Root Canals (teeth)

These were mentioned in another thread, and I just wondered - anyone got any?

How long have you had them?
Have you had problems with them?
How is your health generally?

I have had several root canals....they are done when there is damage to the tooth which exposes the nerve. The nerve is basically removed, the space filled with a rubber filler and then the tooth repaired.

I have had no problems with those teeth since then. I had my first one at 20 after smashing a tooth. The others came after dental issues connected with my pregnancies. My health is pretty good but with a weakness to get chest infections and coughs.������

Apart from the usual aches and pains that come with age I'm just fine, and I have several root canal fillings

I had one after breaking a front tooth in a car accident in my early thirties, but the dentist muffed it up and the reamer broke off inside the tooth and he couldn't remove it as I had a kink at the top of the root and it was very firmly wedged in place. He left it there which meant I suffered with hot and cold things on the tooth for years and finally developed an abcess on it and it was removed and replaced with a bridge. Never had any trouble since. My teeth are in excellent condition for an old bird, I only have 4 fillings in my entire mouth. My health is excellent too.

I have had a number of root canal fillings over the years, going back about 40 years.

Health? Physically I am a total wreck - medically I have some problems but on the whole I do not think I am too bad for my age!

I had two back teeth done, never again.....I was in constant pain. The hospital ended up removing the teeth for me when I had my wisdom teeth out.

Now I tell the dentist to remove the tooth..........

Reason I ask about the health side, is because there is documented research on root canals and general ill health.

Dr Weston Price, former Director of Research of the American Dental Association (for 14 years) has spent 35 years researching the relationship between systemic diseases of the body (such as Kidney & Heart Disease) from toxins that seep out of root-canal-filled teeth. His findings challenged the safety of root canal procedures and caused quite a controversy.

He found that by removing root-canal-filled teeth from people suffering from certain diseases, such as heart and kidney disease, saw most of the patients health improve.

To establish a relationship he tested it by removing root-filled-teeth from people with heart/kidney diesease and inserting it under the skin of Rabbits (as their immune system is meant to be similar to humans). When he did this the rabbits died within two days (from the same disease the human had - heart or kidney). Yet when a normal human tooth was implanted the rabbits would live for a year with no adverse reaction.

From personal experience, my dietician warned me of root-canal-fillings over 10 yeas ago, and I also met someone who had suffered from terrible sciatica and after removing his root-filled teeth made a full recovery. I remember him clearly because I saw him and was shocked that he had so many of his teeth removed! and that's when he told me. Anyway, it's the studies that I find quite interesting, and I guess when you think about it - a root canal is the perfect environment for bacteria to grow unchallenged (as the root of the tooth is normally killed for the procedure, so no blood/defences can reach there to fight the bad bacteria off).

The root isn't killed the nerve inside the root is and it's usually because it's already infected that it's removed. On removal the root is thoroughly cleaned with some sterilising solution that tastes like bleach to me but obvously isn't and then the root is filled and sealed so how is it a source of bacteria growing. It certainly shouldn't be if done properly and a root filled tooth is definitely better than being gummy,

Trouble is right. the removal of the nerve and the filling of the canal is because there are problems anyway.
I have 4 teeth that I probably wouldn't have if not for root canal work.

If that were the case then people wouldn't get recurring abscesses in root-canal-filled teeth - but they do. (I know - because it's happened to me - 3 times!)

(Ps yes, that's what I meant - the nerve inside the tooth is killed, so it is 'disconnected' and 'dead', and our body's unable to fight infection inside it)

It can be inadequate sterilisation or perhaps even a tiny crack later on that leads to bacteria getting in, once there it invades not only the pulp of the tooth but also the dentin. Dentin is composed of thousands of tiny tubules, which can house the bacteria - and part of the problem is that the checmicals the dentist use to sterilize the tooth do not reach inside the dentin tubles. So once sealed they can proliferate inside the chamber (or if a crack appears later, safely house).

I personally do not feel comfortable with it, it's completely alien to our bodies in our 200,000 year human history - the bacteria are basically protected and our bodies have no real way to fight it - so it's like a continual re-infection, and that obviously takes a toll on our bodies/immune system.

Anyway, we all have to make our choices in what we think is right. I am going to get mine removed sometime this year (or get it opened and try to sterilise it with Manuka honey and then getting it filled again, giving it one last chance)