From: Terry Pannkuk
To: ROOTS
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 12:46 AM
Subject: [roots] Pulp Loving Gone Awry

I don't know if I posted the initial consultation of the patient a couple months ago, but in summary, he had gone to
a holistic "endodontist" who had opened all four of his maxillary molars (#'s 2,3,14,15), had flare-ups he couldn't
control, kept "medicating" the teeth, and finally left them all open (for months).  The patient ended up seeing a
general dentist who continued with the same philosophy and treatment.  I was sent the treatment notes which were
harder to interpret than the Dead Sea Scrolls and also got a copy of the wacky material sensitivity report that
basically showed no modern dental materials could be used.

Interestingly, the patient was very nice and had been talked into the wacko dentistry by the wacko dentists,
it wasn't his strongly held belief to undergo this foolishness and when I explained what needed to be done to him,
he jumped on board with my treatment plan immediately.

All four teeth had a "conservative, "ship in a bottle" access" with the chamber stuffed with cotton and misc.
grocery produce.  He was swollen on the right side, and primarily uncomfortable on that side as well. I scheduled
a long visit to clean, shape, and close #'s 2 and 3 with CH.  He was mildly uncomfortable on the left side afterwards
and he still seemed to have percussion sensitivity related to #2 that lasted 3 weeks. I replaced the CH in #2.
He's much better so I cleaned shaped and closed #'s 14 and 15 today.  Four molars, Four missed MB2's

#14 was interesting because I took out the semi-calcified/septic palatal pulp once I extended the access.
Clearly, this is an example of the most extreme "Pulp Loving" or pulp preservation I've seen.  Can you regenerate
a pulp out of bacterial cells instead of stem cells? :):):)

The notes were pretty amazing to read.  It seemed like they were written by a psychiatrist noting the patient's
emotions, behavioral responses, and counselling needs than it did a dental chart - Terry






this post reminds me of a patient of mine , the dentist started to do 9 pulpectomies in the upper jaw ,
in the first visit he opened up all teeth, he did "something", left them open and started to prepare
the teeth for crowns:)  -  Sergiu

Terry, Your description of the "holistic dentist" reminded me of these guys
I think you'll enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0

No swearing or sexist/racist stuff I think - Gareth