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Why I had my root canal tooth extracted

April 9, 2019 Julie Evans-Vitale

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

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