The Effects of Root Canals

The Effects of Root canals – adapted from the work of Dr. Weston Price, DDS

Dr. Weston Price, a renowned dental research specialist, observed many patients with crippling degenerative diseases who did not respond to treatment. He suspected infected root canal teeth to be the culprit. He developed a testing method that revealed the presence of infection in a tooth. By implanting a root-filled tooth from a patient under the skin of a laboratory animal, usually a rabbit, he found that in almost every case the animal would develop the same disease as the patient, lose weight, and often times die. Later, Dr. Price found he could embed small pieces of the root instead of the entire tooth, or pulverize the teeth and inject the powder and cause the same results. Eventually, he found he could culture the bacteria found in a root-filled tooth and inject the toxins from it into the laboratory animal and reproduce the disease from the toxins alone. It is important to note that when he implanted sterile objects or uninfected natural teeth, such as those removed for orthodontics, no adverse health effects resulted.

Dr. Price found many types of degenerative diseases, including endocarditis, other heart diseases, kidney and bladder diseases, arthritis, rheumatism, mental diseases, lung problems, and other degenerative diseases, could be transferred to laboratory animals. He also found that a large percentage of patients recovered from their illnesses after the root-filled teeth were extracted.

The primary bacteria in root canals found by Dr. Price included streptococcus, staphylococcus, and spirochetes. In addition Price discovered that the bacteria that caused the infection penetrated most of the dentin tubules and were not destroyed during the supposed sterilization process during root canal therapy. They also exhibited the following properties:

• Bacteria were poly-morphic, in other words they changed form.

• They thrived in the absence of oxygen.

• Bacteria become more virulent and the toxins more poisonous.

• They are not only present in the tooth but also the adjacent jaw bone.

After reviewing the scientific literature, Price found information about blood changes that occurred in patients with root canals to be nonexistent, so he took it upon himself to conduct extensive blood studies of patients and animals to determine the side effects of root canals. After performing thousands of tests, he found the following results:
* Lymphocytes (white blood cells – immune cells) increased in humans and increased 58% in rabbits.
* Polymorphonuclear leukocytes, a form of white blood cells, decreased in humans and in animals to 33% less than normal.
* Hemoglobin changed very little, either up or down.
* Hemophilia, a tendency to hemorrhage, occurred frequently in rabbits.
* Increased amounts of sugar were found in the blood.
* In some rabbits, high amounts of ionic calcium were found, but in most rabbits, calcium was lower, resulting in 15-20 different pathologic conditions.
* There was increased uric acid and nitrogen retention.
* Alkaline reserves decreased, resulting in acidosis.
* Some patients and all animals lost weight.
This particular study involved 667 rabbit inoculations.
There are several basic problems with root canals:
1) Inability to sterilize dentinal tubules,
2) Inability of root-canal filling material to completely fill and seal all canals and seal the tip of the root, and
3) Inability to sterilize the bone around the infected tooth.

Price stated that sterilization procedures and root-filling materials did not need to be perfect if the patient's immune system was adequate to meet such challenges. His statistics demonstrated that about 30% of those individuals who had root canals had strong enough immune systems to control the bacteria and remain in good health until these "healthy" individuals suffered a severe accident, case of the flu, pregnancy, breastfeeding, excessive worry, grief, or some other "stress" that overwhelmed their immune system to such an extent it could no longer control the toxins and bacteria coming from the root or teeth. Then they often developed a degenerative disease.
The organisms that cause dental infections generally do not attack specific organs or tissues as do bacteria that cause measles, mumps, smallpox, etc. When dental infections seem to target a specific set of tissues or organ, usually that tissue is already compromised, and the patient is experiencing difficulties in that tissue or has experienced prior difficulties. We should therefore be looking to improve the overall health in the body while at the same time taking measures to prevent tooth decay.


After conducting thousands of blood and saliva experiments on human and animals to determine the causes of tooth decay, Dr. Price discovered the two basic causes of tooth decay were:
1) The changing of the acid-base balance of the saliva from its normal alkaline status to one of acidity and
2) The lowering of the ionic calcium levels in both the blood and the saliva.
Unfortunately, many dentists today are pushing the use of flourine to prevent dental caries and have failed to see that the tooth decay process is systemic, not just local in nature. They often do not understand that the acidity of the saliva and lower calcium values result from the ingestion of white flour products, sugar, refined grains and other similar products.
Although the hope is that in the future we will be able to eradicate infection in dentin tubules, disinfect surrounding bone, and be able to safely save teeth, the prevention of tooth decay and periodontal disease should be our immediate and primary goal. This can be achieved through a change in lifestyle and dietary habits. Some recommendations include:
1) Eliminate white flour, refined grains and sugar from the diet.
2) Do not drink commercial fruit juice
3) Take a full-spectrum mutli-vitamin/mineral complex
4) Fresh fruits and vegetables should comprise most of the diet as these serve to alkalinize the body.
5) A quality calcium supplement might be useful.

Additional resources:
See www.rooted.tv for a 1 hour documentary including references