Root canals are a part of dentistry called endodontics, which is concerned with the pathology of dental pulp and the area surrounding the root. A root canal is a procedure to allow a tooth that is painful or no longer viable because of nerve damage or death to remain in the mouth. Most dentists consider root canals an advance in dentistry--superior alternative to removal of a seriously compromised tooth. However a growing number of physicians, including dentists, believe that root canals can be the cause of, or at least contribute to, a long list of illnesses and degenerative diseases.

A "root canal" allows a patient to keep a dead tooth in his or her mouth. The fallacy with this concept is that the body doesn't like dead things in it and will try, sometimes desperately, to get rid of the dead thing. Notwithstanding, the fact that it may be "handy" to save a tooth for "dental convenience", it does not change the fact that root canal treatments can devastate the human immune system. Twenty million root canals are performed in the U.S. annually, and this number is estimated to double within the next few years.

There are many presumptions about root canal therapy which are based in myth rather than science. The philosophy underlying the teaching of dentistry limits its practice to mechanics, pain control and aesthetics. The systemic effects of dental treatment are rarely considered.

Conventional root canals have been controversial since the turn of the century, when formaldehyde was used to treat the nerve which inevitably killed it, and the bone around the tooth, as well. This treatment is still used by 20% of American dentists and is called the Sargenti method, but it is denounced by the ADA because it contains formaldehyde compounds and lead. The current formulas are said to have removed the lead, but tens of millions of root-canal treatments using the old formulas are still in people's mouths. While the normal dental profession has been striving to improve the technique, much research has shown that even modern root canals pose health hazards to the body. This is due to the delitirious effects of residual infections; from the seepage of toxic substances still used in the process; and from the interference of the flow of bioelectrical energy through acupuncture meridians associated with all the organs of the body.

All conventional root canals still do employ toxic substances to sterilize the interior of the tooth, such as eugenol (oil of clove) and formocresol (formaldehyde-creosote). Most dentists also use gutta-percha to fill the canal.

In the 1950s. Reinhold Voll, a German M.D., using an electro-acupuncture biofeedback system he had developed, discovered that each tooth in the mouth relates to a specific acupuncture meridian. He found that if a tooth became infected or diseased, the organ on the same meridian would also become unhealthy. (Conversely, he found that a diseased organ could cause a problem with its corresponding tooth.)

When you have a root canal, or even a big filling, or crown or anything that is not compatible with the body, it sets up an interference field, blocking or altering the energy meridian passing through it. It will affect different parts along that meridian, different organ systems in the body. And usually will cause it to have a problem as well.

If the tooth is removed, the energy does tend to pass through it. However, without the tooth in the bone, it is still altered. Without stimulation from a tooth, blood circulation and lymphatic drainage will be impaired, and the bone and tissue surrounding the extraction site can become diseased and die. Infections in the teeth, and toxins, have no place to go but down; down into the jaw bone and into the rest of the body, creating systemic pathologies.

Of equal interest is the relationship of root filled teeth to traditional Chinese medicine and body energies. All teeth are linked to the body via acupuncture meridians and having a root filled tooth, a large amalgam filling, a crown, or anything that is not compatible with the body, on a meridian may set up an interference field, blocking or altering the energy flow ( the chi ') passing through this meridian and cause a disease in an organ or body function remote from the tooth. For example a front upper incisor is on the Kidney/ Bladder meridians and having a root treated tooth here may cause gynecological problems, kidney problems, impotence, and sterility if you follow a Chinese medicine theme. These teeth also relate to spinal segments and joints, the front incisor relates to the coccyx and posterior knee and to L2, 3, S 3, and 6.

If the tooth is removed, the energy does tend to pass through it; however, without the tooth in the bone, it is still altered. Without stimulation from a tooth, blood circulation and lymphatic drainage will be impaired, and the bone and tissue surrounding the extraction site can become diseased (cavitations) and die. Infections in the teeth and toxins have no place to go but down; down into the jawbone and into the rest of the body, creating systemic pathologies. Some dentists are trained to look for these areas on X-rays and Cavitat procedures and when these areas are treated they can also bring considerable improvements in patients health. This energetic relationship between teeth and the rest of the body is opening whole new avenues of dental care and the chance for dentists to work with other complementary health workers.

It is assumed in dentistry that the extent of bone loss is a direct indication of the amount of infection present. This is a false assumption because the bone loss may take time to develop. The extent of the bone loss about the end of the root is also a function of the body's immune system being able to isolate the infection process. It has little to do with the degree of infection. Sometimes there is no bone loss, but instead, a condensation of bone about the end of a dead tooth. Dentists are taught that this indicates a lack of infection. The reality is that teeth showing a Condensing Osteitis are demonstrating that the body's immune system is incapable of quarantining the infection locally. These are often the teeth which cause the greatest systemic effects.

The toxins generated by the root canal can combine with the mercury leaching from the amalgams and create new chemicals of a much higher toxicity. Some combinations can be more potent than Clostridiumbotulinum (responsible for botulism). Any time you bite down, you are potentially squirting a few molecules of dental poisons into the bloodstream-and often it only takes a few molecules to create a serious problem.

"Root canals" cause:

Suppression of the immune system

The creation of an "interference field" on the meridian that the particular tooth is on (meridian - a channel of energy that flows between different tissues, organs and structures).

The production of the most toxic organic substance known to man.

Root-canal fillings can cause serious side effects. Dr. Weston price is recognized as the greatest researcher that the dental profession has ever produced. Dr. Price, after observing many patients with crippling degenerative diseases not responding to treatment, suspected infected root canal-filled teeth to be the cause. He then embarked on a 25-year-long study to see if his suspicions were correct. This study was done during the first 3 decades of the 20th century! However this information was not shared with us when we were dental students so we had a big void in our dental education where root canals are concerned.

The Procedure

After numbing the tooth, a hole is then drilled in the top of the tooth, just as if a filling were being placed. The hole is deepened until the internal canal (pulp chamber), containing the nerve, blood and lymph vessels, is reached. Then, little tiny files are used to remove the contents of the chamber (live, dead, or dying pieces of nerves and blood vessels). The dentist now has access to the whole length of the root-canal. Front teeth are supposed to have one, but may have an additional one splitting off of the main canal about one-third of the way up from the apex. These will not show up on X-ray. Multi-rooted teeth, such as some bicuspids and most molars, have two or three roots. Each root has a primary canal and may have a secondary one as well. Lower molars frequently have two canals in one root that sort of blend into each other, forming what is called a ribbon canal. Curved canals present a problem, as the files used to cut out infected dentin are straight.

Sometimes a file will penetrate the tooth at the curve, and cut its way out of the tooth, missing the curve entirely. Toward the bottom 10 millimeters of the tooth, accessory canals may exit the tooth. Removing the dead tissue and bacteria from each of the canals presents the problem of not being able to see whether all the contents are removed. It's a dark tiny hole, down a long skinny root, and bacteria and debris are smaller. Knowing when to stop at the apex is another trick. X-ray films are shadows, and show an approximation of how long the root is, but they don't provide detail about the end of the root. Filling the canal to the x-ray end would actually overfill the canal. Overfilling is a condition most often apt to create infection, thus the presence of unwanted bacteria.

The now empty canal is widened. Next, a series of treatments is begun which clean and shape the root-canal, which kills the tooth. It is then flushed, treated with chemicals to kill bacteria, and eventually filled with one of a variety of materials, the most popular (93% in U.S.), is a substance called gutta-percha. Gutta-percha is a a rubbery, wax petroleum-based latex material, to which some people are allergic. First, the wax is mixed with chloroform to make it soft. Since gutta-percha does not show up on x-rays, heavy metals, including mercury and lead, are added, to make it radiopaque--sometimes up to 20% of its content. Other chemicals it may contain include formocreasol or para­chlorophenol. These substances can cause inflammation and infection, allergic reactions, and compromise the immune system.

Eugenol based cements are used to cement the gutta percha cones into the enlarged canals. Eugenol has an acid pH whereas the living tissues that surround the root have an alkaline pH. To kill the bacteria, caustic solutions are flushed into them, but the surface tension of the solutions is too high to allow it into the narrow dentin tubules. Sodium hypochlorite (Clorox) and hydrogen peroxide mixtures are used to "sterilize" the inside of the main canals. Sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide both will injure tissue. These cause inflammation and infection, allergic reactions, and compromised immunity. Dr. Weston Price found that teeth retain their sterility at best for only about two days. Most lost sterility within less than twenty four hours. Studies on thousands of teeth have demonstrated the presence of bacteria in 80% to 90% of the canals after they have been "sterilized." The primary bacteria found in root canals by Dr. Price included streptococcus, staphylococcus, and spirochetes. He found 90% of the bacteria in the teeth that produced the patients' acute diseases were streptococcus and 65.5% of the time they belonged to the fecalis family. Bacteriologists today have confirmed that Price's discoveries were accurate.

Once the root-canal treatment is completed, the top of the tooth in which the hole was drilled is restored with either a filling or crown, depending upon the amount of tooth that remains. A patient is routinely told that a crown will be needed for strength because root-canal treated teeth become brittle and weak because of the inside, including the blood vessels and nerves, having been drilled out to do the treatment. It is quite possible that there will be little of the original tooth left above the gum line and that which is left will be weak. In many cases, a post is placed into the root-canal itself to hold the crown.

Compatibility