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lol do root canals cause cancer?

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  • FireOpalCO
    FireOpalCO Posts: 641 Member
    euronorris wrote: »

    Speak for yourself! I had to have one once whilst the tooth was still infected (only way to clear some of the infection and relieve the pressure). The infection meant that the anaesthetic didn't work (they administered as much as they could). I white knuckled that root canal and silently cried the whole time. It was the WORST pain I have EVER felt! Worse than labour, worse than a C-section recovery, worse than slicing my finger open, accidentally taking my thumbnail off, breaking fingers or toes etc. Having the root of a tooth drilled, when the anaesthetic doesn't work, is unlike any other pain. It's a whole other level!

    I also had one where the anesthetic wasn't working. The doctor said "we can give you an antibiotic prescription and reschedule you and hope that helps, or we can keep going and I'll just keep applying anesthetic as I go and hope." I picked keep going. It was incredibly painful but I could breath through it and knew it was going to end eventually (fear makes pain worse).

    For me childbirth was worse, but I was induced after coming through the ER and then the anesthesiologist was yanked away for an emergency c-section and we weren't sure IF she was coming back. The nurse patting your head going "you're first honey, just hold on" helped, but I never wanted my mommy so bad.
  • 33gail33
    33gail33 Posts: 1,155 Member
    euronorris wrote: »
    Root canals are not that bad it is afterwards that is a pain, getting a crown, the crown prep is worse than the root canal imho.

    Speak for yourself! I had to have one once whilst the tooth was still infected (only way to clear some of the infection and relieve the pressure). The infection meant that the anaesthetic didn't work (they administered as much as they could). I white knuckled that root canal and silently cried the whole time. It was the WORST pain I have EVER felt! Worse than labour, worse than a C-section recovery, worse than slicing my finger open, accidentally taking my thumbnail off, breaking fingers or toes etc. Having the root of a tooth drilled, when the anaesthetic doesn't work, is unlike any other pain. It's a whole other level!

    Uggh this happened to my son when he was 6 (his enamel didn't form properly so he got deep cavities as soon as the molars came in.) The dentist kept telling me that his mouth was frozen and he couldn't feel anything he was just acting up. I ended up stopping the procedure and going to a pediatric specialist who explained that the infection meant he could feel the pain, and who did he work under anesthetic. He ended up with a dental phobia and still (at 29) gets knocked out for all work he has done. Stupid dentist.
  • icemom011
    icemom011 Posts: 999 Member
    edited March 2019
    Those poor souls that endured horrible pain because of root canals, big hugs to you and your kids. Sounds awful. I myself had many when i was younger, should have done better job, but i wasn't just getting the message. Usually i would be too tired at night and fall asleep and sometimes skip brushing. That was enough to cause expensive damage. It finally clicked, so much happier now. But, back to the OP, my father-in-law has this belief that OP was talking about. When he brought it up, i thought how can an intelligent person think that? Ugghh. But to be fair, he has many weird notions that he believes, like colloidal silver is cure for everything including cancers, and how one must keep body alcaline to be free of any disease, there's much more not related to the topic, si i will leave it out, hehe. My understanding, is that this idea comes from people who believe that medicine and science as a whole is a big cover up for pharmaceuticals and doctors to make money and try to keep you ok enough, but conceal the cure even if available so you continue to pay bills? Basically, if you have a root canal issue, there's an infection but the antibiotics won't be able to clear it completely, leaving it in your body to keep on poisoning you. For the sake of the discussion here, i don't support any of those notions, i think if done correctly root canal is the way to go, and to be honest, if not and there's infection left, you would know because there will be signs. At which point you go back to the dentist and get it corrected. It all boils down to having a good, knowledgeable, honest doctor. And yes, they're out there, lol.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    Longevity "causes" cancer.
  • Tamie_Girl
    Tamie_Girl Posts: 218 Member
    Get this -- my husband is 67 and never goes to the dentist. But after every meal and even snack, he grabs a toothpick and cleans, cleans, cleans. He spends a lot of time cleaning his teeth with a toothpick -- he brushes once a day. He doesn't trust dentists. He said he went to a dentist once and didn't like him. He did have his wisdom teeth pulled about 15 years ago, but never has had a cleaning. I've started grabbing a toothpick now most of the time... especially when I see him doing it.
  • kds10
    kds10 Posts: 452 Member
    Tamie_Girl wrote: »
    Get this -- my husband is 67 and never goes to the dentist. But after every meal and even snack, he grabs a toothpick and cleans, cleans, cleans. He spends a lot of time cleaning his teeth with a toothpick -- he brushes once a day. He doesn't trust dentists. He said he went to a dentist once and didn't like him. He did have his wisdom teeth pulled about 15 years ago, but never has had a cleaning. I've started grabbing a toothpick now most of the time... especially when I see him doing it.

    My H is the same way, he will go once a year for a cleaning like I do but does not brush nearly as much as I do yet he has had less trouble with his teeth than I have. He has had no more than two root canals I have had at least double that amount plus other issues.

    I have started to not panic and rush and do everything the moment something goes wrong with one of my teeth unless pain is involved of course but..i.e. I have a crowned tooth that needs to come out and I need to get a bridge to replace it but I am going to take my time with it....there was a time when I felt this urgency to do everything right away. I also need an implant done on another molar but that will happen whenever...

    My friends dentist told her that back molars often do not need to be replaced if they are extracted but yet a specialist I went told me the opposite that an implant should always be put in.

  • RunsWithBees
    RunsWithBees Posts: 1,508 Member
    I don’t know about cancer, but root canals might cause serious heart problems once you find out how much they are going to cost coupled with the crown you will need as well ;)
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,586 Member
    edited March 2019
    Oh man, my favorite endodontist was NOT stingy with the anesthesia.

    I've had a few and the only one that truly was torture was this one woman who shot anesthesia in the roof of my mouth and it hurt so much I turned into Linda Blair in the Exorcist.

    (The arching the back all the way out of the chair part (that was a part, right?)...not the head spinning part. Or the peeing on the floor part.)

    No lie.

  • suzannesimmons1
    suzannesimmons1 Posts: 58 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    Oh man, my favorite endodontist was NOT stingy with the anesthesia.

    I've had a few and the only one that truly was torture was this one woman who shot anesthesia in the roof of my mouth and it hurt so much I turned into Linda Blair in the Exorcist.

    (The arching the back all the way out of the chair part (that was a part, right?)...not the head spinning part. Or the peeing on the floor part.)

    No lie.

    Oh God me too...I nearly passed out because the pain was so bad I couldn't breathe.
  • 80sSynthwave
    80sSynthwave Posts: 25 Member
    Just happened to be studying some A&P and came across this. Maybe this is similar to what was contained in the documentary
  • 80sSynthwave
    80sSynthwave Posts: 25 Member
    Chronic inflammation promotes aethroscloritic plaque in the body, especially in the gums. Just read that while studying some A&P, and some studies contend it contributes to cardiovascular disease. Maybe that's what the documentary was referring to.
  • lorri71
    lorri71 Posts: 95 Member
    From a dental nurse of 14 years I have never heard of Root Canal causing cancer. An untreated infection however csn cause sepsis! If the tooth is abcessed you will need antibiotics to clear the infection before the root canal treatment or the tooth will not go numb. You do root canal either because of an infection and decay has got to the nerve or the tooth has died. Either way you should not feel anything once numb. Get a good dentists advice rather than netflx.
  • whoami67
    whoami67 Posts: 297 Member
    I believe the idea of root canals causing cancer (and other diseases) was first put forth by Dr. Weston A. Price in the 1920's based on his research of the dental health of native populations around the world. A number of other researchers have documented the correlation. I don't believe there's been much research to disprove the theory. I didn't see the Netflix show so I don't know what the controversy was there.

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