Hi, I’m Dr David Cowhig, founder of Dental Wellness. I’m here to talk to you today about the answers to some of the questions that we’re getting from a lot of patients about their root canal treated teeth. The question mark, are they affecting their health. Could they possibly be affecting their health and what should they do about it and how can they test. Is there a way of testing to see if their teeth are actually one, infected, and two, potentially affecting their health.
So when we look at the mouth, when we look for example, at looking at your gum health, if your gums are bleeding, then there’s a risk that you have already got a disease called periodontal disease. Now, periodontal disease is caused by a bacteria that causes the tissues to break down, but that bacteria has been linked to a number of chronic illnesses from arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and even some cancers as well. The bacteria has been linked to that.
So we already know that the bacteria that causes gum disease can have a profound effect on your health. Now if you have a wisdom tooth that’s semi-buried and it gets infected, if you’ve had one, it’s very painful. Often you get swelling, and you often feel very sick because that bacteria is having a profound effect systemically on your whole health. So again, we understand that that also the bacteria are getting into our blood system, and we often have to take antibiotics to try and resolve it and then have the tooth taken out carefully. So when you have a root filled tooth, you need to make sure there’s no infection at the end of that root filled tooth.
Now, a traditional single x-ray is only two dimensional. Therefore it really won’t sometimes show us if there’s a chronic infection present at the end of the roots. So the root filling may look fine, but if you have a three-dimensional x-ray with a Cone Beam x-ray, then we are able to see three dimensionally what’s going on at the end of and in between the roots. So we can get a clear picture to see if there’s any chronic infection. The bacteria in these chronic infections, they are sealed and their anaerobic bacteria, so they are far more virulent than the bacteria that cause gum problems, the bacteria that causes wisdom teeth problems. So they will have an effect on your health. So it’s important that they’re addressed seriously.
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].