# Are root canals killing us? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2014, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440 "2014-10-05T05:45:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/41 "2014-10-06T18:38:48Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > I heard from a couple of dentists that teeth, especially molars, don’t come in standard shapes. Sometimes they have unusual number of roots sticking out of weird places that could be missed. They are supposed to follow up on you to make sure all is well. Luckily, while my tooth was exposed, it had no sign of infection. Yes, molars can have unusual structures below the gum line. But it’s hard to believe that an endodontist (the type of dentist that does root canal work) would proceed on a tooth without first x-raying the area to determine what s/he was up against. They don’t just turn on the drill and hope for the best. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/42 "2014-10-07T00:02:26Z")
> [@CC](#): > > Yes, molars can have unusual structures below the gum line. But it’s hard to believe that an endodontist (the type of dentist that does root canal work) would proceed on a tooth without first x-raying the area to determine what s/he was up against. They don’t just turn on the drill and hope for the best. You are correct. FWIIW general dentists do more total root canals than endodontists. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/43 "2014-10-07T03:26:00Z")
> [@rsa](#): > > So if I’m taking 15 meds from four different doctors and find a webite that says there may be an unwanted interaction between a couple of them, I should ignore that because my doctors are infallible and I don’t have a lick of sense myself. Good to know. If you’re not telling all your doctors (and pharmacists) about every med you’re taking that’s the (huge) problem right there. The internet need not be involved at all. > [@scr4](#): > > But that’s a medical advice. I prefer to think of it as merely common sense advice. 😃 > [@jtur88](#): > > Here’s what’s really killing us – the refusal of the medical insurance industry to consider dental to be classified as “health” or “medical”… Yes, it’s terrible that they are still considered so separate. In no other area of healthcare is the phrase ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ more true than in dentistry. IOW if insurance companies better covered basic dental checkups & preventative care they would avoid billions of costs in later reconstructive and repair procedures ((not to mention often painful ones at that!) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/44 "2014-10-07T04:47:38Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > In no other area of healthcare is the phrase ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ more true than in dentistry. Gyne. Or, rather, Obs. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/45 "2014-10-07T12:39:46Z")
I don’t have to read past the headline to know that this article is deliberately attempting to mislead us. “97% of Terminal Cancer Patients Previously Had Root Canal Procedure”. Well, 100% of dead people breathed air, so I guess air is fatal. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/46 "2014-10-07T13:17:33Z")
> [@CC](#): > > Yes, molars can have unusual structures below the gum line. But it’s hard to believe that an endodontist (the type of dentist that does root canal work) would proceed on a tooth without first x-raying the area to determine what s/he was up against. They don’t just turn on the drill and hope for the best. My dentist told me that some people have additional small roots that don’t always show up very well on a single X ray. I believe some of these are sometimes located by examination after clearing out the pulp - using a special kind of microscope. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/47 "2014-10-07T15:45:20Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I don’t have to read past the headline to know that this article is deliberately attempting to mislead us. “97% of Terminal Cancer Patients Previously Had Root Canal Procedure”. Well, 100% of dead people breathed air, so I guess air is fatal. I don’t think your analogy holds, unless somewhere near 97% of all people have had a root canal. I’ve done a bit of googling to try to find what the actual percentage is, but no luck. Still, I find it hard to believe that it’s that high. Here’s what the linked article specifically says: > [@](#): > > Dr. Josef Issels reported that, in his 40 years of treating “terminal” cancer patients, 97 percent of his cancer patients had root canals. If that were an _accurate report_ of results seen in an _unbiased sample_, and the 97% figure were significantly different from the percentage of non-cancer-victims who’ve had root canals, then I’d agree that there’s something going on here. ---
**Author:** ![sara20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@sara20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sara20)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/48 "2014-10-07T18:03:41Z")
no ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/49 "2014-10-07T18:33:01Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If that were an _accurate report_ of results seen in an _unbiased sample_, and the 97% figure were significantly different from the percentage of non-cancer-victims who’ve had root canals, then I’d agree that there’s something going on here. Yeah, but even then, I’d be more inclined to believe that cancer leads to bad teeth (possibly indirected through financial distress) than the other way around. Correlation/causation and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/50 "2014-10-07T19:22:56Z")
> [@rsa](#): > > So if I’m taking 15 meds from four different doctors and find a webite that says there may be an unwanted interaction between a couple of them, I should ignore that because my doctors are infallible and I don’t have a lick of sense myself. Good to know. It’s even better to know the difference between getting ideas and taking advice. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/51 "2014-10-07T19:37:25Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t think your analogy holds, unless somewhere near 97% of all people have had a root canal. Technically correct; my analogy was a quick top-of-the-head one to show how ridiculous the headline is, because it doesn’t examine causality. The “study” referenced was information from a single oncologist whose methods for cancer treatment were controversial at best. This was not a published, peer-reviewed study. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/52 "2014-10-07T20:20:52Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > The “study” referenced was information from a single oncologist whose methods for cancer treatment were controversial at best. I think the word you’re looking for is [“quack”](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Josef_Issels). ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/53 "2014-10-07T20:23:24Z")
As part of the statistics, you’d need to do an age-matched sample. The older you get, the more likely you are to have caught cancer, and the more likely you are to have had a root canal. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/54 "2014-10-07T21:23:06Z")
Being one who plans on erring on the side of safety, I hereby resolve to never have a root canal. Yeah, I know…but this is a better reason than the one I previously had. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440/55 "2014-10-07T22:55:00Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Yeah, but even then, I’d be more inclined to believe that cancer leads to bad teeth (possibly indirected through financial distress) than the other way around. Correlation/causation and all that. If one has radiation for oral cancer there is a good chance that the salivary flow can be greatly reduced. Dry mouths are at a much greater risk for decay. This could lead to the need for RCTs as we don’t usually want to extract a tooth if we don’t have to if it has been in the radiation field. This is due to the potential for osteoradionecrosis. My WAG is 10-20% of people have had RCTs. I don’t have a cite or statistics just thinking about my patients. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-root-canals-killing-us/700440.md?page=2)