Endodontics
What is Endodontic Treatment?
“Endo” is the Greek word for “inside” and “odont” is the Greek word for “tooth.” Endodontic treatment treats the inside of the tooth. To understand endodontic treatment, it helps to know something about the anatomy of the tooth. Inside the tooth, under the white enamel and a hard layer called the dentin, is a soft tissue called the pulp. The pulp contains blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue, creating the surrounding hard tissues of the tooth during development. The pulp is important during a tooth’s growth and development. However, once a tooth is fully mature it can survive without the pulp, because the tooth continues to be nourished by the surrounding tissues.
Normal Tooth
After treatment, the tooth will need to be restored, usually by a new crown. The aim of treatment is to remove infection from inside the tooth. Left untreated, the infection would leak out of the tooth’s root ends and make the surrounding bone ill and painful.
Decayed Tooth
What is a Dental Implant?
A natural tooth consists of a root and a crown. The part of the tooth that you see and eat with is called the crown. Beneath the crown is the root, which anchors the tooth through the gum tissue to the jawbone. When you lose a tooth, you lose both the root and the crown. To replace a tooth, we first have to replace the root. Essentially, a dental implant is a new root. This titanium root is fitted into a socket that we create in your jaw bone, replacing the lost root of the natural tooth. When the initial phase of healing is completed, a support post called an abutment is placed on the implant itself and then a new crown is placed on top.
Dental Implant
What is an endodontist?
All dental school graduates have basic education and training in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the dental pulp and are licensed to perform root canal procedures. An endodontist is a dentist who has completed an additional two to three-year course of study in an accredited endodontics postdoctoral residency program. They perform routine as well as difficult and very complex endodontic procedures, including endodontic surgery. Endodontists are also experienced at finding the cause of oral and facial pain that has been difficult to diagnose.
Endodontists are the most highly skilled dentists in differentiating the difference between symptoms from tooth, sinus, TMJ (Temporoal Mandibular Joint), and neurological origins. They work closely with dentists from all fields of dentistry as well as neurologists and ENTs (Ear, Nose, and Throat specialists or Otolaryngologists).
Following the completion of treatment in our office, a patient is always referred back to his general dentist or referring doctor. At times, however, in a complex diagnosis or clinical situation, it may be necessary for an endodontist to refer to another specialist before a patient returns to his regular dentist.