With today's root canal techniques, having root canal treatment done by a dentist is no longer a scary experience. One of the dentists at the Atlanta Dental Group PC, Dr. Jeffrey Stephen Smith, our Root Canal Dentist, is experienced in performing root canal therapy. He uses rotary instrumentation designed to do root canal endodontics and a sonar-like instrument that finds the canal's exact end.
Dr. Smith uses high torque dental handpieces to do root canals. These handpieces can be used with titanium root canal files to mechanically and rapidly open canals. This can significantly decrease the time necessary to do this procedure compared to solely using hand files and has changed the way most dentists do Root Canal Dentistry. If you need a dentist in atlanta, you are welcome to visit our practice.
Extensive tooth decay, an accident, tooth fracture, or gum disease can kill teeth and cause a root canal symptom such as root canal pain or a dental abscess. However, regardless of the root canal cause, your teeth can be saved using modern therapy to do root canal treatment , also called endodontics. The prefix " endo- " means " inside " and the word ending "-dontics" means " teeth", so endodontics has to do with treating the "inside of teeth" and root canals are inside teeth.
The inside of a tooth is like the inside of a tootsie pop. Inside every tooth crown is a hollow area that extends into each of the tooth roots. The hollow area in the root is called a canal. Each root canal is cleaned out, widened, and filled during root canal therapy. It is fortunate for us that once a tooth is formed the contents of the root canals are not necessary. Most root canals stay healthy and happy a whole lifetime, making them worth the price of root canal therapy and they avoid the alternative to root canal therapy, extraction. With the more gentle techniques today, even a root canal during pregnancy is often okay. In fact, a pregnancy root canal may be important in protecting your baby's health. We used digital xray technology with our root canal procedures which decreases the amout of radiation needed and provides almost instant pictures without the need for developing.
The root canal procedure is not complicated. At first the dentist deeply numbs the tooth and next creates an entry hole through the top of the crown. The content of the hollow area in the crown and in the roots, the dental pulp, is removed using specially designed files which also widen and flare the root canals. Finally, root canals are filled with a rubber material called gutta percha. A root canal picture helps understand the procedure. Many questions regarding root canal treatment can be answered by our root canal faqs page.
Root canal therapy can be unpredictable but it's rare to see a bad root canal. There are times even after appropriate treatment that a tooth doesn't settle down and there's pain after root canal therapy. Stronger antibiotics and possibly, anti-inflammatory medications may then be necessary. At the Atlanta Dental Group PC we prefer to enter a tooth after a patient has been on antibiotics for 3 to 7 days, however, this can not always be done. Root canal swelling from the infected tooth can also complicate therapy. Pus around the infected root increases the acid concentration and it may not be able to be numbed well. Again, a stronger root canal antibiotic and perhaps, incising and draining the area can help. Regardless of your root canal problem, you should see a dentist soon.
Root canal complications are not common. About one in twenty treatments result in root canal failure and requires a root canal retreatment six months after the initial completion. Unfortunately, this increases the cost of a root canal. In these cases, the end of one or more roots remains infected even though the treatment of the root canals appears adequate in an infected root canal. If retreatment fails, there is finally root canal surgery as a last alternative to treating a failed root canal. Fortunately, there are very few side effects of root canal therapy and it is very unusual to see a root canal gone bad .
A root canal tooth becomes very brittle after a root canal and requires restoration with a core build up and a crown, otherwise the tooth can split. This is especially common with a molar root canal. If the split is bad a patient can possibly lose the tooth. This is a lot of dental care for one tooth, so it is much better to avoid needing root canals by visiting the dentist regularly and picking up problems before they become large. Because we are a general dental practice, a root canal crown can be done immediately after a root canal is finished. Fortunately, an infection after root canal treatment is rare. The total root canal average cost should also consider these additional procedures. However, the average cost of a root canal is just that, an average.
A root canal infection, just like any dental infection, can harm the whole body. This makes having needed root canals performed very important. Many patients are unaware that they have a tooth infection because infections in root canals are not always painful. Regular visits to a dentist can help detect problems and help improve a patient's overall health. In general, the public needs root canal information about the significance of treating dental infections.
Years ago the materials used to fill root canals often irritated the surrounding bone and caused a painful root canal and post root canal pain. This problem has been significantly reduced with the development of biocompatible materials that reduce and often eliminate problems and eliminate the root canal cover up concerns of some patients. A root canal on child tooth bypasses this problem since the material used has to be able to dissolve since the child root canal shouldn't interfere with this tooth falling out at the appropriate time.
There are a lot of myths and unwise tales about dental root canals and root canal danger. Root canal and pregnancy issues have been generally worked out. The truth is, it is usually a comfortable experience, should not be feared and worth the root canal cost. New and effective dental anaesthetics are also now available that help make root canal therapy as comfortable as most dental procedures. The risks of a root canal abscess make it important that you seek treatment. If you would like to discuss your root canal alternatives or the root canal price with Dr. Mark Allan Padolsky or Dr. Jeffrey Stephen Smith, our Root Canal Doctor, call 404-874-7428 to make an appointment. We can often do the root canal and crown preparation in a single visit. For a better understanding, take a careful look at each root canal pic.