Hi Gretchen,

To be blatantly honest with you.... your dentist does have MANY patients who have chronic sinus infections and other health conditions that are related to or exacerbated by their root canaled teeth. She just has yet to make the systemic connection... which when she does, she will have to alter her sales pitch on root canal therapy.

Most of my 35 yrs in dentistry as a chair side assistant and patient advocate ... whether it was welcomed by the dentist or not, the majority of the time I have been the one to point out the systemic risks with clear evidence via the patient complaints, their medical history and their radiographs .... pretty crazy huh~?? You would be flabbergasted at how uneducated many dentists really are when it comes to systemic health. That's why I always say.... all dentists should be medical doctors first.

Early in my career, I was fortunate to work several years for a periodontist who was a great teacher and he had a passion for pathology. He was into every detail of every aspect of his patients care and he understood the systemic health connection to oral health. He would feed me as much information as I wanted to learn... and I wanted to learn it all! What I learned from him, some others since then, and my professional experiences.. have changed my perspective on dentistry forever. I will continue to share what I know irrelevant of who likes it or doesn't like it..... I can see that dentistry is going to have to change it's antiquated ways of thinking because people are getting more confidence in questioning their dentists ... which is a great thing!!!

As for the oral infection and connection with the brain..... that's a no brainer! Sorry, I couldn't resist. That organ is only 3-4 inches from the mouth and shares countless bundles of nerves and blood vessels. Ask your dentist this question.... if the bacteria from our mouths can travel to our hearts, our lungs, our kidneys, artificial joint replacements.... which are all a lot further than 3-4 inches ... then how unlikely is it that the bacteria wouldn't travel to the brain?? The bacteria travels via the blood stream.... what there's no blood going to the brain??? I'll bet she will tell you that the oral infection wards itself off to just the tooth ... as you know first hand, this is definitely not true. But if it were true.... then how does it get to these other organs???? Be brave Gretchen.... ask her I got on my soapbox.... getting off now..

To find a new dentist is not an easy task. I would start with the IAOMT organization and see if there is someone not to far from where you live. You can pm me your location and I can try to help if you want... not sure I would know any more than what you would get from them though.

Thanks for having such an open mind about all of this... you have learned so much and totally get it!!

Bryanna