ROOT CANALS - A ROOT CAUSE OF MANY ILLNESSES?
Root canals are one of the most common dental procedures, yet they remain a topic of controversy and concern - both for patients and practitioners. In my work, I see again and again how chronic issues linked to root canal-treated teeth can silently contribute to systemic inflammation, lingering infections, and a variety of health challenges. Even more so in the post-Covid era. What makes this especially difficult is that patients often find it emotionally and psychologically challenging to confront the idea that a tooth they thought was “saved” may actually be unsafe and affecting their overall health. The questions I receive on this topic are numerous, complex and deeply personal. In this Q&A blog, I aim to address the most common concerns about root canals, and explore their role as a hidden root cause of illness. To find out more, please read on …
Q.What is a root canal?
A. A root canal is a dental procedure to treat infection inside a tooth. Inside each tooth is a soft tissue called the pulp which contains nerves and blood vessels. When this becomes infected or damaged, a root canal involves removing the infected tissue, cleaning and disinfecting the inside of the tooth, and then sealing it to prevent further infection.
Q.Why do many dentists and doctors regard root canals as problematic?
A.While dentists are able to remove all of the pulp and infected tissues within the pulp chamber, it is impossible to clean the numerous accessory canals that branch off the main canals. There are approximately 3 miles of tiny tubules in an average tooth that routinely harbour bacteria when the pulp is infected. It is impossible to clean and disinfect all these minute tubules. Even when the tooth is filled and sealed, it still contains infection.
Q.But if the tooth is filled and sealed, what’s the problem? Surely any infection is locked in?
A.Unfortunately, in a root canal treated tooth, infection can “leak” because the tooth is not completely sealed or sterile, even after treatment. Because dentin (the inner structure of the tooth) is highly porous, a root canal-treated tooth can still allow bacteria and toxins to move through the tooth structure and potentially escape into the surrounding area, especially under pressure from normal biting. This leakage allows bacteria and their toxins access to the bloodstream with subsequent spreading to the rest of the body. This is known as “focal infection.”
Q. Why are nearly all, if not all, root canal-treated teeth chronically infected?
A.Because it is impossible with current dental techniques to remove all disease-causing microorganisms from an infected root-canal treated tooth. There are approximately three miles of microtubules in each tooth for bacteria to hide in.
Q.What is “focal infection’ and how does this relate to teeth?
A.The term ‘focal infection’ describes how disease in one part of the body can and does produce disease in another, often distant, part of the body, even when the infection at the local source i.e. tooth/mouth is not giving obvious symptoms.
Q.When I mentioned “focal infection” to my dentist, he said that idea had been thoroughly debunked by modern science. Is that correct?
A.Not correct. Almost 90 years ago dental researchers like Dr Weston A. Price and colleagues published volumes of research that warned of serious health challenges associated with root canal-treated teeth. At that time, root canal therapy was starting to become a lucrative field of dentistry. Root canal supporters claim that focal infection theory was debunked in an edition of the Journal of The American Dental Association (JADA) over 60 years ago. Recent research suggests that those who debunked focal infection may have been guided by self-interest. In the last few decades, many studies have linked root canal therapy to increased risks for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, autoimmunity and other diseases.
Q. But root canals ‘save’ a tooth? That’s good, isn’t it?
A.Root canal treatment removes the infected and inflamed pulp in the tooth. The inside is cleaned and disinfected, then filled and sealed with a rubber-like substance called gutta percha. Outwardly, a tooth has been ‘saved’ and you still have your smile intact. But that does not mean that your tooth is necessarily ‘safe.’ A wealth of scientific evidence spanning over a hundred years shows that nearly all root canal-treated teeth are infected and that these infections grow and can continually leak out of the tooth, and travel into the body, causing various diseases. The agreed-upon criteria for a successful root canal treated tooth is that it is free from pain or symptoms with no signs of ongoing infection. However, analysis shows that x-rays often miss infection and frequently under-represent the extent of infection still present.
Q.My dentist says there is no scientific evidence that root canals are a danger to health. Is this correct?
A.No, it is most certainly not correct. There is a lot of scientific evidence dating back over a hundred years to show the connections between root canals and various diseases in human beings. A large body of research was documented in two large publications by US dentist Dr Weston A Price and colleagues in the 1930s. He demonstrated that if you removed infected root canal-treated teeth from patients with chronic conditions, and implanted the infected teeth under the skin of rabbits, the patient would improve or get totally well, and the rabbit would develop the same disease as the patient and die shortly afterwards. Years later, root canal specialist Dr George Meinig reviewed Dr Price’s work and published his findings in the book Root Canal Cover Up. Nowadays, modern scientific PCR analysis in infected root canals fully vindicates the earlier findings of Dr Price. Science has caught up and leaves us in no doubt as to the risks that root canals pose to human health.
Q.What diseases have been linked to the presence of root canals in the medical literature?
A.Cardiovascular diseases, heart attack, stroke, atherosclerosis, pneumonia, chronic immune suppression and persistent infections, neurological diseases, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, lupus, psoriasis, bone destruction, cardiac calcification, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, preeclampsia, premature births, deficiencies, elevated ferritin (iron storage), low red blood cells, low white blood cells, cancers, dementia and more. A local dentist once showed me a case study of a young girl who had gone into a coma after having had a root canal. Eventually, someone had the bright idea of removing the root filled tooth with the result that she came out of her coma. This was obviously an unusually severe case with underlying immune factors. However, the trigger for the coma was the root canal and removal of the dead tooth reversed the coma.
Q.Why do cardiologists recommend patients to get their dental issues fixed before cardiac surgery?
A.Because studies show that the mere presence of root canal-treated teeth has been clinically associated with the risk of increased heart disease. Disease-causing oral bacteria have been found in the blood clots and diseased organ tissues of patients with root canal-treated teeth. In one study, oral bacterial DNA was found in 100% of 38 patients with coronary heart disease. These contained over 50 different species of bacteria. Another investigation showed that subjects with known infections in their teeth were over 30% more likely to have coronary heart disease even after attending to all the other known risk factors like smoking and obesity. When patients show up in hospital with bacterial infective endocarditis (a serious infection of the inner lining of the heart) always think infected teeth/root canals. Don’t wait for the post-mortem diagnosis!
Q. Is there any way I can have a root canal that clears up the infection 100% and will not endanger my health in the future, but allows me to keep that tooth?
A.No. It is impossible to guarantee that a root can-treated tooth will remain infection free indefinitely. This is due to the anatomical difficulties outlined above and the fact that root canal-treated tooth has had its early warning immune and defence systems removed as part of the root canal process.
Q.I have had a root canal for years and I feel fine.
A.Not everyone with a root canal is sick. The strength of a person’s immune system determines how they are affected by a root canal. People with strong immune systems can often contain the infection, especially if they have no other burdens on their body. But when a new challenge does arise, the defences can break down and seed infection to distant organs. Dr Weston Price listed these challenges as flu, extreme cold, pregnancy, stress, and bereavement. I would now add Covid to this list. So, someone with a root filling can be perfectly healthy, but over time, immune defences can get worn down and symptoms may arise. Unfortunately, unless you know about the potential of root fillings to cause disease, these new symptoms are not likely to be associated with that root canal that you had 20 years ago!
Q.Would you ever have a root canal?
A.I did have three root canals for over twenty years before my own immune defences broke down in a sudden and spectacular way while I was out taking exercise. I felt as though I had had a stroke but it was my body’s way of saying it could not cope any more with the infectious overload. I became so weak overnight that I could hardly walk and lost an alarming amount of weight. My GP couldn’t find anything wrong except a single elevated inflammation marker. The nurse taking my bloods wisely advised me to do my own research. This fortunately led me a Biological dentist who discovered my jawbone was harbouring not just one but several major infections. After educating myself and getting these safely removed and the infected sockets cleaned out, I gradually regained my health. Would I ever have another root canal? Not for a million pounds. My health is too precious and I remember how sick I felt when my health collapsed.
Q. You mentioned cancer?
A.Dr Price linked root canals to cancer and other systemic diseases back in the 1923. More recently, scientists like Dr Johann Lechner have proposed that chronic jawbone inflammation from infected teeth like root canals may produce higher levels of immune signaling molecules like Rantes (CCL5), which are involved in inflammatory and cancer-related pathways. Rantes itself may be involved in metastases of cancers. It is interesting that the highly successful German oncologist Dr Josef Issels advocated dental and tonsil clean-up before starting cancer therapy with patients. When doing these actions, he reported a higher survival rate than when not doing them. As cancer is an immune issue, I think it makes sense to be proactive by trying to alleviate all the major potential burdens on a person’s immune system.
Q.Is there any way modern treatments, like lasers, can fully disinfect a root filling?
A.No, much as dentists have tried, there are no new disinfectants or laser treatments that can fully disinfect a tooth and keep it disinfected. A major difficulty is that lasers work in a straight line while tubules are curved. The best way to remove the infection is extraction with thorough cleaning of the socket in the way in which Biological dentists are trained.
Q.What do you say to sick patients who have a root canal but don’t want to lose their tooth?
A.This should be your choice as you need to live with that choice. I am only here to share my professional expertise and research. What I will say is that you should make an informed decision rather than just taking the word of your dentist. This means doing your own research on sites like the IAOMT (International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology). At the end of the day, when you consider your livelihood and overall health, a partial denture, bridge, zirconia implant or even a missing tooth may be preferable to heart attack, stroke, cancer, diabetes, dementia and neurological disease which has been linked to root canals in the medical literature.
Q.Have you seen any patients get better from having infected root canal treated teeth removed?
A.Yes, I have over the years. Including myself. A number of patients have told me they felt an almost immediate improvement in general wellbeing after the extraction with a Biological dentist. One teenage patient who was suffering from aches, pains and insomnia, had an immediate cessation of symptoms from the day the tooth was pulled. For other patients, the changes may not be so dramatic as their infections are systemic and they need to work at these too to get better. Most patents notice fewer acute infections after successful dental infection removal.
Q.Why have some dentists and cardiologists advocated that root canals should be an informed consent procedure?
A.Precisely for the above reasons. If you are advised to have a dental procedure that is shown to have be associated in the medical literature to increase your risk for heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and dementia, wouldn’t you want to discuss this first? Also, the alternatives and their various risk factors?
Q.Have you seen any patients get better from chronic conditions if they don’t have their infected teeth removed?
A.From clinical experience, I can only think of one person who got better from a serious health condition but who still has a root canal. But I can recall more patients who were advised to consider root canal extraction by their dentists but who chose to retain these teeth. I have had people say to me they would rather die than lose a tooth! Why might this be? I have seen a number of reasons ranging from fear of the dentist (from past traumatic dental procedures) to loss of self image (particularly women) towelling that they have invested heavily in “saving” that tooth. Losing a tooth can also trigger strong emotional reactions. Some patients identify themselves heavily with their body and hate to lose any part of it. At the end of the day, however, chronically ill patients who retain an infected dead tooth, may have far more to lose than their tooth in terms of the effects of chronic fatigue, aches and pains, malaise, not to mention loss of earning capacity.
Q.Do cardiologists acknowledge the connection between dental infections and cardiovascular disease?
A.Yes, there is a well established link in conventional cardiology between oral health and heart disease. In 1923, Dr Weston Price warned of the close connection between infected teeth and the heart and documented several case studies. Infective endocarditis is the most documented example of focal infection. Most heart surgeons today advise patients to have an oral examination before surgery. Before my husband had aortic valve replacement for a congenital heart condition, he was advised to get any dental issues addressed so that no bacterial seeding from the mouth would later damage the new valve. The bottom line is that there are multiple human studies confirming the presence of dental bacteria in plaques, heart attack clots and stroke thrombi. Additionally, solid research over the last decades substantiates the periodontitis-heart disease link. Chronic oral infections become a persistent immune and blood vessel stressor.
Q.What types of organisms have been found in root canal treated teeth?
A.The amount and variety of organisms found in root canal treated teeth is enormous. Over 460 different bacteria have been found, a lot of which are anaerobic bacteria (don’t need oxygen to survive). These include spirochetes like Borrelia (Lyme), Bartonella and Treponema. Such bacteria can produce very potent toxins (exotoxins) that can escape out of the tooth canals, and travel to distant organs in the body.
Q. My dentist tells me I have CAP. How can a root canal-treated tooth develop CAP?
A.CAP stands for Chronic Apical Periodontitis and means long standing infection or inflammation round the root tip of the tooth (apex). A root canal aims to remove infection inside the tooth, but anatomical factors explained above allow bacteria to remain or return. They continue production toxins and inflammation at the root tip. New bacteria from the mouth can also enter and recolonise the tooth. Remember also that a dead tooth no longer has any immune defence. Toxins then leak into the surrounding bone. CAP can be “silent” i.e. produce no pain. Studies link CAP to a host of systemic diseases throughout the body.
Q.Why do dental associations and most dentists still insist that root canal treatment is “safe and effective”?
A.Most dental associations and the majority of dentists continue to assert that root canal treatment is safe and effective because the procedure reliably eliminates acute infection, removes pain and preserves chewing function with a high short to medium term success rate. Furthermore, conventional dentistry evaluates “safety” largely in terms of immediate infection control, lack of procedural complications and tooth survival - not long-term systemic or immunological effects. When Dr Price published his research on linking root canals to systemic diseases in 1923, this threatened a growing lucrative industry. At the time Dr Price was heavily attacked and his meticulous research ridiculed. Modern scientific methods have since shown that he was right. But modern dentists who embrace Dr Price’s ideas have still been attacked. “Confirmation bias” is defined as ignoring information that challenges an already accepted belief system. The power of ‘group think’ and ‘fixed ideas’ are powerful defences against scientific truths which demonstrate otherwise. If you are aware of the science but choose to ignore it because of vested interests, this is highly irresponsible. With all the fuss and controversy round root canal ‘safety,’ why haven’t supporters of root canal treatments published studies that show how safe they are? Simply, because there aren’t any!
Q.How do you incorporate dental factors while looking for underlying causes in a person’s chronic illness?
A.First of all I do a thorough case history in an initial consultation lasting 90 minutes. We have plenty of time to discuss aspects of oral health which is the first part of overall gut health. As I work with a wider team of like-minded practitioners. I will refer a patient when necessary for evaluation with a Biological dentist. Biological dentists are specialist dentists who have trained above and beyond conventional dentistry in the safe removal of toxins and infections from the mouth. The hallmark of Biological dentistry is the recognition that any oral intervention can affect whole body health. For a Biological dentist, health does not stop at the neck! The 3D cone beam CT (CBCT) scan is the gold standard oral health as it shows high-resolution, three-dimensional images of teeth, jawbone, and surrounding structures. Unlike traditional X-rays, it can detest small lesions, subtle bone changes and areas of chronic infection. When the person has their dental diagnosis and treatment plan, I will support them nutritionally before and after their dental procedure. Preparation and post operative nutritional support is key to the best outcome.
If you would like to explore the underlying causes of a chronic condition, please get in touch with the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com to request a free 30 minute Enquiry Call or book an appointment. Please note that an Enquiry call is not a consultation but an exploratory call to see if this is a clinical approach you wish to pursue.To your very good health,
Suzanne Jeffery (Nutritional Medicine Consultant)
M.A.(Oxon), BSc.(NMed), PGCE, GNC, BSEM, MNNA, CNHC
The Good Health Clinic at The Business Centre, 2, Cattedown Road, Plymouth PL4 0EG
Tel no: 07836 552936/ Answer phone: 01752 774755
Disclaimer:
All advice given out by Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic is for general guidance and informational purposes only. All advice relating to other health professionals’ advice is for general guidance and information purposes only. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information provided with other sources. Patients and consumers should review the information carefully with their professional health care provider. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by other practitioners and physicians. Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.