root canal coverup

February 13, 2006

The 3 1/2 Year Success of Root Canal Cover-Up By George E. Meinig, DDS, FACD [Editor's Note: Dr. Meinig's Root Canal Cover-Up describes the extensive andmeticulous root canal research of Dr. Weston A. Price, carried out over a periodof 25 years. Originally published in two massive volumes, totaling 1174 pages,Price's work remained unknown to the world until Dr. Meinig's Root CanalCover-Up translated Price's scientific findings into layman's terms. Thefollowing report describes Price's findings on root canals, and details Dr.Meinig's efforts to make them known to the public.] The Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation was organized on September 11, 1965,in order to make Dr. Weston A. Price's monumental work Nutrition and PhysicalDegeneration available to the public. This book clearly demonstrated to theworld that human physical degeneration was basically a nutritional problem. Thebook made Dr. Price famous. During the last 31 years, the Foundation has reprinted Nutrition and PhysicalDegeneration eight times, in order to meet the growing interest in his work. The Foundation has also had custodial care of Dr. Price's vast dental researchdata. Documenting his incredible accomplishments are 220 articles, which can befound in the dental and medical literature, along with two additional books.Unfortunately, until recently, Price's dental research remained unknown. Much of Price's research is contained in two monumental volumes entitledDental Infections Oral & Systemic and Dental Infections and the DegenerativeDiseases. While these works have long been in the PPNF library, it was only justfour years ago that the Foundation became aware of their importance. Thesevolumes have moldered in obscurity because Dr. Price's research was suppressedand buried over 70 years ago by the autocratic action of a minority group ofdentists and physicians who refused to accept the focal infection theory. In spite of the thousands of experiments conducted on 5,000 animals, and inspite of the thoroughness and excellence of his root canal research, all ofPrice's 25 years of scientific efforts were so well covered up that there ishardly a dentist alive today who has ever heard about his discoveries. When Pat Connolly, our beloved Executive Director, was alerted to theimportance of these volumes, she brought them to my attention. Pat knew of mygraduate studies with Professor Edgar Coolidge, the foremost root canal teacherand researcher in the world. She knew that I was one of 19 dentists that foundedthe Root Canal Association, and that I had a long association with the AmericanAssociation of Endodontists. (Endodontists are specialists in root canaltherapy.) In fact, my background in nutrition and root canal therapy led to myappointment as manager for the new dental office at the 20th Century Fox MovieStudio. Pat forwarded PPNF's precious copies of the two volumes to me and suggestedthat I review Dr. Price's root canal studies and report back to the PPNF Boardof Directors my findings and interpretation of his work. I immediately realized, upon reading the volumes, that Dr. Price's researchwas thorough and sound. It was easy to see why he was so revered as a dentalresearch specialist. The gist of the research and of the thousands of animal studies is this: Thatroot-canal-filled teeth always remain infected no matter how good they mightlook or how good they might feel. Dr. Price suspected that bacterial infection accompanied many degenerativeillnesses. In the beginning, he didn't know what bacteria were involved or justhow they contributed to so many disease conditions. But he did recall that inmedical practice doctors made cultures from the infection site, grew theorganism present in a culture medium and then injected the bacteria into ananimal to see if they could reproduce the disease and thereby prove it was thecause of the illness. Dr. Price suspected that these infections arose from the teeth. He decided toimplant an extracted root-filled tooth under the skin of an animal. He felt thatif bacteria were present and carrying illness, their presence in a tooth mightoffer the same kind of proof physicians found when they injected the bacterialculture to produce disease in an animal. That is exactly what took place. Hefound that by implanting the root-filled tooth, the disease of the patient wastransferred to animals. Whatever disease the patient had, the animal with theextracted tooth under its skin developed the same disease as the patient. In other words, if the patient had heart disease, the animal developed heartdisease. If he had kidney trouble, disease of the kidney was transferred to theanimal. If he had a problem in his joints, the animals' joints became similarlyinvolved. The principle held true for the whole spectrum of human ailments.Whatever the disease, the animal would develop that of the patient. Most of the time Dr. Price found the bacteria involved were of thestreptococcus family, but he also found staphylococcus, spirochetes and fungi.He found that if a patient had more than one root-canal treated tooth, he couldactually have a different organism infecting each one of the treated teeth. Thatis the reason some people have various ailments from their teeth, all at thesame time. In addition, infected root canals have a detrimental effect on theimmune system, causing a number of different illnesses. For a long time, Dr. Price had trouble finding out just how the bacteriaexisted in the tooth. His own experience in treating infection present in rootcanals led him to believe that disinfectants controlled the organisms. Thousandsof experiments proved this assumption to be incorrect. Price discovered that the dentin, which makes up 95 percent of the structureof the teeth, was not a solid stone-like mass but consisted of very tinytubules. Undamaged dentin tubules contain a nutrient-dense fluid that keeps theteeth alive and healthy. These nutrients are supplied daily to each tubule bythe artery that accompanies the nerve and vein in the root canal. The arterydoes this in the same way that other arteries supply nutrients to every cell ofthe body. When tooth decay spreads and attacks a tooth, it can usually be removed by adentist and the tooth saved with a filling. However, if the decay is neglectedor not discovered until after it spreads into the root canal of the toothitself, then the nerve and blood vessels become infected from the bacteria whichare part of the tooth decay process. The bacteria easily and rapidly travel the entire root canal and of coursethey easily discover those tubules and their nutrient supply. The organismshave, in fact, found a new home, one in which they grow and rapidly reproduce. Dr. Price's microscope photographs, published along with his research, showthe dentin tubules with bacteria in them. Although most dentists know aboutdentin tubules, it is only in the last few years that any have ever heard ofbacteria residing in them. I personally never heard or knew about their presenceuntil just four years ago when I saw Dr. Price's photographs. Remember that hiswork containing the photos was published way back in 1923! You will find these pictures in my book Root Canal Cover-Up, along withseveral recent electron microscope pictures. The electron microscope photographsmagnify these tubules and bacteria up to 5,000 times, making the bacteria, whichare much smaller than the period at the end of this sentence, appear as big aspeas in a pod. Most dentists are unfamiliar with the presence of bacteria in the dentintubules and are ignorant of the fact that these bacteria escape and spreadthroughout the body, causing a vast number of degenerative diseases. Your dentist may think that the disinfecting treatment he uses during rootcanal therapy would cause the death of these bacteria. Treatment does kill mostbacteria in the root canal, but Price found that not one of the over 100disinfectants he studied was capable of penetrating the tubules. The same holdstrue for antibiotics today. Some dentists argue that the bacteria die off because the root canal fillingblocks off their source of nutrients. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Infact, the bacteria are capable of mutating and changing their form. Price foundthat the challenge of a changed environment actually caused the organisms tobecome more virile and their toxins much more toxic. It will interest you toknow that this discovery of Dr. Price's was confirmed in recent times by aGerman oncologist named Dr. Josef Issel. He was able to identify these toxinsand found them to be closely related to the same chemicals used by the Germansin World War I to make mustard gas. The bacteria which contribute to most of today's diseases no longer can bekilled by antibiotics because the same polymorphic ability of bacteria tomutate, change and adjust that happens in root canals is happening to theseorganisms in response to antibiotics. These bacteria are involved in mostillnesses. How do bacteria -- apparently trapped in the dentin tubules -- escape to otherparts of the body? There are billions of germs in tubules of root canal-treatedteeth and those in the vicinity of any of the lateral accessory root canalspresent in all teeth, can escape into them. From there they travel into thetooth's surrounding periodontal membrane. This is the hard, fibrous membranethat holds the tooth in its bony socket and keeps it from falling out. The bacteria then spread throughout the periodontal membrane and from there itis easy for them to escape into the surrounding bony network. Everybody knowsthat cancer cells can metastasize and break away from the main cancer and travelto another gland, organ or tissue. Similarly, when bacteria get into the tooth'sbony socket, they also get into the blood supply of the jaw, allowing them tometastasize and travel in the blood vessels to another gland, organ or tissueand establish a whole new infection. This is called focal infection -- caused when an infection in one part of thebody travels to another part and sets up a new site of infection. The AmericanAssociation of Endodontists -- which I helped organize and which lists me as alife member -- states that they have proven over the years that the focalinfection theory is invalid. The arguments they cite are incorrect. They arebased on false assumptions. There are several reasons why they have been misled about this. One is thefact that 25 to 30 percent of people seem to get along with root-canal-filledteeth for many years without any detrimental effects. Dr. Price studied thatvery problem. He found that those people who had no history of degenerativediseases usually had strong immune systems which were capable of engulfing anybacteria present and prevented them from becoming sick. However, Price foundthat if these same people suffered a severe accident, a bad case of the flu orsome serious stress problem, their immune systems that had been protecting themwould become so compromised that they would then become ill with a degenerativedisease. What about the 70 percent of our people who have poorer immune systems tostart with? Price found -- and we are finding today -- that they developdegenerative diseases much sooner, many of them right after completion of theroot canal treatment. The endodontists' efforts to save teeth are desirable and admirable, but intheir enthusiasm for saving teeth they too often lose the patient. They citenumbers of studies that they believe establish the efficacy of root canaltreatment but they never mention the bacteria in the dental tubules. It theywant to deny the finding of Dr. Price in this regard, it behooves them to comeup with peer review research to prove his findings are inaccurate. Theirassertion that this is "old research that has been disproved" is only astatement -- a statement without scientific backing. In the April 1944 Journal of Endodontics, the message from outgoing PresidentEric J. Hoveland, DDS, MEd, MBA stated that formerly, endodontists took greatpride in being scientists, but "now it is much different." The talk is on newproducts and "manufacturer led" innovations in equipment. Where is the science,the biology? It must continue to be the basis for this specialty. As I began to present Dr. Price's research about root canals, I had hoped thatthe American Association of Endodontists would take a serious look at hisdiscoveries and that they would then initiate research to discover how to killthe bacteria in the dentin tubules and successfully treat tooth infections. Atpresent, they have failed to face these issues. However, numbers ofindependent-minded dentists have been using new and different approaches.Ultrasound, lasers, colloidal silver, garlic, Enderlein sanum remedies,nutrition, the French calcium oxide treatment and prayer are among theapproaches being investigated. It is gratifying that people have at last becomeconcerned about the extraction of infected teeth and are impatient for a bettersolution. Keep in mind, to be scientific and actually prove the safety of anytreatment procedure takes time. Such research challenges our patience andability to face the conditions that currently confront us. For those facing the dilemma of existing root canals, the status of one'shealth and its maintenance is the paramount consideration. The effect of dentalinfection upon one's immune system must be considered. People with degenerativedisease often live long lives, but unfortunately such longevity is marred bysuffering and disabilities. At the same time, the resulting degenerativediseases do cause many to die before their time. This is the main question thatone must face in considering whether or not to remove root-canal-filled teeth.The problem is: How good is our immune system and how long will it be able toprotect us? The spirit of "alternative" or "functional" medicine demands that eachindividual assume responsibility for his own health. In order to do so, one mustlearn everything he can about his problem. If you have a root canal orperiodontal disease, the best way to gain this information is to read and studymy report of Dr. Price's research, Root Canal Cover-Up, so that you will havesufficient background to assess the opinions of doctors and dentists with whomyou consult, as they often know nothing of research discoveries. If you are a professional or are capable of digesting technical data, you cancontact the PPNF office for copies of Dr. Price's original two volumes. Having performed root canal therapy for many years, I read Dr. Price's twovolumes of documentation with utter shock. I became very concerned about themillions of people who are suffering illness from the infection still present intheir root canal-filled teeth. I worried about how PPNF would ever find someone with sufficient background toadequately bring the subject to the public and to health professionals. It wouldhave been easy enough to make copies of Dr. Price's two volumes available tohealth professionals alone, but such an approach would have ensured that Dr.Price's research remained obscure. The public had to be told. Because of my 30-year service with PPNF, as well as my extensive professionalbackground, it seemed that I was the logical person to take on the task ofinforming the public and medical profession about Dr. Price's root canalresearch discoveries. It wasn't an easy decision as it was obvious that anyonedoing so would risk alienating many colleagues and friends, and would certainlyinvite resentment and anger. On the other hand, I knew that many were illbecause of these dental and oral infections. In dwelling on their plight, Ibegan to realize that I was being given an opportunity, a calling, and aprivilege to inform people everywhere of the relevance of Dr. Price's work tothe state of their personal health. On June 25, 1993, the first edition came off the press. It sold out in sevenmonths. During that time, I learned much more about the problem of jawbonecavitation infections that often occur where infected teeth have been previouslyextracted. Therefore, I rewrote Chapter 24 for the second edition, and made someother minor changes. The title was shortened and the cover changed. Thissomewhat larger printing sold out in one year. In April of 1996, our fourthprinting came off the press. Book publishers and authors tell us that this is a very good record for aself-published book. In 1996, 1 gave lectures to 21 organizations (mostlymedical, dental and other health professionals) and was interviewed on 28 radioand two television stations. These appearances have been a great boost to booksales. The word about the serious side effects of root canal therapy is getting out.Those who have been suffering from these infections are talking. Three yearsago, the Root Canal Association stated that there are 20 million root canalsbeing treated each year. The logical conclusion is that a high percentage of ourcurrent degenerative disease epidemic can be laid at the door of the cover-up ofDr. Price's research over 70 years ago. You are all aware that many of the great medical discoveries sometimes takeyears and years of research to locate the organism causing the disease. Inalmost all cases it is one organism causing one disease. Dr. Price found that at least 20 organisms were responsible for infections inthe teeth. These 20 organisms caused not one disease but numbers of oral anddental illnesses. But more importantly these germs are responsible for anenormous number of medical diseases manifesting in other parts of the body.These discoveries of Dr. Price greatly overshadow any single medical diseasediscovered by other physicians. Dr. Price should have received the Nobel Pricefor all his discoveries, but that eluded him when his work was covered up. In the hours and hours of time I have spent with the studies of the work ofthat genius, I have concluded that Dr. Weston Price's 25-year root canalresearch ranks as one of the greatest discoveries in the history of medicine.

February 18, 2006

Kim, WOW! I'm glad you sent this. I have had many root canals, and one tooth feels a bit loosened, which my endo....(sp?) said meant that I had lost bone to infection.

I wonder if all these root canals have caused me to become bipolar. (Maybe not). I had all my metal fillings removed (for cosmetic reasons and because they were old besides and turning blacker and shining thru my enamel).

I am going to print this out for my dentist and endo to read. He will probably hate it.

If this is true, than he will go out of business. I spent $950 for one tooth to be redone! and if that didn't work by the time he came back from his ski vacation, he would do oral surgery for another $900. Fortunately, my tooth calmed down, but it still doesn't feel too well.

Good information

Thanks for sharing it

Athena