A few years ago, two dentists told me I needed a root canal on a tooth in the upper rear of the mouth. The endontist said that there was an infection and antibiotics were necessary. Not being into antibiotics, I googled around for alternate ways of killing off an infection in the mouth, adding in the name Weston A. Price, whom was a dentist that traveled the world in the mid-twentieth century and pretty much started the modern fermentation movement.
There were stories of–start by saying there were root canal horror stories–people being ill for years before finally removing an old root canal and finding that it was the source of the disease. Apparently when a root canal is done, there is usually residual dead root left that can also host all kinds of nasty stuff.
A few friends also shared root canal nightmares where they paid a grand or two for a root canal and ended up needing to have the tooth or teeth pulled anyway.
My dentist said that the only significant risk of not getting the root canal was ending up with a serious tooth-ache eventually and at that point needing to either have the root canal done, or tooth pulled.
I was already into oil pulling, which is a practice from the Hindu healing art system, Ayurveda in which you–probably first thing in the morning–take a spoonful of coconut or sesame oil into the mouth and swish it around for between five and twenty minutes. It is said to pull toxins from the body.
Occasionally when I pull hard, a little blood comes from the abscessed area. This is good. When there is an active infection, we want it to be able to release the toxicity, carried off by the blood. It's been a few years. So far no aches.
A few years ago a friend with Hepatitis C said when describing his new planned lifestyle
I'm either gonna be dead, or I'm gonna be the healthiest guy you know.
In other words we can utilize these ailments to encourage us to take better care of ourselves.
What I use as toothpaste is really easy to make and awesome. It's the only toothpaste our five year old will use. It's just coconut oil and baking soda. Aširah is convinced she hates mint (unless it's ice cream or a peppermint candy) so I don't add any to the paste, I just add a drop or two of nice food grade peppermint essential oil to the brush. It's awesome.
There's also something really awesome about not speaking for the first minutes of the day. I usually do a short yoga session while pulling the oil.
Oh yes, also don't spit the oil into the house plumbing. Spit it outside. Soil/compost loves it. It builds up in the pipes. I have even noticed some build-up in the trap of the kitchen sink from the coconut oil. But it's quite easy to clean out.