It’s Root Canal Awareness Week
Celebrate Root Canal Awareness Week by scheduling a consultation with your dentist.
March 22 to 28, 2015 is Root Canal Awareness Week, an event sponsored by the American Association of Endodontists. This event presents an excellent opportunity for patients to learn more about the steps involved in root canal therapy and the benefits this procedure can bring.
Start by checking out this root canal FAQ and then schedule an appointment at California Dental Group to learn more about how root canal therapy can help support your oral health.
Are Root Canals Painful?
There is a common misconception that root canals are a painful, frightening procedure to be avoided at all costs. This impression is left over from our parents’ and grandparents’ days when oral surgery was indeed more uncomfortable. However, today advances in anesthetics, in the technology used to provide root canals, and in the medications used for aftercare combine to make root canals much more pleasant. Root canals don’t cause pain—they cure pain.
Why Would I Need a Root Canal?
You might need a root canal if extensive tooth decay or trauma has allowed bacteria to get inside your tooth and cause an infection. Common signs that this has occurred include tooth pain, sensitivity, swelling, and abscess on the gums. During a root canal, your dentist will remove all infected material from deep inside the tooth’s pulp chamber and roots, fill the hollow tooth with a sterile material, and cap it with a crown, thus relieving tooth and gum pain and restoring the tooth to sound and functional condition.
Why is Root Canal Therapy Better than Extraction?
People who are squeamish about root canals sometimes wonder why they can’t just have the infected tooth extracted. While this is an option, it is not a recommended alternative to a root canal for several reasons. First of all, extraction is painful and requires a longer recovery than a root canal. Secondly, if you lose your tooth, it will leave a gap that can cause issues with the alignment of your teeth and the comfort of your bite. A missing tooth will also eventually cause you to suffer bone loss in your jaw.
How Has Root Canal Therapy Improved In Recent Years?
Today dentists are able to achieve an excellent success rate for root canal therapy due to several important advances in technology. First, we have improved imaging to help the dentist locate all the roots of the teeth and confirm that the inside of the tooth has been completely cleaned out. Secondly, we have new ultra-thin and flexible files that can be used to reach deeper into even the most convoluted root passages. Finally, we have better technology for ordering and fabricating crowns to ensure a proper fit to the crown on the treated tooth on the first try.
