A patient comes in with the chief complaint of a toothache. After a short examination including an X-ray film, tapping on the tooth, and checking the gums the dentist determines that tooth decay is deep enough inside the tooth to infect the pulp or the root canal. The patient needs root canal treatment. Hearing “infection,” ...
Patients and dentists often face a complex dilemma – whether to save a tooth using root canal treatment and a permanent restoration (a filling or a crown), or remove that tooth and replace it with a dental implant and a crown. While some dentists have a strong preference for one treatment or the other, most ...
People like their dental crowns firmly attached to their teeth. When a crown becomes loose, dentists are not always available to replace them. In many cases, people can temporarily recement their loose crown just like a dentist. When a crown falls off a tooth, look inside the crown. If the crown is full to the ...
Sometimes, lunch with friends can seem like a pop quiz to a dentist. This is especially true when the topic of conversation turns to root canal treatment. Funny that people know so little about a treatment that is provided more than 24 million times a year (according to the American Association of Endodontists’ Web site ...
For some, it’s that bite of ice cream or a swig of ice tea, for others is can be a brisk inhalation on a cold winter day that causes concern. Sensitive teeth are a leading reason for urgent dental appointments. That’s great, because the family dentist is the right doctor to figure out what is ...
There are times when a dentist is needed right away. Dentistry does not have set rules on how to prioritize patients’ needs. Sometimes the priority is obvious. A life threatening infection is more serious than a broken denture. When adult teeth are knocked out, they must be put back as quickly as possible. Baby teeth ...
Sixteen years ago, I met a new patient, Rosemary. Rosemary was referred to me to evaluate one of her teeth that had become very uncomfortable after her first dentist had cemented a crown or cap onto it. She was afraid that she would need root canal treatment. After a brief examination, Rosemary and I figured ...
Some of the common concerns that people have regarding dental abscess are as follows: 1. I have an abscessed tooth. What if I don’t get the RCT (Root Canal Treatment) done? Can it get life threatening? Yes. However, the likelihood of the abscessed tooth causing life threatening infection depends on the location of the offending ...
Root canal treatment (RCT) is the mode of care that is provided to get you out of pain and to get the infection under control. The situations that warrant such treatment are a) dental abscess, and b) exposure of the pulp (nerve and blood vessels). RCT is also called the endodontic treatment because it is ...
Recently, a healthy man in his forties shows up at the dental office for a dental emergency. A swelling around a loose front tooth is causing some pain. On examination, the dentist discovers that several teeth are loose. There is a strong odor. The X-ray examination shows that most of the bone is missing from ...
