that is not necessary. There are many doctors and dentists out there that just want to make a buck and don’t care about your health and well being. Through prayer and research, discern the type of dentist you are going too. If you don’t like the one you’re with then leave and find a good one! The ball is in your court. It’s your health and well being you are dealing with and you will have to live with the rest of your life. Also, seek out a good biological dentist because they will address the root cause of the oral problem while keeping in mind the well being and healing of the entire body.

Stay tuned for the next post in this series about the dangers of mercury in our bodies specific to dental work!

Share20

Pin213