Can root canals make you sick? Root canal cover-up / by Dr. George Meinig - Fact or Quack?

A friend of my parents recently heard about this and is looking for info. on the topic. (Thinking root canals might be responsible for making her ill.)





The premise is that root canals continuously leak toxins into the body and make people sick. The book (revised edition published in 1994) is based on the research of Dr. Weston Price done in 1900-1925, and basically says that 83 years after Price%26#039;s research was published the ADA is still suppressing this information to keep making money on root canals.





I%26#039;ve had a hard time finding anything on either side of this argument that seems very credible.





It seems to me though that if this were true it would be far easier and more profitable to pull teeth and replace them with even more expensive implants, but what do you think?





Thanks for your comments!

Can root canals make you sick? Root canal cover-up / by Dr. George Meinig - Fact or Quack?
Just a few weeks ago I had the remaining 2 molars in my mouth pulled out. When I was 17 years old I had my first root canal. The years proceeding I had 5 more. Let me just say that the next 10 years of my life was a nightmare. I was in pain every day. My face hurt, my joints hurt, I just didn%26#039;t feel right. I saw multiple dentists and specialists who wanted to put me on narcotics. I finally found a dentist that would help me. He said that because I had been in pain for so many years that the best thing would be to remove them. Every single tooth that had a root canal done on it had infection and was decayed on the inside. None of this could be seen on any x-ray we looked at. My destist said %26quot;No wonder you don%26#039;t feel good, you have been living with a pretty big infection in your face, for what looks like years.%26quot; I am now 29 and I have no molars left in my mouth and I can easily say that I have spent a small fortune on dental work. I can also honestly say that I have not felt this good in 10 years. There has to be some truth to what you are saying. The day after I had my last infected molar pulled was the first day in about 5 years that I didn%26#039;t have a headache. I didn%26#039;t even need to take any pain medicine because I felt soooo much better. So obviously there has to be some connection there. My new dentist says that at dental school they are really teaching about implants now and that hopefully soon more dentists will go back for continuing education and learn about them. I am curious to see what others have to say about this. Good question.
Reply:Yea sure, just like amalgams are making people sick. Puh-leaze. I%26#039;ve been in the dental industry for 18 years and I%26#039;ve never had a patient get sick because of endodontic treatment, nor have I ever heard of this. I have however had a patient admitted to the hospital because they didn%26#039;t do anything about the infected cesspool in their mouth.
Reply:That%26#039;s quite a long time ago for research of any kind. I think nowadays there%26#039;s nothing unsafe about it.
Reply:They should be given antibiotics to prevent infection...anything is possible
Reply:Yes a root canal infection will make you sick but I don%26#039;t think thats what you are asking. The material they use today in root canal fillings is called Gutta percha. This is a fairly recent advancement in the last 15 yrs. They used to use metal filling material that im sure could leach toxins into your body.


Just pulling a tooth and placing an implant certainly is an option, but no treatment is better that keeping your natural teeth, even with a root canal. Implants are great but not as good as a natural root.
Reply:http://www.drshankland.com/rootcanal.htm... This is the site where you can read that particular article. I came across it while researching root canals. I also have had a lot of problems, not so much health related, but do to a treatment that wasn%26#039;t done properly. A year later, and many many months of suffering with severe pain due to an infection that occurred after the treatment, I%26#039;m looking at the possibility of losing the tooth. I saw one doctor after the other. I paid enormous amounts of money and nothing. Who benefits and who gains?, that is the question. The answer is obvious. When they assure you of everything and guaranty you nothing, they do. The Endodontist who redid my root canal said her treatment is 90% effective. Does that mean it%26#039;s my fault for accepting to pay her double what the dentist charged me, with no better results, if there was a 10% chance that it would not take? When I called her back to complain of severe symptoms, she said I did not know what I was talking about. It could not be that tooth because there were no nerves. When there is a lot of burning, throbbing, pins and needles stabbing me to the the point of not being able to function, do I not have a reason to worry? And who should I have called since she was the one who did the treatment. I guess the guy down the street should know. I never knew there were so many risks until it happened to me. Everything is possible.
Reply:I agree with your last paragraph wholeheartedly. Contrary to some people%26#039;s opinions, not all dentists have their wallet as their sole reason to treat patients. Older root canal fillings used to use silver points, these did corrode and leak leading to re-infection but not long term general health issues. They now use gutta percha much more compatible and reduced leakage. Therefore perfectly safe!



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