Last Friday, I had five hours of oral surgery under general anaesthesia. I had my two root-canal teeth removed. I had read multiple books and papers on toxic dental practices, and had become convinced that root canals are UNIVERSALLY a terrible idea. I’d learned that the research of Weston A. Price, possibly the most well published dentist in history, showed that trapping fossilized dead teeth in the mouth causes the bacteria in the miles of dentin tubules to morph into some of the deadliest thioether organisms on the planet, and range the body, causing deadly auto-immune conditions and cancer.

I recommend Root Canal Coverup by George E. Meinig et. al. (a great synopsis of Price’s vast research), The Roots of Disease: Connecting Dentistry & Medicine by Drs. Kuacz and Levy (DDS and MD / JD); Toxic Dentistry Exposed by Drs. Munro-Hall; Uninformed Consent: The Hidden Dangers in Dental Care by Drs. Hal Huggins and Thomas E. Levy; Whole-Body Dentistry: A Complete Guide to Understanding the Impact of Dentistry on Total Health by Dr. Mark A. Breiner.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I’m an information and research junkie and consume a lot of info in a short period of time. About the time I discovered how root canals (not to mention mercury in amalgam fillings) are contributing to disease epidemics, I developed a blister on the outside of one of my root-canal teeth. The gums were a little sensitive.

And I just had this sense that my immune system was straining. I don’t know how to describe it, exactly. I still looked and felt healthy, still running and playing tennis and working long hours and traveling with intense schedules, without incident.

But I’ve become pretty attuned to minor phenomena in my body, in my quest to be as healthy as I can be. And I FELT that my immune system was under assault. Was I impressionistic because of everything I’d read? Maybe. I don’t have anything more compelling than the fact that I just felt like my immune system was revving, and maxed. That, and I had these weird rashes for a couple of months. Arms, legs, stomach.

It’s not easy to get in with Dr. Wall. He does a lot of meticulous research and planning before a major procedures, and I had to go for a few hours for many diagnostic procedures. Then my $7,000 day in his office included 14 procedures, including bone cavitation, putting a fibrin plug/clot of my own blood rich in adult stem cells in the wound, to help heal and to help bone fill in. Plus a bone graft for the zirconium implant I will get for the tooth in front, in six months.

(You can see that the front one of the two extracted teeth is missing only if I laugh really big. The two extracted were at the back, on the top.)

I planned to be down-and-out for a couple of days. In fact, the Friday of my procedure, I had to make a tough decision. My undefeated tennis team had gone to the State playoffs and won. I had to miss sectionals, against 5 other Western states’ top teams, to have my surgery. I didn’t want to cancel and wait two more months.

So I chose to have the surgery.

More tomorrow.