Hi, I’m Dr. David Cowhig, founder of Dental Wellness. And I’m making this video today because we’re getting a lot of people asking about, if the root canal treated teeth in their mouth is having an effect on their health. Now this is quite a contentious subject, because the industry is doing everything it can to keep teeth in people’s mouths. They’re very important for the structure of your bite, for the structure of your head and neck. It’s very important to try and hold onto the teeth and that’s where we as a profession have aimed to try and save teeth. Now, if you have a root canal treatment or if you’re about to have one or you are deciding whether you need one or not, then there are a few things that you need to get to make an informed choice on what you’re going to do. If you go down the root canal treatment route, then I would suggest going to see an Endodontist that is a specialist who will do the best job possible to actually remove all of the bacteria from the inside of the tooth, often getting you out of pain as well, and have the tooth in a stable position so that you get many years of use of it. Now, there are occasions where when you have a tooth that needs root canal, if it has a chronic infection in it, the risk of the root canal not working and having a low-grade infection is higher. So if the dentist or specialist is using, some new technology with lasers, there’s a twin pulse laser technology, which actually pulses energy through the whole structure of the three dimensions of the roots of your teeth. And it wipes out all the bacteria, even beyond the tooth. So obviously that would be the ideal scenario to then seal the tooth, but even then you still have a dead tooth in your mouth.
So you may choose to not have that tooth in your mouth. And we’ve got to look at what are the options, and what you need to think about if you’re going to have the tooth removed. First thing, if you’re having a tooth removed, I would suggest having it removed by a holistic dentist. Now, holistic dentist takes the surgical removal very, very seriously and not only removes the tooth, but removes all the periodontal ligament that is often infected as well. The ligament, that’s the attachment of the root in the jaw and then removes all the infection as well. Often using ozone solutions to actually eradicate any bacteria and stimulate healing. And also the potential of actually using a thing called platelet-rich fibrin, which is from your own blood. So blood is taken on the day of surgery and spun in a centrifuge. And after five minutes of the cycle, the fibrin, which is your healing parts of the blood, which has got your growth factors, it’s got some stem cells, well that is separated and we put that to one side. And then once the tooth is removed, and all of the infections removed, then that platelet-rich fibrin is placed into the socket. So you get ideal healing, you get rapid healing, you get very little discomfort at all. And also very quick bone formation so that, the option of a ceramic implant down the track is a valid option.
Now, people question is this infected tooth, is this infected root filling having an effect on my health I feel fine. Now if you have gum problems and your gums bleed, then there’s a risk of gum disease. Now as a profession we understand that there’s a big link between the bacteria that causes gum disease and arthritis, heart disease, strokes, premature babies, a whole range of things that can occur because the bacteria in the mouth is having an effect on the whole circulation of the body and causing an inflammation in the body, which then will affect us in different ways. Now we take that for granted. Also, if you have an infected wisdom tooth, then often people get very sick when they have an infected wisdom tooth and they end up in a hospital because they’ve got a big swollen face. Now again, the nasty bacteria that caused those infections, are the similar bacteria that are around, an infected root filling. So if you have a tooth that is infected, then it certainly will be challenging you because the bacteria that are locked at the end of the roots and they’ve got no oxygen to live off so they’re anaerobic bacteria. They will be challenging your immune system all the time. So it’s important to have a look at an x-ray or have a dentist look at an x-ray and ideally maybe a cone beam x-ray, which gives a three dimensional picture of the tooth and the roots of the teeth so that we can see if there is infection in between the roots or at the end of the roots. And sometimes that doesn’t show up on a straightforward x-ray. So then you can then decide, is this going to be something that’s going to be successful going down the root canal treatment or, I need to think about removing that tooth.
Keep Smiling
It’s good for You!
Dr David Cowhig, the founder of the Dental Wellness clinics, is a pioneer in holistic metal free dentistry & aesthetics, providing scientific-based biological dentistry. We support you as an individual and take into account the variety of factors that can lead to dental and oral health problems. We believe passionately that creating health and beauty around us is an integral part of life and you will feel these qualities in our dental care. You can find us at The Gap in Brisbane, focussing on holistic aesthetic total metal-free dentistry.
Contact Dental Wellness on 07 3511 1399 or email: [email protected]