{"id":5555,"date":"2021-10-07T20:29:02","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T20:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myholisticdentist.com\/?p=5555"},"modified":"2022-09-19T21:10:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T21:10:26","slug":"the-root-canal-cover-up-did-george-meinig-have-it-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myholisticdentist.com\/2021\/10\/07\/the-root-canal-cover-up-did-george-meinig-have-it-right\/","title":{"rendered":"The Root Canal Cover-Up: Did George Meinig Have it Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Did George Meinig have it right when he wrote ‘The Root Canal Cover-Up back in 1993?\u00a0 Yes and no.\u00a0 The reason I say this is explained below, so keep reading. In his book, Meinig highlights the research done by Westin Price a century ago demonstrating how root canal infections cause other health conditions and illnesses in the body.\u00a0 Price was most famous for his rabbit experiments, where he implanted root canal teeth from his patients into rabbits and tracked how that animal fared afterward.\u00a0 What he observed was that the rabbits got sick and in many cases died as a result.\u00a0 After observing this scores of times, he coined the phrase ‘focal infection’, which basically means that the bacteria in one part of the body can affect\u00a0or cause illness in another part of the body.<\/p>\n

The best example of the focal infection theory is dental infections being linked to heart disease.\u00a0 Over\u00a0600,000 people die from heart disease in the U.S. every year.\u00a0 It is the leading cause of death for both men and women, accounting for 1 in 4 deaths. There is ample research showing a connection between gum disease and heart disease.\u00a0 More recently research has come out connecting infected root canals and heart disease.\u00a0 Westin Price also found the organ most affected by infected teeth was the heart.\u00a0 That is why it’s so important to find and treat infected teeth and failing root canals.<\/p>\n

Did George Meinig advocate extracting all root canal teeth?<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>I had the pleasure of meeting George Meinig back in the 90’s.\u00a0 That’s him pictured to the left.\u00a0 He was a very kind and caring man.\u00a0 Actually, he didn’t advocate extractions in all cases.<\/p>\n

Many alternative doctors today believe that Westin Price and George Meinig advocated extracting all infected teeth and teeth that have had prior root canals. This is simply not true.\u00a0 In George Meinig’s book he states, “I imagine most readers will conclude Price was in favor of extracting all root canal filled teeth and would never consider treating one.\u00a0 You will be pleased to know that is not what he recommended.\u00a0 Price wrote, ‘Don’t jump to the conclusion that all root-filled teeth should be extracted.’\u00a0 Time and again he stated the governing factor which must dominate the decision for a dentist or patient as to whether or not a root canal treatment should or should not be retained, depends on that person’s defense system and any family genetic problems he may have inherited.\u00a0 In fact, Price found that 25 percent of patients with family histories free of degenerative diseases, who had excellent immune systems, could expect to have and retain root canal fillings and live without complications.”<\/p>\n

So according to both Meinig and Price, root canal treatments can be and are usually successful in genetically strong patients who have excellent immune systems.<\/p>\n

The bottom line conclusion of Price’s and Meinig’s work<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>Price found most of the root canals done during his day inadequate and harboring bacteria.\u00a0 This is because they were not instrumented or filled properly, so the bacteria remained or came back quickly to infect not only the tooth but, the bone around the tooth.\u00a0 He came up with the term ‘focal infection’ because the tooth became a focus of infection leaking bacteria into your jaws, bloodstream and the rest of your body.<\/p>\n

Meinig updated Price’s work by bringing electron microscope images into the discussion showing how even in modern day endodontics bacteria was being left behind in the dentinal tubules of the teeth.<\/p>\n

Both doctors tried to find solutions to the problem.\u00a0 Meinig used to lecture and attended endodontic meetings to keep the conversation alive.\u00a0 In his book he reflected on Price’s work, ‘It is certainly unfortunate that all of these important discoveries were forced underground and lost to the world as it is quite likely that an effective sterilization of the bacteria which invade dentin tubules would be now have been determined.<\/p>\n

Price usually recommended avoiding root canal treatment and extracting the tooth if the individual’s immune system is battling one or more degenerative illnesses or chronic diseases.\u00a0 If you have an immune condition like an autoimmune disease, Lyme\u00a0disease, a heart condition, arthritis, and possibly even cancer you need to be more careful in doing root canals.\u00a0 Basically, any condition that weakens your immune system makes root canals riskier and less likely to succeed.\u00a0 If your body is already dealing with an immune challenge, infected teeth just add more stress to an already taxed immune system, and visa versa.\u00a0\u00a0Any infection in the body is bad.\u00a0 Just because a tooth doesn’t hurt or there is no swelling doesn’t mean it’s OK.<\/p>\n

Meinig was well aware that bacteria was left behind after root canal therapy, leaking toxicity called endotoxins into the body, as he was an endodontist himself.\u00a0 However, he also stated that people do not have to become sick or die from focal infections, but to stop or prevent their occurrence, the bacteria and their toxins which arise from the dentin tubules or other sources must be eliminated.<\/p>\n

New hope for patients keeping their teeth<\/h2>\n

Remember when I said above yes and no to answer the question, ‘Did Meinig have it right?’\u00a0 The reason I said yes is that Westin Price as well as George Meinig were right during their times.\u00a0 Keep in mind Price did his research 100 years ago and it correctly reflected the reality of root canals during his day.\u00a0 Similarly, when George Meinig wrote his book, ‘The Root Canal Cover-Up’ in 1993, dentists and endodontists had no answer for the bacteria left behind in the dentinal tubules after endodontic therapy.<\/p>\n

Why did Price find so many problems with root canals and demonstrate that they actually were causing illness in his patients and verified in lab animals?\u00a0 Because his research took place in an age where the results possible were nowhere near where they are today.\u00a0 In fact, when I look at the radiographs of root canals done at that time and printed in Price’s research, it’s a wonder they worked as often as they did.\u00a0 The technique and results were not good, and they have improved significantly over the years.<\/p>\n

That was then and this is now.\u00a0 A lot has changed in the world of root canal therapy, especially in the last five years.\u00a0 New technologies have come onto the scene that will change the results possible and improve the health of not only teeth but the patient as well.\u00a0 Also, new protocols have been developed using these technologies that allow results not possible just 5 years ago.\u00a0 These technologies include:<\/p>\n