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Natural Awakenings Westchester / Putnam / Dutchess New York

Root Canals Can Negatively Impact Health Says Dr. David Lerner of Center for Holistic Dentistry in Yorktown Heights

As a dentist who takes a whole-body approach to his patients’ health, David Lerner, DDS, of The Center for Holistic Dentistry, in Yorktown Heights, warns against the use of root canals to treat damaged or infected teeth. “We stopped doing root canals years ago because there’s such a high frequency of root-canal-treated teeth failing and then having systemic impact,” he says.
     
Of particular concern is a possible link between root canals and breast cancer. For that reason, Lerner recommends that women with root-canal-treated teeth be evaluated to ensure they’re not harboring chronic infection.
   
“We have come to understand that a potential contributor to breast cancer is infection or toxins from the mouth draining through the lymphatic system, under the arm and into the body,” he says.
   
When evaluating such a patient, Lerner uses some combination of diagnostic tools, including conventional x-rays, 3D or cone beam x-rays, and a muscle-reflex test from applied kinesiology, to check for weakness of the tooth and any impact on the body. Generally he suggests that a problematic tooth be removed and replaced with a dental implant that’s been tested to ensure the material is biologically compatible with the patient. The alternative treatment—having the tooth disinfected by a root-canal specialist—doesn’t always prevent recurrence of infection, he says.

Location: The Center for Holistic Dentistry, 2649 Strang Blvd., Ste. 201, Yorktown Heights, NY. For more info, call 914.214.9678, email [email protected] or visit HolisticDentist.com.