They can be painless for patients
The long-term benefits are worth it
It can be a nightmare scenario for people. A mouth that was mildly uncomfortable or even pain-free is now in a world of hurt. Forget about sleeping or even being able to concentrate on anything. Even taking painkillers can’t touch it. Sometimes there’s no pain at all, though. A tooth may have died or be on the way to dying when a dentist discovers it during a regular check-up. All of this is scary.But what makes patients recoil even more is hearing the words “root canal”,
Why the initial negative reactions? Perhaps they heard about bad experiences with a root canal from a relative or a friend of theirs that had theirs done years ago. It seems like a horrible thing to have to go through. That’s far from the case in this day and age. What’s happened since then to make it better? Why should people not fear root canals?
Over the course of the years, dentists and dental technology have managed to refine this procedure so that it is much less painful that it had been in the past.Here are some of the benefits:
- Drastically improve odds of saving tooth
- Pain may actually be minimal
- Quick procedure
For many people, it’s actually the time before the root canal that is the most nerve-wracking. The patient’s current pain level may have them agitated.They are hurting and that can make everything seem interminable and intolerable. The procedure itself will actually relieve the pain.
It’s far better to get the root canal since an infected tooth can have some pretty dire consequences if left untreated. This can lead to lost teeth, and if left alone for too long, even the risk of death. This is not a situation for someone to try home remedies to manage the pain until the tooth gets better – one could find themselves in a true dental emergency much quicker than they would think. If they have mouth pain, they need to see a dental professional, preferably a specialist like a periodontist or an endodontist soon as possible.
When one has a root canal procedure, it’s not the lengthy complex undertaking that people may envision. It usually can be completed in one or two appointments. More may be required if it’s a very advanced case or requires a specialist, but normally it won’t need a large chunk of time.
There is a perception that having a root canal can cause problems later on down the road due to trapped bacteria. This is from research that was done nearly 100 years ago – more than a lifetime ago thanks to the advances in both medicine and dentistry. Plus, one’s mouth, even ones that have just been professionally cleaned, ALWAYS has bacteria in it. The risk of those problems cropping up is very, very small.
Having the root canal therapy gives the dentist or specialist their best shot at saving the infected or damaged tooth. The best part of the root canal is that if the patient is diligent with their oral hygiene after the procedure, it will be fine for the rest of their life. Some patients may have heard about the tooth that had the procedure breaking later on. That’s only if they didn’t get a decent enough crown after the procedure. This is not a short-term fix.
Dr. Arvind Philomin and Dr. Divya Adusumilli are both skilled with root canals. They have helped many patients over the years save their teeth – and look forward to helping more.