Hi erinbard,

You are correct in that every root canaled tooth has some degree of a infection percolating inside of the tooth. There are several reasons why this occurs but the easiest to understand has to do with the inability to remove all of the nerve tissue from inside of the tooth. The only canals in the tooth that can be debrided of infected nerve tissue are those that are visible and large enough to get into. This leaves the microscopic canals untouched. These canals are called dentin tubules and there are many many hundreds of them in every single tooth. They are too tiny and too irregular for instruments, lasers or medications to get inside of them. So the nerve tissue inside of these canals remains there after the rc procedure is done. Nerves require blood to thrive and be healthy. The rc procedure severs the blood vessel that use to supply the tooth with blood. This leaves these nerves trapped inside these spaces without nourishment. The nerves die quickly and inflammation and bacteria take hold of the contents. It is only a matter of time before the contents become infectious, overwhelms the tiny canals and spills out beyond the tooth. That is the infection that is being picked up on the radio-graph. So to be clear, the infection is not just at the end of the tooth in the bone, it is also inside of the tooth in those tiny canals. I will post a diagram of the anatomy of a tooth for you to see what they look like.

Depending on the individual case, some people will have pain with an infected tooth while others do not. It depends on the on the infection and the persons immune system. So pain is not a good indicator of the severity of the problem.

Dentists know about the trapped nerve tissue inside of the dentin tubules but there is nothing they can do to remove it. Some dentists most of whom practice conventional dentistry proclaim without biological evidence that the nerve tissue just dies and the body miraculously takes care of it. Much research and evidence has proven that to be false and even just in common practice it is typical to see time and time again the proliferation of bacteria from inside the tooth spread beyond the tooth into the jaw bone. The consequences of a long term jaw bone infection can be permanent bone loss and sometimes that can lead to a stubborn bone infection called a osteonecrosis and osteomyelitis. Other concerns have to do with systemic (whole body) health as any virulent chronic infection in the mouth can travel to other areas of the body through the vascular system.

The only means of trying to eradicate the infection is to remove the source of the infection and that is the tooth. Irrelevant of what procedure is done to the tooth and/or the bone to lesson the infection the tooth will remain infected. These are the things a dentist should be informing you about so that you can make a decision based on what you believe to be in your best interest. However many dentists, in particular those who still practice conventional dentistry, prefer not to get delve too much into this information because root canals are a big part of their livelihood and they also don't acknowledge the systemic correlation of retaining a moderately infected tooth and how it will affect the rest of the body. It is also never easy to tell someone that the only choices they have is to do a root canal which is essentially keeping an infected tooth for an uncertain amount of time... or extract the tooth which means to remove the problem but then the tooth may need to be replaced.

If you decide to have the tooth remove, it is best to see an oral surgeon for the removal as they are more experienced in removing infected teeth. It is also wise to let the surgeon know that you want a very thorough extraction to be sure that all diseased tissue and bone is removed to help prevent post op complications. I know that sounds silly to have to say that to a dentist but it is better to have your concerns made clear than to make an assumption that someone will just automatically do their best.

I have given you a lot of information that you may or may not have been aware of previously. Don't let is scare you into any decision. You can do your own research on google.... type in Dr Mercola and root canals as a start.

Here is the diagram. The dentin tubules are marked and show as brown lines throughout the dentin of the tooth.

Bryanna

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