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Removing Root-Canal Teeth: My Experience, And Why I Had It Done


Robyn Openshaw - Aug 29, 2012 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


standard imageLast 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 organisms on the planet, and range the body, causing deadly auto-immune conditions and cancer.

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, 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. Arms, legs, stomach.

I found a biological dentist to do the procedure. 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, which is 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.

The dentist dug out roots of my teeth all the way up into the jaw,  debrided the jaw bone of any decay, and did a bone graft. I have stitches not only over the place where teeth once were, but also up high in the gums, where the tips of the roots were. He also did some major work on the other side of my mouth, redoing fillings that date back many years, 14 individual procedures total, in 5 hours.

He found that amalgam was NOT entirely removed from my mouth 10 years ago. He dug out another chunk of it.  I am glad to have that done.

The dentist gave me IV Vitamin C during the procedure.  I am also using ACS and ACZ, to kill micro-organisms and safely remove them from the body.

I told the anaesthesiologist I wanted no benzodiazipenes.  He didn’t like that. He pitched me on using these “date rape” drugs. He said they would protect me from the memory of the traumatic surgery, and he said he would recommend them for his own loved ones.

(Of course he would—those who operate in drug use every day are very comfortable with them. I am always wary of advice from pharmacists, drug reps, and drug-intensive medical practitioners. They’re good people, but they come from a different planet than the one I come from, ‘nuff said. I’m glad they are there, when we need them, don’t get me wrong. But I think massive caution is needed, with drugs in general.)

I stood my ground. He used no benzo’s. And by the time I was driven home 90 minutes after surgery, I worked on my computer for the rest of the day and went to bed at the normal time and slept a normal amount, 6 hours. I felt fine and went first thing in the morning to Salt Lake to watch my tennis team play.

While I haven’t had any pain, I do feel bruised, and I basically now can’t chew on either side of my mouth very well yet. Fortunately I can drink lots of green smoothies and vegetable juices. I’m also drinking Rejuvelac every day. A good idea anyway, since I need to detox from the pleomorphic organisms that were trapped in what the dentist told me, post-surgery, were TWO failed root canals (did you know root canals only last about 10 years?  The dentist who did them had never told me). He said, “We knew the front tooth’s root canal had failed, from the imaging, but the roots of the back one that I dug out were decayed, too, through the jaw bone!”

I am so glad, now, that I had this procedure done.

It’s a little weird to be missing two teeth, not gonna lie. Americans are conditioned to keep our teeth, cosmetic concerns over health, at any cost. (I intend to value the cosmetic and functional aspects, too, by getting an implant to replace the front tooth.)

My main thought is, what a travesty to spend so much energy eating the right food, juicing and blending vegetables, traveling all over Kingdom Come teaching others about it…..and having deadly pleomorphic organisms mutating and moving all around my body, undoing the good work that nutrition, and my body’s defenses, were doing.

Undoubtedly right now, there are millions of white blood cells frantically neutralizing, cleaning up in my body. This is a critical time for me to acknowledge and honor the work my body has to do, to adjust to the insult and eliminate the toxic organisms undoubtedly circulating everywhere right now.

I am more committed now than ever, to good nutrition. I want to keep my teeth healthy! I don’t want to face more dental decay. We live longer than people did back when infectious disease and dreadful working conditions were rampant. And we’re vain as a culture. So we have to have beautiful, straight, white teeth for, what, 75 years or more?

Two nights after my surgery, I was with my family, parents and siblings, listening to all the dental problems we have—we aren’t great for teeth, most of us. Eating an alkaline, low-sugar diet now seems even more important than ever. We can’t eat a rich, acidic diet and expect to have pretty teeth till we’re old.

I once went to a famous national park in China, where more centenarians live than anywhere else in the world. The drive into the park is lined with 20’ tall photos of those in the province who are over 100 years old. They were all toothless, except a few who had one or two teeth. To an American, it looks comical. But at what cost do we fossilize the teeth in our mouth? There have to be ways to have a pretty smile and NOT fill our mouth with metal and pleomorphic bacteria. I believe your best shot at doing that is with a good biological dentist.

This isn’t me giving you advice to have your teeth pulled. This is me suggesting you may want to see a biological (holistic) dentist. They have departed from the protocols of dentistry’s “standard of care” because they observed and self-educated to understand how devastating what they WERE doing is, for their patients, and then they sought out additional training to practice in far more helpful, more holistic procedures.

Books to read about dental practices and biological dentistry:

standard imageI 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.

 

Posted in: Dental Health

25 thoughts on “Removing Root-Canal Teeth: My Experience, And Why I Had It Done”

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Robyn:

    I know this post is from long ago and you have written a lot about the root canals.
    Here is smth on the alternatives for the root canal treatment.
    Has anybody ever heard of depot-phoresis root canal treatment, which is cupric-calcium hydroxide endodontic treatment?
    I live in USA for 12 years and never heard it mentioned here by the dentists.
    I believe it originated in Germany more than a decade ago?
    I am not sure how it works exactly. I did receive the treatment once in Russia. I had to come to the dentist several times (maybe 7?) to get my root canals sterilized with the help of some device. They said this way they were able to reach down to those multiple tiny branches, where nothing else can get to. I believe this treatment is different from what the US dentists do. My dentists in Russia is still proud of this tooth, they did an X-ray 12 years later and everything is fine there. I realize everything about the trapped infections and bacteria etc. were discussing here, but thought maybe this depot-phoresis might be a more healthy approach to root canal fillings (if implants is not an option).

  2. Anonymous says:

    Robyn,
    thank you so much for posting this!!!!! I am going through the same thing and I didn’t know zirconium implants was even an option. They all seem to know titanium only! My oral surgery is next week. I will read all of your antimicrobial protocol very carefully and get what you recommend! Love you and follow you all the time!

  3. Sonna Berghaier says:

    Robin,

    if there is anyway I can contact you for more information, I would so appreciate it.

    I am having yet another surgery on Feb. 5, 2014 on an area with a dental implant problem that started 31 years ago, with the implant. I was ill for 16 years, then finally they decided it was not lupus, not rheumatoid arthritis, not fibromyalgia … but from the implant, which was taken out 15 years ago.
    And the problems continue …

    I need extensive info on oils to use, dentists, etc. This article is so helpful, but I am seeking more info and support.

    Sonna Berghaier

    1. Karen says:

      Hi Sonna, what symptoms did you have. I have had a root canal about 2 years ago but could not afford the crown. I have had ear ache on that side (was told my ears were red the other day by a doctor) and pressure inside my head on that side (it was bad enough for me not to be able to sleep on that side for a couple of nights). I am also really struggling with my energy levels and becoming very unmotivated which is not like me.

      I am confused because I was told that with a tooth that has had a root canal I should not be able to feel any pain in the tooth, yet I do have pain along the gum line at times. I am being told by the endodontist to use a desentising toothpaste but that is what they told me last time, and then they finally realised I needed a root canal. Ironically too, last time I had pain on the gumline and had ear ache and was overdosed on antibiotics by a G.P. who said it was sinus when I doubt it was.

  4. Sonna Berghaier says:

    Robyn,

    Realize I spelled your name incorrectly. Sorry … I had even noticed the spelling (retired teacher here) … and STILL spelled it wrong.

    I also would like to know who/where Dr. Wall is, if possible. I know I need help. Am having some major problems still. Thankful for the oils!

    Sonna

  5. Theresa Hall says:

    Hi Robyn, Theresa here from Miami.. I was just wondering how long you had your 2 root canal teeth before you pulled them? And I would love to here an update how your feeling now since having them pulled. I believe I read all your posts on your dental journey, but I don’t remember if you ever mentioned how long you had them for. I have 4 myself and I’m only 30, have some health issues that I think I have done everything to get better but still sick. This is the road I am going to take now.. removing my root canal teeth so all your posts on this subject are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

    1. Robyn says:

      Theresa, I had one root canal for 10 years, and the other for 2 years. Both had failed. Since then, I’ve been on an 18 month journey to implants, and it has been long, and expensive, and not fun. I’m still IN IT, so nothing to say but….I’ll let you know later, I guess. Three implants, one failed, bone grafts, and the two successful ones will have crowns in a month, finally. The failed one at least 8 months behind it. Some biological dentists feel implants of ANY kind invite auto-immune problems (due to those pleomorphic organisms). So, pick your poison? Failed canals are, to me, the clearest thing to avoid. I’m going to be doing some other research in the next year.

      1. Theresa Hall says:

        Thank you so much, i look forward to your research!

      2. Anna says:

        Robyn, I’m trying to decide what to do about a tooth- I have two crowns next to each other, the teeth are separating (due to an oral appliance) leading to a "food trap". I was having a lot of pain, it turns out the root canal tooth has a large pocket of infection. It’s actually isn’t hurting again, I’ve had a nice break from that,. but I know it’s there. And I have been getting rashes on my neck, so I feel like that’s where my immune system is dropping the ball). My biometric dentist (not biological) (Dr. Noot, he’s in the same area as your person) suggested removing the tooth and root canal and doing an implant. I guess the main question is- will the implant invite an autoimmune problem??? My nine year old and my sister both have an autoimmune disease, I have the genes, and honestly my body has been acting like it has an autoimmune issue ("flares", fatigue, brain fog), so this is a big concern for me.

  6. A says:

    Hi Robyn. Yours is a decision that I must make soon. I am having a root canal pulled in three weeks followed by an immediate placement of a zirconia implant. I am not without my fears of the implant itself. May I ask what the cause of failure was? And how has healing been? Thank you for sharing your research.

    1. Robyn says:

      I think cause of failure was that my upper mandible didn’t have enough bone. Bone graft needed. Which we did. So, another 6 month wait. Then re-implant. None of it is fun! Good luck to you!

      1. Penny says:

        Robyn~curious as to what type of bone graft is best.I have to have a feww teeth removed and a sinus lift done.Can you point me in the direction of some good info on what type of bone graft is best.Many thanks.

        1. Carol says:

          Just wondering if you have had this procedure done as yet. I too need the same once they remove the root canal tooth. Thanks Carol

        2. Nicole says:

          I wish I’d read this before I went to have my dental implant journey started. I had the root canal tooth removed that had had a crown with lots of decay under it unnoticed til it fell off. They did the graft and stitched up all in under an hour with local anesthesia. They also prescribed prophylactic antibiotics. Now I have 2 follow ups and then s bedding the implant. Is it too far along to try any alternative methods? Will another dentist do a zirconium implant? I need to read up on titanium in the body. Thanks for bring this all to light.

  7. Inna says:

    Hi, Is your tooth still OK. Can you tell us how to get in touch with your dentist. Thank You!!

  8. Sue says:

    So good to read this! My dentist wanted me to crown a “cracked below the gumline” back molar. Had been cracked for 5 years,and I was having occasional pain. He advised me to have the crown, then if it didn’t work, I could have a root canal. I already knew I didn’t want a root canal, and asked for a second opinion. I said to just pull the tooth. Why spend the money for a crown, then a root canal and possibly lose the tooth, anyway? He was the only one to profit (financially). The endodontist sided with me and said, with a crack below the gumline, it was probable that the crown wouldn’t work, nor the root canal, and he would opt for pulling the tooth. Mind you, he wasn’t the one who would be pulling the tooth, so had nothing to gain from the advice. Because I have some other issues, I had to go to an oral surgeon to have the tooth extracted. He was wonderful! Agreed with my decision to pull it, and said (unlike my dentist) that I would not have any difficulty with my remaining teeth “falling” down since I wouldn’t have the tooth there to oppose it. Turned out there was quite a bit of decay and bone loss! from the decay. I am sooooo glad I had the tooth removed and not a root canal. I have had composite fillings when I needed amalgam ones replaced, and a gold crown (it was cheaper in the long run). Also, I’ve read that if you have any heart conditions such as valve problems, you don’t want dental infections because they can affect your heart. ….. Another reason to keep your mouth healthy! Thanks, Robyn, for keeping us informed of the “other side” of the story! Really appreciate it!

  9. Ann Greene says:

    How do I find a holistic dentist in my area? Thanks much

  10. luciano lorenzo says:

    hello everyone am here to share my testimony on how my daughter was saved from tooth pain
    and tooth decay it all started as a joke when she was complaining that she had problems on chewing i thought it was a
    minor problem until it got so very bad to the extent she couldn’t sleep i contacted my doctor they tried their possible best
    and they came up with an idea that her tooth should be removed i didn’t buy the idea i kept on searching for a cure
    until i came across a dentist called doctor Brian K.Oleksy i contacted him and he told me there is a way to treat my daughter
    tooth decay without removing them so i was convinced by what he said we should get when my daughter used the mouth wash that
    was attached to what we ordered, to my greatest sup priced huge worm came out from my daughters tooth it’s now 4 weeks
    now my daughter can sleep fine now without pains am grateful to doctor Brian K.Oleksy for giving my daughter another chance to live fine. I contactend him with the below email address and phone number and i got the medication here in USA Texas within 48hours. Email address: dr.brian.k.oleksy96@gmail.com add on whatssap or call +15183519824 and get it.

  11. Lilja Baldursdottir says:

    Hi,
    Thank you for good information.
    I have infected root canals and amalgam fillings in my mouth.
    I live in Iceland and there is no biological dentist here.
    Could you give me the name of the one you used please?

    Looking forward to hear from you.
    Best regards,
    Lilja Baldursdottir

    1. Louise says:

      Hi Lilja,

      I had my almagalms removed in a 1/4 of my teeth to see how strong etc they were before committing to getting all of my almagalms replaced. What I can say is that the composite that they put in was much softer so when I bit into things at times it hurt my teeth on that side.

  12. gisela says:

    Robyn, I need 2 root canal molars pulled and the biological dentist says most dont use anesthesia and just use pain meds and I freaked out and said no way! Would you ever consider doing it without general anesthesia? I know its a couple thousand more however I do not want to feel anything and be awake for this! Has anyone else went through this without anesthesia? Also, I dont want a bridge and ruin any of my surrounding good teeth so I may just go with missing teeth, one back molar and the one directly above it. I have heard conflicting theories about them shifting. What have you been told?

    1. Helen Katy Support says:

      Gisela, Thanks for writing in and I’ve been exactly where you are now – I had four(4) teeth removed and had big decisions on how exactly best to approach to use holistic methods as much as possible.

      I would never have general anesthesia to remove a root canal tooth unless I was also having a bunch of other work done and the dentist really insisted on it. general anesthesia comes with many health risks of its own. you can feel quite numbed and relaxed, with nitrous oxide and injected novocaine or lidocaine.

      I had implants, not bridges to replace the space. By choosing to not have anything, you might risk your teeth moving and shifting quite a bit over time which could impact your bite in your later years. Certainly, ask your dentist’s opinion on the best route to go. If you decide on implants, we highly recommend zirconium, not titanium.

  13. Kimberly a Rolon says:

    Hi Robyn. Would mind sharing any updates with the dental implants? Im thinking about it but would have to get my root canal taken out and I have a very thin gum line. Thank you and hope all is well.

    1. Beth says:

      wishing she would reply to you.

      1. Mary M says:

        Hey Beth,

        Hoping there is more info here somewhere. Timely topic for me here. Learned about sinus dropping, which I was told I’ve got. And I’ve got 10 root canals. If I only had 2 I would be sailing through this. Awaiting the plan for my “complicated” case.

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