Near the end of July 2002 my lower back started to hurt for no apparent reason. The pain increased every day and by August 15 I could barely move. I was admitted to the hospital in Breese, Illinois, where they did various test including a MRI. I was sent home late in the afternoon on the 16th and was given four different medications. A subsequent visit to the back specialist revealed a small bulge in the S3-S4 disc which was not big enough to operate on and was told that it should not be causing that much pain. In October I was referred to a pain management specialist in which I received four steroid injections in the lower back that gave me some relief from the pain. One year later the pain returned and was building up to the same severity that I had experienced in August 2002. A subsequent MRI test indicated an increase in the size of the bulge in the same area and was borderline operable. In January 2004 I saw my chiropractor and he used clinical kinesiology to do muscle testing that lead to the discovery that tooth #31 tested positive for lower back pain. A call to the dentist that performed the root canal revealed that it was done in July 2002. On February 12, 2004, at 1:30 p.m. the tooth with the root canal was removed. Within 10 minutes of the tooth being pulled I noticed significant reduction in lower back pain and improvement in hearing in my right ear. On the third day my whole body ached as if I had over worked for days, this was probably caused by muscles that had been tense for so long. By the seventh day, I felt better than I had since July of 2002. I noticed that the intermittent pain in my right big toe was gone, food tasted a lot better, and unconscious reduction in the number of cigarettes per day, better concentration and a reduction in the frequency and severity of sinus headaches. After this experience with a root canal, I WILL NOT allow any dentist to do one on me or anyone in my household. I strongly recommend that root canals be made illegal. The next step in oral health care in my household is to have all metallic fillings replaced with non metals. If drinking water is not allowed to contain mercury then why should a dentist put it in my mouth.