Over 15 years ago I had a root canal performed in one of my back molars. I never gave it a second thought until about 2 years ago when it got infected. ( That’s not entirely true — I had read about infected root canals in some of my nutrition studies. I had learned that problems in the mouth can lead to various health issues , especially issues related to the heart. However, I did not have these health issues, so life went on).
When it did get infected 2 years ago I looked into having it extracted. I consulted with a biological dentist who specializes in this sort of thing. It sounded like a long procedure and a very in depth process to extract the tooth, heal and then have a bridge put in. I decided I was not ready to go through that or lose the tooth so I had it “retreated”. This means that an endodontist goes into the canal and suctions out the infection and then reseals. This seemed , at the time, like a reasonable solution. What I wasn’t realizing was the the infection was not just in the canal, but all around the tooth.
Before my retreatment I had a bout of bronchitis that knocked me out for a week. I found this strange; I had never had bronchitis before. I was also noticing that my lymph nodes in my neck were constantly slightly swollen. I was starting to get a little concerned about the lymph nodes, but it ended there — concern. And life went on.
In February of this year I ended up with pneumonia. I did not realize I had pneumonia; I was a little more fatigued than usual, but did disregarded as maybe I was just a little run down from starting a new business and working out too much. I may not have known about the pneumonia for quite some time had it not been a horrible bout of vomiting ( which i attributed to food poisoning). After 3 days of vomiting i ended up in the ER. This is where they discovered pneumonia. Another strange thing going on with my lungs ; I had never had pneumonia before.
While laid up for 8 days I started researching how problems in the mouth affect your health. I found out that my retreated root canal tooth ( #18) is correlated with the lungs. Hmmmm… this was interesting! I also read that 100% of root canal teeth have large amounts of bacteria. This made sense to me ; understanding that a root canal tooth is a dead organ. The more research I did the more I wanted this tooth out of my mouth. I contacted that biological dentist to get the process going.
I was at the dentist’s office for almost 3.5 hours. When I arrived and was in the dental chair, the dental hygienist explained the process to me. I filled out some paperwork and they hooked up a small electrode device that apparently increases seratonin to relax me and took a few x-rays. The dentist came in to also explain what the next couple hours would entail and to numb the area. The actual extraction took a little while. My root was fused to the bone — it had been in there so long. I did not experience pain, but the pressure was uncomfortable. He cleaned the area with ozone to disinfect after removing the tooth. I was then stitched up, a temporary bridge was placed , and i was sent home. I go back in a few weeks to have a permanent bridge made.
There is 5 weeks allowed between appointments so the area heals. I have had no pain . The first 24 hours was a little uncomfortable, however, i needed no pain killers.
I wanted to have the tooth biopsied ( an extra charge) solely out of curiosity . I have attached the biopsy report. I am so glad I had this tooth removed!
If you read the report, above a 9 is cause for concern. I am above 9 on most of the bacteria! yikes