I have had root canals done in '03 and I feel well, however, I DO have to take care of them fairly well, however, I do not use flouride products. My dentist wanted me to use an extra-flouride toothpaste you have to get at the office that made my teeth HURT!!
I promptly stopped the useage and cut out sugar as much as possible. (use stevia in the ice tea, and I grow stevia in the summer and put it in ice-t jars in the fridge until the tea is saturated with their sweetness.) Try it.
I think this trouble started, for most of us, with the nonstop development of the dental industry.
I had problems when I was in grade school back in the 60's, and remember a program where we had to sit with some strawberry-flavored goop inserted inside some plastic gizmo we wore in our mouths for 1/2 hour or so(?) for about 6 months. (we did this once a week, IIRC). This was a program sponsored by our school district and was mandated as some sort of program that was going to help prevent cavaties.
Most of my cohorts still went, as I did, for many fillings, which of course, meant drilling into healthy tooth areas because you had to anchor in the metal amalgam. I think it was in early college years back in the late 70's that I was told that I had to have 6 of my teeth pulled due to having too many "teeth for the size of my jaw".
After having braces in my 20's to move the teeth back into alignment, the dentist told me that I would probably have to have root canals done in my mid-40's (boy, he was right on target) due to the fact of the bands on my back teeth for a year and a half. It sets up bacteria that seem to set in, and it takes a while to do it's worse...
There's a whole generation of us that had braces. Now there's a whole generation of us that are getting our metal amalgams out, and having root canals put in.
We were doomed from the get-go when we got on the roller coaster ride of having our teeth chipped away for those damn metal amalgams. It's quietly affected our health, our nervous systems, our immune systems for years, and will continue to do so.
Now I use baking soda and salt or toothpaste w/out flouride (usually found in a European store that imports such stuff). I use a concentrated mouthwash with an herbal base from Europe too (German called "Odol"). You put a few drops into water and swish it around. Not as caustic as Listerine, and I have been having no problems.
I bought a few planers and scrape my own tartar off my teeth. (not that I have a lot of it, but just as certain areas.) I do this every 4-6 months or so.
I too, drink a lot of tea, so I hope it helps. And I am big on vitamins as well, and eating a good diet.
I hate doctors like some people hate lawyers, but I'll tell you, my experiences made me hate dentists more...what a RACKET.
Blu