Mercury -Toxicity and Root Canal Treatment

Root canal therapy refers to the process by which a dentist treats the inner aspects of a tooth, specifically that area inside a tooth that is occupied by its "pulp tissue." Most people would probably refer to a tooth's pulp tissue as its "nerve." While a tooth's pulp tissue does contain nerve fibers it is also composed of arteries, veins, lymph vessels, and connective tissue. Many people including practitioners often overlook the fact that teeth are a large part of health and disease. An average individual has at least eight amalgam fillings and could absorb up to 120 micrograms of mercury per day from their amalgams. In comparison, absorption of mercury from fish and seafood is 2.3 micrograms! Although mercury is a naturally occurring metallic element, numerous human activities including the use of dental fillings, contribute 70 percent of emissions into the environment.

Mercury is a toxic metal and even the most minute amount damages cells. Mercury is a persistent, bioaccumulative toxin that poses a risk to human health, wildlife and the environment. Dental offices are the largest single contributor of mercury to waste water. One indication of mercury toxicity is the lack of response to care in which an individual has symptoms which don't necessarily indicate a specific disease, but are troubling and have been resistant to healing attempts including medicinal and surgery. There are a number of scenarios in which the teeth and the way dentists work with the teeth can play a role in disease. There is such an array of symptoms and conditions that are attributed to heavy metal toxicity that it can be confusing both to a patient and the practitioner. In such cases, metal toxicity should be on the list of suspicions.

Regular dentists often use the most economical metals for dental procedures such as mercury silver, tin, copper, and a trace amount of zinc for fillings, implants, crowns, root canals and implants. It is recommended to see a biological dentist who will do a compatibility report to determine not only which dental metals are compatible with the patient’s system, but it stems to the extent even to that of denture adhesive compatibility as well! For example, if a patient has a reaction to cheap jewelry which often contains nickel, she have sensitivity to this metal and she may not knowingly have dental work consisting of nickel so her teeth and gums are in a constant state of allergic reaction. A simple probing test done by a biological dentist will inform her of such a situation. Most people mistake that bleeding gums/sensitivity is a result of possible harsh brushing when in actuality; it is a sign of metal problems and will lead to severe gum disease.

Classic signs of gum disease are bleeding upon brushing or flossing the teeth, red and swollen gums, and bad breath. Unhealthy gums recede and allow plague to reach the root of the tooth, which is the cause of tooth decay, tooth loss and even root canals. Gum disease is another vehicle in which bacteria can spread throughout the body. Metal problems lead to health problems and often, physicians don't relate the two. Root canals are actually dead teeth. It is one, if not the worst, source of chronic bacterial toxicity which is another root of disease. Teeth are commonly left dead in gums (root canal) despite requiring a blood supply, lymphatic, venous drainage and nervous innervations.

When a regular dentist performs a root canal procedure, the nerve from the main canals are removed, however they do not have access to the microscopic side canals, which have dead nerves left behind in those spaces. In these side canals, anaerobic bacteria thrive and excrete toxicity from digesting necrotic (dead) tissue which leads to chronic infections. Blood supply and lymphatics which surround root canals drains this toxicity and allows it to spread throughout the body. This toxicity will invade all organ systems and can lead to a plethora of diseases such as autoimmune diseases, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, cancers, musculoskeletal diseases, irritable bowel diseases, depression and a host of many other problems associated with toxicity. A biological dentist takes care to ensure that not only the main canals but the thousands of side canals and miles of nerves are also removed. Though to date, there is no test to measure the actual heavy metal burden inside a human body, but there are tools to evaluate detox protocol.