Is There A Relationship Between Root Canals And Cancer?

It has been going around the internet that there is a direct relationship between having root canal treatment and the likelihood of coming down with terminal cancer.

This was a report done by a non dental oriented website called "realfarmacy.com" that alluded to this fallacy. The problem with this report was the same that has caused many other experiments and theories to fail. That is the lack of controls and accounting for variables. A "variable" is simply an unknown in an experiment. We need to manipulate variables in research to warrant that a statement is true and cannot be proved wrong. Controls are a group that is separated from the rest of the experiment where the variable being tested cannot affect the results.

This simply means that we know there are a lot of people that have root canals. There are 25 million root canals performed each year. There are many people that have, unfortunately, been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But on the other hand there are many people that are near sighted, many people that have had Lasix eye surgery, many people that eat red meat,etc. Is there a relationship there? I doubt it. If you look at the amount of people that have these items or eat red meat and compare them to the MUCH lesser amount of people that have terminal cancer you will see that probably there also is a 97% relationship of terminal cancer and being near sighted or wearing glasses.

In short, it is false and unscientific to say that there is a correlation between nearsightedness and terminal cancer as many many variables were not taken into consideration.

The same goes for Root Canals and terminal cancer.

When we perform root canals we use disinfectants and fillings materials and cements that kill the majority of bacteria in the canals. Yes, the report stated that there are many "accessory canals" that are tiny microscopic canals in the walls of the roots. Actually many of these are also filled at the same time the major root canal is done.

This is all to say that over 99% of the bacteria is remove or killed when a root canal is PROPERLY done. The body can handle the rest and kill them over a period of time.

We take great effort to make sure a root canal is sterilized and done in a proper time tested manner. Our results are overwhelmingly positive.

VERY RARELY is there a problem with a Root Canal Treatment after it is done, BUT there always is a slight chance such as a fractured root or a very stubborn infection where further treatment is necessary such as extraction.

Bottom Line? If your tooth indeed needs a root canal treatment, get it done and save the tooth. The chance of it causing any type of cancer from "bad bactieria left in and around the tooth" is almost non-existent. Keeping a tooth by performing a root canal is a treatment proved to be effective and safe over many years and is a great service that retains an important part of our bodies for chewing and compared to extraction and replacement it is also financially smart.

Please contact our office with any questions. The doctor would be happy to explain this further !

photo by wonderlane