Is a root canal treatment the prime cause of heart attacks?

Hyderabad: A viral video claiming root canal treatment as the leading cause of heart attacks is doing the rounds on social media.

In the video, Dr. Thomas E. Levy, says, “Data we’ve just recently gotten, shows now that the No. 1 cause of heart attack is a root canal-treated tooth. Plain and simple. Not correlation, not link, cause and effect.”

Is this true?

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be false.

A Healthline article defines root canal treatment as “a dental procedure involving the removal of the soft center of the tooth, the pulp.” It further explains, “The pulp is made up of nerves, connective tissue, and blood vessels that help the tooth grow. In the majority of cases, a general dentist or endodontist will perform a root canal while you’re under local anesthesia.”

According to a study published in the Journal of Dental Research, “…people with untreated tooth infections are 2.7 times more likely to have cardiovascular problems, such as coronary artery disease, than patients who have had treatment of dental infections.”

But there is no scientific evidence to prove that the root canal is one of the causes of a heart attack. Another study states that there are undoubtedly some risk factors aligned with root canal but a heart attack is not one of them. Also, root canal outweighs the benefits than the risk factors.

We further searched for the leading cause of heart attacks. According to NHS, “Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of heart attacks. CHD is a condition in which the coronary arteries (the major blood vessels that supply the heart with blood) become clogged with deposits of cholesterol. These deposits are called plaques. Before a heart attack, one of the plaques ruptures (bursts), causing a blood clot to form at the site of the rupture. The clot may block the blood supply to the heart, triggering a heart attack.”

It lists some factors that increase the risk of developing CHD:

· Smoking

· A high-fat diet

· Diabetes

· High cholesterol

· High blood pressure (hypertension)

· Being overweight or obese

From the above findings, it is evident that there is no direct relationship between getting a root canal and a heart attack. Hence, the claim is false.