Endoo

NEW PERSPECTIVE IN ENDODONTICS

Villote, Amor D.

DMDIV

Dr. Jahns

Introduction

Teeth are meant to last a lifetime. Sometimes, however, damage occurs to a tooth (often from a deep cavity or an injury that causes a tooth to crack) and the inside of the tooth becomes infected. This infection damages the pulp of the tooth - the network of blood vessels and nerves inside. Left untreated, the damaged pulp can cause infection that will damage the bone around the tooth and cause swelling and pain. If the damaged tooth becomes infected, your dentist, or a dental specialist called an Endodontist, may have to perform an endodontic treatment (often called Root Canal Therapy) to save it.

Endodontic treatment involves opening the tooth, removing the damaged pulp, cleaning, shaping, filling and sealing the tooth. Depending upon how much infection there is in the injured tooth, your may be put on medicine before your dentist or Endodontist can begin to work. It is performed under local anesthesia. A thin sheet of rubber, called a rubber dam, is placed in the mouth and around the base of the tooth to isolate the tooth and help to keep the operative field dry. The dentist removes any tooth decay and makes an opening through the natural crown of the tooth into the pulp chamber. Creating this access also relieves the pressure inside the tooth and can dramatically ease pain. The dentist determines the length of the root canals, usually with a series of x rays.

Endodontists have frequently boasted that they can do much of their work blindfolded simply because there is ‘‘nothing to see.’’ The truth is that there is a great deal to see with the right tools. In the last 15 years, for nonsurgical and surgical endodontics, there has been an explosion in the development of new technologies, instruments, and materials. These developments have improved the precision with which endodontics is performed. These advances have enabled clinicians to complete procedures that were once...