Tanuki characters in the streets of Tokyo, Japan🇯🇵📍🗺️📸Nov2023 #photography #asia #japan #tokyo #ilovejapan ❤️

NEXT UP ON THE PODCAST

This has been a popular film of controversy in my industry, I'm surprised it took so long for me to watch it in full.

I did, just off the top of my head:

-There's a full range of truth, half-truths, genuinity, ulterior motives in this film

- most of the dentists/endodontists I know understand that cleaning a canal doesn't fully sterilize it. The point of contention is how the individual can/can't handle the residual bacterial load

- We know that root canal therapy on a tooth that's vital is much more successful than on a tooth that's been necrotic for a long time (high failure rate regardless of surgical precision)

- people that need root canal therapy because of active oral decay (cavities) are in poor overall health. It's no surprise that they are highly correlated with cancer/laundry list of illness/malaise. I don't think I can reasonably draw the conclusion that every root canal treated tooth is the direct cause of systemic illness/disease

- getting root canal therapy has a different risk/reward calculation if you're healthy and lose a tooth to acute trauma, like catching an elbow to the mouth. It's less likely that bad bacteria had a chance to multiply in the tooth, and if sealed appropriately, inhibited indefinitely

- they're still developing technologies that yield better surgical outcomes like positive/negative pressure ultrasonic cleaning of lateral canals, and more biocompatible materials like MTA sealers instead of gutta percha and resin based sealants, etc

- it's true that a lot of existing and ongoing root canal treatments are sub-par and do cause problems in the long term. I'd say less than 2% of dentists/specialists can perform a root canal therapy to a standard that's acceptable for my mouth

- getting root canal therapy is a different tradeoff calculation for every individual

- in my decade of practicing, I've helped individuals extract root canal treated teeth based on watching this documentary. Most dentists know it's best practice to currette the socket to facilitate healing

- because of unresolved systemic health issues, they usually come back in 6-12 months looking for the next suspect

- in the documentary, this filmmaker went on a journey to improve his overall health, which more likely coincided with fixing his broken boner than a root canal treated tooth, provided it was asymptomatic

- if you're concerned about a previously root canaled treated tooth in your mouth, do take a CBCT and any oral radiologist/endodontist would tell you if the root canal treated tooth is problematic based on the health of the tissue around it. A general dentist may miss some details when interpreting the image

- ceramic implants are more biocompatible than other replacement options

- no replacement is ever as good/biocompatible with your natural teeth. Take care of them as much as you can