Most dentist don't give you all the information about what a root canal is or isn't so patients do not have the tools to give an informed consent to the procedure as it should be given according to law and deontologic code.
In this article I'll explain what a root canal is so you can make an informed decision, but my recommendation (and that of many dentists) is that you should never get a root canal if you want to avoid getting major health issues down the line including cancer. I write this article from personal experience and my objective is to spread the word and hopefully save lives. Please read also the disclaimer at the bottom of the article.
Introduction:
Dentist and doctors are in general good people and work with their patients to make them healthier, the problem is that most doctors are indoctrinated by the industry and from the university where the industry finances most research papers with a huge bias to produce the results that will make them earn billions of dollars. If a doctor or professor tries to make a research that could save lives but whose result is that it will affect the establishment and the industry he will not get any financing and could even be humiliated and expelled from the profession like happened with Dr. Hal Huggins. The doctor that denounced that amalgam containing mercury was killing people, amalgam is the filling that was used by almost all dentists and patented by the American Dentist Association. Now something similar is happening with root canals.
What is a tooth and a cavity?
A tooth is not a piece of ivory in our mouth, it is a living organ in our body, it has layers of different materials, nerves and blood vessels. In our mouth there always are a lot of bacteria and this bacteria feed on sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose and starches) and excrete a very potent acid, lactic acid that destroys the tooth. That is why it is very important to clean our teeth after eating specially if there were sugars present (that includes any carbohydrates like bread, pasta, rice, etc).
A cavity is a lot of bacteria that have colonised the tooth in the form of plaque. The acid from this plaque demineralise the tooth, and as it demineralise the bacteria can go deeper in the tooth. The first layer is the enamel, once they pass the enamel they arrive to the dentin, which is softer so bacteria like it even more. Once they have chewed off the dentin they gets to the pulp. The pulp is very soft, full of blood vessels, lymphocytes and nerves (that's why it hurts when the bacteria arrive to them). Finally, once they have eaten up the pulp they arrive to the jaw bone which has even more blood circulation so bacteria really enjoy it and create an abscess (a pocket of pus).
So you tooth is hurting and you go to the doctor, nowadays as soon as you say that a tooth is hurting your doctor will tell you that you need or have to have a root canal. Some times even with only some tooth sensitivity to heat or cold but without any real infection compromising the tooth they tell you to have a root canal. The doctor might be suggesting this treatment because after the indoctrination by the industry he truly believes that it is the best one and/or because he wants to cash on your tooth. Some other doctors might give you the two alternatives, root canal or extraction and if nothing more is explained most people will undoubtedly choose against extraction thinking of the aesthetic consequences.
What is a root canal?
As the name says it is to open a canal to the root of the tooth. In other words, the dentist makes a hole on the top of the tooth and try to clean the pulp and nerves inside the tooth. The problem lies in that there are main canals which are the ones that the dentist clean of bacteria but there are also many other smaller canals and lateral canals that are impossible to clean and where bacteria is still present. Then, when the dentist think that everything is clean (just by looking with the naked eye or smelling!) he decides to fill the canal. The canal is filled with a mixture made of a rubber (relatively safe) and a cement containing antibacterial, phenol and formaldehyde. These last two are used two avoid the mixture rotting away. Once the canals are filled, the top of the rubbery filling is sealed with heat.
So what is the problem with root canals?
As explained above, it is impossible to clean off all bacteria from the tooth canals, the dentist can clean only the main canals but there are many other canals, including microscopic lateral canals which are still full of bacteria. Due to the sealing performed by the dentist those bacteria go anaerobic (that is, without air) when normally they are areobic. Anaerobic bacteria are the really bad ones producing very potent toxins (e.g. e-coli, botuli). These bacteria receive "food" from what we eat which gets to them by osmosis through the tooth and they excrete very potent toxins that are released into the bone making us sick.
Our body has white cells to detected those toxins and to kill the bacteria that produces them but there is an issue now, the white cells are too big to get into the small canals (8-10 microns compared to the 1/2 micron of the canal). Furthermore if the white cells try to get into the main canals to reach the bacteria they are immediately killed of by the phenol and formaldehyde that the dentist had put inside the main canal! As result our immune system cannot get even close to the tooth to defend us from the bacteria producing the harmful toxins.
White cells last for 7 days so our body need to send new white cells every 7 days, month after month, year after year which takes a big toll in our immune system leaving us open to many other infections like hepatitis, cancer, etc. This is the big problem of root canals: a weakened immune system.
So a tooth with a root canal is a dead organ in our month, without blood circulation, with a continued infection producing very potent toxins to which our immune system cannot get because of the small size of the tubes where they live and also because of the chemicals used on the filling. This infection weakens our immune system making us prone to get other illnesses including cancer.
What are the alternatives to a root canal?
Unfortunately the only alternative is extraction of the dead tooth as doctors would do with any other dead organ! Also, when the extraction is performed the dentist should clean off very thoroughly the bacteria in all the surroundings of the dead tooth, even cleaning off some bone tissue if necessary and the periodontal ligament (the tissue all around the tooth that attaches it to the bone) as usually this is also infected.
So I'm going to be always without a tooth?
No, being without a tooth is also problematic. Bone is a living body too, it grows and get declines, without the tooth the bone in that area gets absorbed which create further problems. Also the other teeth on both sides of the removed tooth and on the opposite jaw move creating more problems. The gap created by the removal of the dead tooth needs to be filled. The solution is to have a bridge or implants fitted.
Bridge or implants?
A bridge is an artificial tooth (usually ceramic with a metal core) that is held in place by the tooth on both sides and thus forming a bridge. Bridges have three main issues, one is that the core is metal which will corrode and release harmful metals into our body. Second, to place the bridge the teeth on the sides need to be sculpted (converted into kind of spikes) to fit the caps of the brides (like the towers in a road bridge), this debilitates those teeth (which previously might have been healthy) making them more prone to additional cavities.
Fitting an implant means putting a screw into the jaw bone to which an artificial tooth is screwed to. The screw is usually made of either titanium or zirconia and the artificial tooth usually is ceramic without a metal core.
Titanium screws are considered biocompatible by main stream doctors but many other doctors don't consider them really biocompatible. Biocompatible means that the body will not detect it as a foreign body and thus will not trigger an immune system response, but titanium, being a conductive metal, do create an immune system reaction. So white cells will try to attack it and we will almost be in the same situation than with the root canal, and stressed and weakened immune system after years trying to attack the titanium implant. It is so well known that the immune system attack the titanium that dentist usually put some material around it to prevent the white cells reaching the titanium and destroying the bone that holds it, but this material (which can be artificial bone or cadaver bone!) creates also an immune system response during years what takes us back to square zero.
The other type of implants are made of Zirconia, please note that Zirconia is not a metal, Zirconia is a cristal of Zirconium Oxide (ZrO2). Some people get confused (even dentist) thinking that the implants are made of Zirconium and thus of metal (and so will have the same issues as titanium). Zirconia, being a cristal, does not trigger an immune response and thus allows to have a healthy immune system that defends us from many illnesses including cancer. Zirconia implants have been used in the US since 2006 so history is shorter than titanium implants and so far results are very good although they might be a bit more fragile than titanium implants so their duration might be reduced in some cases compared to titanium. Zirconia implants also are more aesthetic than titanium. Even though the implants are inside the gum and the bone, there is some translucency in the gum that allows to see the grey color of titanium whilst it is not possible to see anything on the zirconia because it is white.
Does implants require surgery?
Traditional implant techniques do require surgery in many occasions with general anaesthesia but recently a new method has been developed using 3D CAT (Computer Added Tomography) that allow the dentist to see in 3D, before the operation, the exact position in the three axis where the implant should be placed. This reduces significantly how much the gum needs to be opened and some even call it "without surgery" although my opinion is that it is surgery but at a much lower impact and with a much better recovery.
Resume:
Root canals poisons you with very potent toxins, harmful chemicals, permanent infection and heavily weakens you immune system leaving you prone to other illnesses including cancer. The alternative is extraction, good cleaning of the infected area and placing a zirconia implant using 3D surgery.
Disclaimer: I'm not a dentist but I have researched the subject extensively. This is not medical advise, you should ask you dentist and present him with the information given hereby. Ideally you should go to a bio-dentist although they are hard to find. I recommend "Dr. Blanche".
