{"id":8,"date":"2014-07-11T17:16:01","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T17:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/?p=8"},"modified":"2014-07-11T17:23:59","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T17:23:59","slug":"biological-root-canals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/biological-root-canals\/","title":{"rendered":"Biological Root Canals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-10\" style=\"margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/holistic.dentistry.jpg\" alt=\"holistic dental symbol\" width=\"409\" height=\"293\" \/>Among dentists, root canals are a highly charged topic.\u00a0 For the most part, conventional dentists favor them, while many holistic dentists oppose them.\u00a0 Opposition to root canals stems from the difficulty inherent in trying to eradicate bacteria in the root canal and the potential for such bacteria to migrate into the bloodstream and cause infection and serious health issues in other parts of the body.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, there are only two alternatives to root canals.\u00a0 The first is to do nothing, but there are no real benefits to this approach.\u00a0 Tooth root problems start with inflamed nerves.\u00a0 Leave an inflamed nerve untreated for too long, it becomes infected and the problem becomes exponentially more complicated.\u00a0 Infection can then spread to other teeth and even to the blood stream.<\/p>\n<p>The second alternative is extraction and in very severe cases, this may be the only option.\u00a0 When extracting a tooth, a decision needs to be made about what to do with the empty space.\u00a0 Leaving it empty is certainly an option, but missing teeth can lead to compromised chewing, and problems with gums and bite.\u00a0 Options for replacing teeth include, dentures, fixed bridges and implants.\u00a0 All of which come with their own problems.<\/p>\n<p>Because there are no great options for root issues, I neither support nor oppose them.\u00a0 I believe they have their place but, recognizing the risks inherent in root canals, I look for ways to mitigate those risks.<\/p>\n<p>In my practice, that means two things.\u00a0 First, if I believe a root canal is needed, I want to do it as soon as possible, before the inflamed nerve becomes infected.\u00a0 Treating the tooth before the bacteria get a chance to multiply improves the chances for a good outcome.<\/p>\n<p>Second, I sterilize the tooth with calcium hydroxide instead of Biocalex to sterilize the inside of the tooth.\u00a0 Biocalex has a number of drawbacks, ranging from odd sensations in the tooth, to pain, to teeth cracking beyond the possibility of repair.\u00a0 Calcium hydroxide not only does not cause the problems that Biocalex can cause, but it is highly alkaline.\u00a0 When calcium hydroxide is use on the tooth and left in place for several days, the entire tooth goes from a neutral pH of 7, to an alkaline pH of 10.\u00a0 It eradicates bacteria far more effectively than Biocalex.\u00a0 Along with killing bacteria, calcium hydroxide can also eliminate any bits of nerve that may remain.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>BIOLOGICAL ROOT CANALS<\/h2>\n<p>In the world of dentistry, there are a lot of opinions on root canals.\u00a0 When dental problems affect the roots of the teeth, the options are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do nothing and risk the problem spreading to other teeth and infection getting into the bloodstream,<\/li>\n<li>Extract the affected tooth and decide what to do with the space, or<\/li>\n<li>Perform a root canal, save the tooth and risk long-term consequences associated with the procedure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Doing nothing is the riskiest route of the three and can lead to serious long-term and seemingly unrelated health problems down the road.\u00a0 Extracting the tooth has its place, but there are no ideal options for dealing with the empty space, either.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"920\" height=\"518\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OQQ31IlunKo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Root canals are considered risky because the structure of the tooth makes it virtually impossible to kill all of the bacteria during the procedure, leaving a risk (though smaller than that of doing nothing) that the bacteria will get into the bloodstream and travel through the body.\u00a0 In fact, Dr. Weston A. Price, whom some consider to be the father of <a title=\"Holistic Dentist\" href=\"http:\/\/biocompatibledentist.org\/holistic_dentistry\/biological-dental-background\/\">modern holistic\u00a0dentistry<\/a>, conducted a great deal of research in which he took extracted teeth and implanted them under the skin of lab animals.\u00a0 Many of these animals developed conditions identical to those from whom the teeth came, and quickly.\u00a0 As a result of this research, he concluded that as many as 95% of infections begin in the mouth.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than discounting root canals, as long as there are no good options, we need to be looking at ways to minimize the risks associated with them.\u00a0 In my practice, I observe a few standards intended to do just that.<\/p>\n<p>First, if a root canal is warranted, I do it as early as possible.\u00a0 Early root problems are caused by inflamed nerves.\u00a0 If left too long, inflamed nerves become infected.\u00a0 The longer a root canal is delayed, the more the bacteria have an opportunity to multiply, to hide in the microtubules inside the tooth and from there, migrate to the bloodstream.<\/p>\n<p>Second, I use calcium hydroxide, a strong alkaline (pH 10) to sterilize the inside of the tooth.\u00a0 By filling the root space of the tooth with calcium hydroxide and leaving it in place for several days, the calcium hydroxide permeates the tooth and brings the entire tooth to a similar pH, which is alkaline enough to kill most bacteria.\u00a0 Though there are no guarantees, the calcium hydroxide has been shown to be far more effective at both killing bacteria and disintegrating any nerve debris that may be left behind.<\/p>\n<p>Reference:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/biocompatibledentist.org\/\">http:\/\/biocompatibledentist.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Among dentists, root canals are a highly charged topic.\u00a0 For the most part, conventional dentists favor them, while many holistic dentists oppose them.\u00a0 Opposition to root canals stems from the difficulty inherent in trying to eradicate bacteria in the root canal and the potential for such bacteria to migrate into the bloodstream and cause infection&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inmotiondancewest.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}