I bet that heading got your attention, it certainly got mine. There is more and more in the `alternative` press about the ill effects of root treatment – including cancer. The premise being that even the best endodontic treatment leaves unsealed micro-canals. The bacterial reservoir then becomes altered into `superbugs` that attack other parts of the body.
Researchers claim they were then able to transfer diseases harbored by humans to rabbits, by implanting fragments of root-treated teeth. They found that root fragments from a person who had suffered a heart attack, when implanted into a rabbit, would cause a heart attack in the rabbit within a few weeks. Further, they discovered that they could transfer more than 80 diseases by this method. Nearly every chronic disease in the medical dictionary has been linked with treated root canals, including:
- Heart disease
- Kidney disease
- Arthritis, joint, and rheumatic diseases
- Neurological diseases
- Autoimmune diseases
The cancer connection came when they `found` an extremely high correlation between root canal treatment and breast cancer. In particular, 93 percent of women with breast cancer had had endodontic treatment too. Tumors, in the majority of cases, occurred on the same side of the body as the treated teeth. They feel that root canal treatment may also explain why so many cancer patients are able to initially cure cancers with alternative cancer treatments, but the tumours keep coming back.
As professionals, we know that none of this meets the criteria for Evidence Based practice, but this flag is being picked up and flown by lay-people who are desperately looking for answers. It is so easy to make two plus two equal five when you want a five! In practice, I`ve been asked about this connection several times in the last year. These are really nice people, intelligent and inquisitive. I always give them the part-line on the effectiveness and safety of endodontic treatment, including an evidence-based prognosis for the tooth, and offer them the chance to think about it. I believe that everyone has a right to their own beliefs.
If you want to know more about this, try Googling `Weston Price`. If you are not familiar with his theories it makes interesting reading. He was also a dentist!
