At times, patients may require a root canal procedure for various reasons.

Some reasons include:

• Dental trauma or injury
• Dental decay
• A cracked tooth
• Periodontal disease
• Micro-leakage
• A dentist may require root canal treatment in advance of restoring your tooth (a.k.a. prosthetic expediency).

Other reasons that could cause a tooth to require root canal treatment are because the tooth’s pulp (nerve/tissues) died a slow death due to age;  because the tooth received orthodontic care; or because the tooth simply flared up and became painful for some other reason.

Sometimes, the tooth may not hurt at all, yet requires root canal therapy (asymptomatic abscess). At other times, it may become infected or inflamed and be uncomfortable, and thus require root canal therapy. Other people may experience severe to excruciating pain which requires root canal treatment.

An endodontist can help you retain your teeth, perhaps for a lifetime, with proficiency in dealing with the issues that present or cause root canal problems.

Having Pain?

Pain presents many different ways in the teeth, jaws, face, head or neck.

Sometimes dental pain is easy to localize.  Other times, it may be difficult to diagnose and locate. Knowing how to assess where or what tooth the pain is radiating from sometimes requires careful questioning and assessment.

We could be dealing with endodontic pulpal pain, endodontic periapical pain, periodontic discomfort, medical sinusitis, odontogenic sinusitis, an odd neuralgia of some sort, pain that is non-odontogenic caused by perhaps a medical problem, pain caused by a prosthesis that is ill-fitting, TMJ issues, dento-alveolar trauma, resorption varieties, history of past or current orthodontic braces treatment, or some other cause.

An endodontist is skilled and trained to recognize many of the issues that cause pain and to either treat or make recommendations for care.

Have you been diagnosed with, or suspected of, having trigeminal neuralgia or some other odd “black-box” diagnosis that doesn’t seem to be improving?

It might be wise to seek the advice of an endodontist, who understands the complex nature that pain may localize or radiate to the jaw, teeth, face, head or neck.

Many times, pain is related to the teeth or associated structures; recognizing this requires someone who is familiar with the issues and patterns that present.

Permanent?

Will the treatment you receive (root canal treatment or surgery) be permanent?

Although your tooth could last your lifetime, some do not.   Fillings, implants, dentures, crowns, root canals……don’t ever use the word “permanent” in dentistry.

Although treatments can last for years or decades – perhaps life – we must remember that every form of care we render may not always be permanent.

Things break, things fail, things sometimes don’t always work as long as we’d like; but a goal that we strive for is to offer sound care on sound teeth, and to treat each case as if we want the successful result to last as long as it can – perhaps decades or life.

Restorations/Prostheses, Root Canal Treatments and Dental Implants may last a long time; but we cannot ever guarantee “permanent” or “for life”.

Training Level and Experience  (instruction, exposure, competence or proficiency)?

Instruction, exposure, competence or proficiency….what level of care are you going to receive when root canal treatment/surgery is rendered to you?

An endodontist typically has surpassed the competency level of care, being trained as a specialist, and enters the level of proficiency.   A lot of time is dedicated to education and patient clinical experience, in an ADA accredited program, before entering private practice.

Root canal treatment presents with many complexities that require special attention and special skill sets.

We encourage you to seek our services when root canal issues present,  when pain or infection occurs, and if you desire a doctor and staff dedicated to offering proficient Endodontics (root canal services).