The Dangers of Root Canals and the Alternatives to Root Canal Therapy

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1. Richmond Hill Dentist said:

   I extreme as your opinion about root canals are, there is some truth to it. It is true that some root canals fail leading to potentially serious infection.

   May 13th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
2. Dr. Marvin said:

   Thanks for posting. I wouldn’t call our views “extreme.” We simply don’t recommend the procedure. In cases in which we’ve extracted, we’ve found countless mistakes, infections, etc. Some patients had symptoms from the infections, others did not. Some patients felt immediate relief after an infected root canal was removed, others felt the same. While it may be a time-honored procedure that’s approved by the ADA, it’s just not a safe procedure when it’s so frequently done incorrectly (and plenty of research has shown that it’s impossible to completely disinfect the tooth prior to treatment, which only increases the odds of problems down the road).

   I’ll post some pictures of some of the root canals we’ve extracted in our office later today. Most were recommended to simply have the tooth retreated as a “solution” to the problem. I just believe that if we all took a step back and looked at the work that we were doing from the patient’s standpoint — and at the potential short and long term side effects of our procedures, we could revolutionize dentistry an help millions of people in the process.

   May 14th, 2010 at 8:24 am
3. Dr. Marvin said:

   Here’s a link to the post I promised with infected root canal teeth: http://naturaldentistry.us/1676/why-are-root-canals-bad/

   May 14th, 2010 at 10:36 am
4. Sanja Cooklin said:

   Thanks for talking about this sensitive issue, Dr. Marvin. I own a copy of the phenomenal book “Root Canal Cover-Up” by Dr. George Meinig (one of the 19 founding members of the root canal association). It changed my life!

   At the age of 40, I opted to have my two root canal treated teeth (numbers 12 & 13) pulled instead of re-building one of them that I broke accidentally. My dentist thought I was crazy and was trying to persuade me to “save my teeth”. However, the X-rays revealed a “dental pathology” just above those teeth and I knew all along that something was wrong there b/c of the constant uncomfortable feeling in my cheek…

   Long story short, the teeth came out, and within a couple of weeks I realized that my 10-yr. long ordeal with terrible, unexplainable pain in my knees disappeared and never came back! Incidentally, I got those root canals 10 and 15 years ago.

   My knees used to hurt so much, that there were days when I’d literally crawl around the house! I even had some lab testing done for an early onset of arthritis in the past and it came back negative.

   Just sharing my story…

   July 16th, 2010 at 4:52 am
5. Malou Medrano said:

   Thanks for boldly making a stand. I agree with you on the dangers of having a root canal filled tooth in the mouth. My question now is, how do you treat a cuspid that was diagnosed to be candidate for root canal therapy? Wouldn’t it cause more problems if you extract it, being a “corner” tooth? Implants are not one of the best options around either.

   August 17th, 2010 at 8:43 am
6. Dr. Marvin said:

   You’re exactly right. It’s really on a case-by-case basis. We would take a 3D Cone Beam scan so we can see what your bone looks like and what the surrounding teeth look like. We would see how your bite aligns. Once we had all the information we could gather, we would look to see what the best option would be for you. But typically, the options are implants, bridges, or removable dentures.

   August 17th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
7. Dr. Marvin said:

   Thank you so much for sharing your story. Obviously, your experience isn’t “typical”, but it really isn’t atypical, either. I’m thrilled to hear that your pain is gone. No matter what the cause, no one should be forced to live through pain day in and day out.

   Congrats on your improved health and thanks for sharing your story!

   August 17th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
8. Dejan said:

   One of my friend has a lot of problem with his teeth. He had an awfull knee pain he couldn’t get rid off. After the root canal treated tooth got worse they extracted it from his jaw. One week later he was pain free.

   I now read about all this, and i look at my X ray. I have a root canal on my first upper right molar.

   My health problems are- light knee and hip pain, stomach, esophagus, larynx, otolarynx,thyroid

   I look at the tooth organ meridian chart to see if any connection exist and the tooth is connected to:

   knee,hip,stomach,esophagus,larynx,otolarynx,thyroid

   Coincidence? I think not!

   Problems started some 6-7 years ago

   When did i do the root canal? About 7-8 years ago.

   Should i mention that no medicine helped me. I tried tradicional Chinese, ayurveda, functional, homeopaty, chiropractors.. Nothing!

   January 31st, 2011 at 2:54 am
9. ELnita Fennell said:

   I currently have either one or two teeth on my lower right side in the far back that the dentist is saying I must have a root canal and another crown put on them. I have not had a positive experience with dentist. Every time I allow a procedure, later I feel worst. I am a holistic person in how I eat and what I put into my body; so, I do not want a root canal or another crown. I asked for the tooth to be pulled and the dentist would not hear it. I am currently taking food hydrogene peroxide and probiotics. I find it very hard to locate a dentist in the Cedar Park or Austin, Texas area that has the same views as your website. Can you recommend one?

   September 16th, 2011 at 4:02 am
10. Crystal said:

    Hi Dr. Marvin,

    I had a root canal done on my molar, tooth 19 and now it needs to be extracted. Would it be possible to have braces put on my lower teeth to pull the end tooth that I don’t really use to fill in the gap? Thanks for your insight!

    October 23rd, 2011 at 10:43 am
11. Crystal said:

    …I should add, I wanted to get braces anyway, and was looking into 6 month braces to correct a gap in my front teeth. I don’t want to spend my entire budget on one tooth and one implant. Thx

    October 23rd, 2011 at 10:46 am
12. Pete W. said:

    I read “Root Canal Coverup” long ago–after getting my first root canal 10 yrs ago. I now have two. Both times the pain was intolerable and I held off as long as possible. Here is what you need to do to convince people not to get root canals: have people who have gotten root canal teeth extracted talk a lot more about how much better off they were after the extraction and HOW do you deal with no tooth if it is also bad not to have an impant? I can’t stand it when I have to have a temp on a tooth being crowned…can’t imagine that I could stand having a whole bit molar missing! I’m a vegan and need to chew a lot. As soon as one tooth is the slightest bit “off” during dental work, my whole mouth hurts when I try to chew. How do you stay healthy if you have teeth missing? Liquify all your food in a blender? Yuch! When I had temps I would grind up my spinach and such in a food processor to get it small enough to swallow with little chewing, but HATED it. Goopy gloppy awful, not enjoyable at all. I hate having the root canals and worry about the effects, and use a lot of vitamin C, antimicrobial herbs like olive leaf, immune boosting herbs as needed, etc. but would consider removing them more than I have IF I had a lot more support from those who have done so, AND if I had a dentist here covered by my insurance who specialized in this (holistic)–the ones we’ve talked to under our network refuse to consider extracting a root canal unless the tooth is causing too much “trouble” (in their definition of trouble) and then I wonder if they would do it the right way to clean it out the way the Root Canal Coverup author recommended. My wife has had 2 or 3 root canals and one was recently extracted after they tried to repair a broken down crown but couldn’t do it–that doctor prescribed her clindamycin which is a sometimes deadly antibiotic with often permanent disabling after effects! After over a year she is dying to get an implant–she has one from over 8 years ago that she likes–but I know you also say these are bad… BUT… then WHAT is the ALTERNATIVE?!!! Going without teeth is MISERABLE. I watched your video above because it said it would give alternatives–sorry, but just extraction with no coaching to support that one can get along w/o the tooth is not a meaningful or convincing alternative!

    February 21st, 2012 at 11:38 am
13. Pete W. said:

    PS: See a typo up there: BIG molar, not “bit” molar… I have had serious painful trigeminal issues that could be related to these root canals but it occurred to me, couldn’t all the other deep fillings be almost as likely to harbor serious focal infections and also cause this kind of thing? Ironically, my trigeminal autonomic cephalgia and trigeminal neuralgia attacks were really bad UNTIL I had my 2nd root canal, then they stopped for a number of months. Perhaps related more to the anaesthetic somehow interrupting a pain feedback loop or something? I don’t know. Anyway, I do understand the tooth in a root canal is dead, where the others are not, but with tremendous insult to the structure I would think similar problems could occur. I had all my silver/mercury amalgams removed almost 20 years ago when I found a very courageous dentist here who was willing to do this, and most of my restorations that he did are still intact. He was amazing. He was hounded out of the practice by the licensing board in Minnesota for failing to toe the line. I felt much better in most ways after getting rid of those awful things. But wouldn’t be surprised if the TN and TAC are from mercury. Trying chlorella and modified citrus pectin to try to gradually reduce my mercury deposits but seems it would take several lifetimes to get much of it out!

    February 21st, 2012 at 11:47 am

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