Dr. Gary Stewart is a Dentist who has answered some of the common questions Bizymoms visitors have about Root Canal Treatment.
Q. What is root canal treatment?
A. Root Canal treatment is the complete removal of the nerve tissue inside the tooth. The entire tooth stays in the mouth, but it has no more nerve tissue inside of it.
Q. What does treatment involve?
A. Root canal treatment involves removing any decay from the crown portion of the tooth, and then making a small opening in the center of the tooth to access the nerve or pulp tissue of the tooth. This nerve tissue is then removed with tiny instuments, the canal in the root of the tooth that housed the nerve tissue is cleaned and disinfected with specific medicines. A rubber type filling material called gutta percha is then placed in the nerve canal in order to seal the canal much in the same way that you seal the cavity preparation in the crown of the tooth with a white or silver filling.
Q. What are the signs of needing endodontic treatment?
A. The need for endodontic treatment (root canal) can be signaled by pain of a tooth to heat, cold or pressure. There can also be swelling in the gum, cheek or lip surrounding the tooth. Sometimes a fever is present as with other types of bodily infections. However, there are such things as "silent abscesses" which have no symptoms but are apparent on a dental x-ray, usually indicated by a dark spot or area at the tip of the root or roots of the infected tooth.
Q. Are pain pills and antibiotics an acceptable substitute for root canal?
A. Antibiotic drugs and pain medication are simply a short term palliative treatment to control the pain or infection. They are not a substitute for the root canal treatment as they do not remove the bacteria in the nerve tissue of the tooth so the pain and infection will return after the medication is stopped.
Q. Are there alternative treatments for root canal?
A. Unfortunately, the only alternative treatment for a root canal is the extraction of the tooth. Extractions remove the entire tooth from the mouth and thus the nerve inside the root of the tooth is taken out as well.
Q. How much will the procedure cost?
A. Root canals are approximately $600 for a front tooth, $800 for a bicuspid tooth, and $1034 for a molar tooth in our office. The reason for the different prices are front teeth generally have one nerve canal inside them, bicuspids usually have two, and molars can have from three to five nerve canals in the tooth so the more canals there are in a tooth the more work that it is to do the root canal.
Q. Will the tooth need any special care or additional treatment?
A. Root canal teeth, in our office, are almost always treated after the root canal with a post which is a gold plated pin that is placed inside the tooth for strength, followed by a full coverage crown or cap which covers the entire crown portion of the tooth. The reason for the post and crown being done after a root canal is that the root canal removes the blood vessels of the tooth because they are located in the same canal as the nerve, so there is no way to do the root canal without also removing the tooth’s internal blood supply. This then causes the tooth structure to "dry out" and become more brittle. Without the post and crown to act like a splint does for a broken bone (to reinforce and strengthen it) there is a high possibility that at some point a person will bite down on something hard that they are chewing and this can cause the root canal tooth to fracture. Sometimes these fractures are so severe that the tooth has to be extracted because no treatment for the fracture is possible. Fillings do not strengthen the tooth, in fact they weaken teeth. Only a full coverage crown that surrounds the entire tooth and "splints" it together can protect the root canal tooth sufficiently although I have seen a small percentage of cases (1-2%) fracture at the root surface under the crown or cap. This is why the post is necessary to strengthen as much as possible the root of the tooth.
Q. How to contact Dr. Stewart if we have further questions?
A.
Address:
4911 Warner Avenue Suite 202
Huntington Beach CA 92649
Phone: (714) 846-4414
Fax: (714) 846-7655
Email: gstewart@harbourlandingdental.com
Website: http://www.harbourlandingdental.com
