Thursday, April 7, 2011

Why does my root canal still hurt!?



Dentistry is medicine.
Although nothing i will ever do, more then likely, will ever rank
up there with treating cancer or preforming heart surgery the
procedures done in dentistry are still medical in nature.

Sometimes I get people coming to my office from other dentists
and they are angry because their teeth still hurt even AFTER
getting a root canal procedure preformed on it.

This is what I tell them.
Although root canals are a very successful procedure there are
still a certain number of them that will not work.
Consider going in for knee surgery to clean out a defective joint.
Months later you still hurt and you go back to the doctor.
You tell him that your knee still hurts.
He does and exam and tells you that there are still some particles in the knee that
didn't get taken out the first time and that he will have to go in again and
get the knee cleaned out for a second time.
This bums you out but you think nothing of it.
In dentistry people sometimes feel like it should be a one and done.
In pain to out of pain in one visit.

In most cases this is true. However, just like the knee surgery, there are times when
the first surgery on the tooth just doesn't work.

There are a few options here.
You can get the root canal re-done by the dentist who did it in the first place.
You can get it re-done by a root canal specialist (endodontist).

The trouble with getting it re-done is that it may not work the second time either.
You are then out another chunk of change and still have the same problem.

You could have the tooth taken out and have a bridge or implant put in.
That would assure the tooth never hurt again but you would have to go
through getting the tooth taken out.

Just talk to your dentist before you get your root canal.
Ask questions.
Feel comfortable BEFORE any treatment is given.




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