Root canals are the devil?- Discussion of Netflix documentary Root cause



Recently there has been a very interesting documentary I watched on Netflix over the new years.
With the success of "To Make a Murder" Netflix has started to create more documentaries on controversial subjects. I humbly enjoyed the documentary To Make a Murderer. The show did not convince me that Steven Avery case was innocent, but it showed me the amount of faulty police work that can go into a murder investigation and the evidence that was planted. "Root Cause" as well has a very controversial message but also shares a very important theme of how connected our health is to our teeth. 

Image result for cultural healersAs a quick summary, this documentary follows the story of the director. The main character received a root canal after having been in a fight overseas. Tooth was traumatized and doctor had asked him to get a root canal to save the tooth. The individual claims that since that day he has had chronic depression and fatigue which has caused him to try millions of alternative medicines techniques like juice cleanses and cultural healers because western doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.  The patient states that all these problems stemmed from the root canal and his depression and chronic fatigue did not go away until his root canal was extracted and replaced with a zirconia implant. After the tooth was extracted the patient did not immediately experience relief but it only happened after several other treatments. 

His claims were based on essentially the word of three holistic dentists: Dr. Weston Price, Dr. Hal Huggins, and Dr. Boyd Haley and research of other known holistic dentists. These dentists claim that root canals are like "taxiderming" your teeth and that almost every woman that has breast cancer has at least a root canal done on the same side. 
They never quote actual research articles from respectable sources.

 Image result for vaccine autism meme1. Dr. Price was involved in a poorly controlled research regarding root canals. 
2. Dr. Huggins license has been revoked by the American Dental association for doing unnecessary work. 
3. Dr. Haley is one of the big proponents of vaccinations causing Autism. Also has a ongoing lawsuit with her practice

I will go over some of the truths and lies that they discuss.

Truths:

-It is impossible to completely clean out the root canal. 
  • True our root canals are full of a million vessels and nerves and we can never clean it 100%; however, the root canals are cleaned at least 90-98% and the remaining 2-10% usually remains sterile or with small amount of bacteria that our immune system can control. Eventually root canals do fail and we acknowledge that, but at least you got to keep your tooth for 5-20 years longer. 
-no other medical profession do we ever leave a dead organ after its infected. 
  • This is true we are the only ones that do this. We are also the only ones to do so successfully. I have several patients with root canals from 40-50 years ago that are not infected and patient is very healthy and doing very well.  I will not say root canals are perfect but the only other alternative is extraction and implants. The documentary only supports zirconium implants which we do not have any long term there is no study as of now. Conventional titanium implants; however, have 30+ years of studies and is used by orthopedic surgeons for knee and hip replacements on a daily. 

Lies
    Image result for zirconia implant
  • -97% of patients with breast cancer had a root canal on the same side as the cancer.
    • (not a real study- cannot find anywhere on the internet in any respectable sources)
  • -The #1 cause of heart attack is root canal treated teeth.
    • (False, It would be in most studies genetics and Obesity)
  • - Zirconia implants are the best option. 
    • (zirconium implants are an interesting topic but at the moment our research is too primitive to prove that they are viable long term) 
Conclusion:

Actual capture from the movie of supposed infected root canal. 
Essentially the rationale behind this documentary is that root canal are always infected and that this infected root canal can be associated with a ton of health problems like cancer, heart attacks, etc.  If we take out the word root canal in the documentary and replaced it with dental infections then this documentary is absolutely correct. When they showed the X-ray of the protagonist, it was shown that his root canal has been re-infected and was in need of treatment from a dental point of view.  The darker circle on the apex of the root shows an infection of the bone most likely due to a vertical root fracture. This tooth judging from the size of the lesion should have been treated a long time ago. 

 Image result for heart attack
It has been proven with lots of research from the American Dental Association and American Heart association that the same bacteria we find in the mouth ends up in the vessels of the heart. People with severe dental infections do have much higher risks of diseases like heart attacks and diabetes. In fact, everyone that is admitted to the hospital for a heart attack or admitted for major infections are required to have all of their bad teeth removed by the physician. Anyone who thinks that our teeth are not linked to the rest of our bodies is mis-informed. Please don't leave bad teeth in your mouth just because it doesn't hurt. The take away for this documentary is that dental infections including infected root canals are a significant health risk. Well completed and non-infected root canals are still a good option for giving our patients some extra time before their teeth needs to be removed. If you choose to believe in this holisitic approach of these dentists and physicians on the documentary that is your own choice just like vaccinating your children. You just need to be willing to accept the consequences that maybe teeth are not meant for you. 

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