Rumors about Root Canals

I recently attended a women's conference at a friend's church and was surprised to find that the speaker talked about root canals.  She stated that she was having a lot of problems with her hip joints and was considering hip replacement surgery.  The speaker was referred to a company that treated her with some kind of electronic therapy that reduced her hip pain significantly.  Oddly enough, the people at that company told her that root canals were the source of the her arthritis because they believed infection remained in the treated teeth.  As a result, the speaker was advised to have several root canaled teeth extracted as soon as possible.

Of course the statement about root canals and advice to extract her teeth really captured my attention.  I made a note to research this subject when I got home.  I logged on to www.snopes.com, a fact checking website, and searched "root canals and arthritis".  I found a post that addressed whether root canaled teeth cause arthritis (and even cancer).  I have attached the link for the post here medical toxins and root canal.

First let's briefly discuss what root canal therapy entails.  Once a tooth develops a cavity that gets large enough to reach the nerve, the bacteria which caused the decay infect the nerve.  This infection causes a response from the body which sends white blood cells to try and fight the infection.  In the early stages of infection, patients may notice tooth pain and sensitivity to cold and hot foods.  They may also experience pain with biting or develop swelling around the tooth.  The swelling is called an abscess which is a build up of white blood cells that are trying to clear the infection.  An abscess is also an indication that the nerve of the tooth is dead or dying.  Once the nerve of a tooth is infected, the dead or dying nerve must be removed either by root canal therapy or by extracting the tooth altogether.

During root canal therapy, the tooth is usually numbed using a local anesthetic. A hole is made in the tooth that allows access to the dead or dying nerve.  The space inside the tooth that contains the nerve is called the canal, hence the name "root canal treatment or therapy". The dentist uses small instruments and antibacterial rinses to remove the infected nerve tissue from inside the tooth.  The cleaned canal is then sealed with a rubbery like substance to prevent infection from getting back into the tooth.  The root canaled tooth is then restored with a filling or a crown (cap).  Modern dentists use great care to ensure that root canal therapy removes infection from treated teeth.   

Now back to the rumor floating around questioning the safety of root canals: What I found on snopes is that there was dentist named Weston Price back in the early 1900's who believed that root canaled teeth remained infected after therapy and were believed to cause degenerative diseases in the heart and circulatory system.  This is known as the focal infection theory.  The American Dental Association reviewed Dr. Price's research from the 1920s and discovered that it does not follow modern scientific practices. Therefore, due to lack of credible evidence, Dr. Price's theory has been widely rejected.  However, in spite of this, there are some who feel that the medical establishment has merely suppressed his work.

Personally, for me to adopt a theory as fact, I want to see that the hypothesis is proven by sound scientific methods.  I want to see that results from testing are repeatable by different research teams.  Unfortunately this is not the case with the focal infection theory proposed by Dr. Price.  It has been repeatedly tested and disproved by several credible research organizations including the American Association of Endodontists, AAE (root canal specialists).  You can view the link from the AAE on root canal safety here.  However, the focal infection theory has enough "sciencey" sounding terms to make it seem plausible to some.  Those who are not used to reading science journals regularly and determining if research stands up under scrutiny might miss the signs that this theory is not valid.

Not withstanding, the practice of root canals has vastly changed and improved since the early 1900s.  Dentists do not use the same materials or methods commonly used by dentists back then.  Therefore, comparing a root canal performed in 1900s to one in present day is hardly comparing apples to apples.  There have been great improvements made in root canal therapy to prevent leaving infection in root canal treated teeth.  The success rate for root canals is reported to be over 95% according to a study by Torabinejad et. al in the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 2007 Volume 98, Issue 4, Pages 285–311.

So even though it may be meddling, I sent a message to the speaker from the women's conference. I recommended she do more research about root canals and at a minimum, read the post on snopes.com about root canals and their safety.  I think it is best  for anyone to have the most accurate and up to date information possible before scheduling the extraction of multiple teeth.  Hopefully she will find the information helpful in planing her future health decisions.  I also hope that those reading this post will gain some useful information and peace of mind concerning root canal therapy as well.

Happy Smiling!