Root Canal Therapy and Cancer: A Holistic Dentists Opinion
Root Canal Therapy and Cancer: A Holistic Dentists Opinion
Root canal therapy and cancer
“97% of all terminal cancer patients previously had this dental procedure”, this is a story that originally appeared on the Mercola site, which we often read and often enjoy the content of. However this story does raise an important issue and obviously strikes a chord with us as holistic dentists. For any of you that have read the ten references, I was disappointed to note that not one of them made that statement.
What is root canal therapy?
The procedure being referred to is Root Canal Therapy. When a nerve dies in a tooth the practice involves cleaning out the main canals, placing antiseptic dressings, returning after a few weeks for the dressings to be changed and then the canal to be sealed off. The question is “can we completely sterilise a tooth?” And the answer is… no. The next question is “how important is this?” And the answer is… we are not sure.
Why do people need root canal therapy?
When root canal therapy is required often there is puss and a shadow on an Xray at the end of a tooth, when a root canal is well performed by traditional dental standards then 12 months after the procedure we would expect the area at the tip of the root to have cleared and the Xray to show bone regeneration. So one can say that something positive has definitely occurred. Is it perfect? No. In Dr Weston A. Price’s research (which this was based on) said that in 25% of cases people could expect to live without any problems…that was in 1920… and things have drastically improved since then.
Sydney Holistic Dental Centre’s opinion
Our position at Sydney Holistic Dental Centre is that each case needs to be considered as an individual based on the person’s own health, both orally and systemically.
