Hi cinnamongym,

I am re posting a thread that I wrote that explains what a root canal is and why the tooth remains infected irrelevant of the re treatment, including an apicoectomy.

But first let me address what that hard lump is..... since it is not draining, it is most likely a cyst that has formed in the bone and grown into the hard tissue. This is seen frequently with root canaled teeth because it is caused by the bacteria that has been residing in your root canaled tooth. Not just from the "missed canal", but from the microscopic canals that cannot be cleaned out. So the re treatment may have removed some dead nerve material from the missed canal, but it did nothing to access the microscopic ones. Therefore, the tooth will continue to be infected. An apicoectomy is a surgical root canal, it accomplishes the same thing that a re treatment does with the exception that the surgeon physically goes in and removes the cyst. One problem with this is... those microscopic canals are not accessible and they will continue to harbor infectious bacteria which will continue to proliferate and form cysts like you have now. Perhaps the biggest concern to be aware of is that the infection can spread to your sinuses or further. Also, what is this infected tooth doing to your immune system?

Here is that other thread .... gives very explicit information...

Root Canal Therapy..... What is it really???

A lengthy article, but well worth the read if you want to be well informed. It references experts such as Dr Weston Price, a Cleveland dentist who authored the book entitled Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and founded the Weston Price Foundation. He also wrote a textbook on root canals in 1922 which continues to upset the mindset of the ADA and others who advocate root canal therapy. Also, Dr Hal Huggins a Colorado dentist who is world renowned for his relentless efforts in public awareness about the toxicity of mercury fillings, etc. Just to name a few....

http://tuberose.com/Root_Canals.html

Here is just a tiny excerpt from the above site......

>>>>Leave the root canal or cavitation in the body, and there is the potential of creating an unwanted autoimmune or degenerative disease that could be life threatening. Toxins and bacteria can both leak from these contamination sites wreaking havoc with a person’s cardiovascular, endocrine, nervous and immune systems. The public needs to be informed, so they can make educated choices in the trade-off between toxic convenience and health.>>>>

>>>Shouldn’t we question the wisdom of supplying a haven for these microbes so close to our brain and circulatory system? Does this information validate the claims of “sterile” root canals? Dentists claim they can “sterilize” the tooth before forcing the gutta percha wax down into the canal. Perhaps they can sterilize a column of air in the center of the tooth, but is that really where the problem is? Bacteria wandering out of the dentinal tubules is what Price was finding, and what we were finding in the crushed tooth samples. But the problem doesn't end there. Huggins tested blood samples adjacent to the removed <root canaled> teeth and analyzed them for the presence of anaerobic bacteria. Approximately 400 percent more bacteria were found in the blood surrounding the root canal tooth than were in the tooth itself. It seems that the tooth is the incubator. The periodontal ligament supplies more food, therefore higher concentration of bacteria. But the highest pathological growth was in the bone surrounding the dead tooth. Looking at bacterial needs, there is a smorgasbord of bacterial nutrients present in the bone. This explains the tremendous increase in bacterial concentration in the blood surrounding the root canal tooth. Try sterilizing that volume of bone.>>>


Bryanna


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