Brush your teeth, floss regularly and visit your dentist at least every year. You may have written these three points in your little notebooks when you were in primary school. Well I have been visiting my dentist for the past 4 months but my teeth aren’t getting any whiter. Hehe, well not exactly visiting for consultations though (that’s supposed to be a joke, now laugh). I did learn a thing or two while working there.
When we were kids we always see the dentist as a person who extracts teeth. We go to him when we have cavities and pain and when we want to remove the tooth. But just because you have pain in your teeth and its decayed pretty badly doesn’t mean you have to always remove it. There is an alternative solution. You can do root canal treatment to remove the decayed part and save the tooth.
So let’s see, what exactly is root canal treatment (RCT)
As the name suggests, the procedure is about treating the canals. Basically, what is done is cleaning your tooth and taking out the dead pulp and filling it. This procedure is mainly done within 2 or 3 visits. Otherwise you would get pretty tired if you have to keep your mouth open for such a long time. Well, not only that. The doctor may give medicines to reduce infection after the first visit.
First an anesthetic is given to the area, so that you won’t feel any pain during the procedure. Then, using a small drill the Dentist would work his way into the canals. He will also use some needle like things called “dental files” to get to the canals. In some teeth, there will be three or four roots, while the others like canines have only one. But in rare cases, even in canines there could be several roots.
So the next step is to clean the canals. In between, the area is irrigated with saline (salt solution) to rinse it and get the debris out. Then some chemicals are applied like, root canal conditioner and chlorohexylene. Then using paper points, the canals are dried. After that, a medicine is applied using GPs (gutcha percher points).
Then heat is applied to seal the canals before putting the filling. So basically the tooth is saved and your pain is gone now. But if you don’t put a permanent cap on it, the tooth is very likely to get fractured and you will have to do a re-RCT or worse, you might have to extract it. So save yourself the trouble and get a cap before it gets broken.
There are different types of caps (crowns); metal, ceramic, facing (half metal and half ceramic) etc. The type of crowns depends on your preference.
So the wisest way here is to get dental check-ups at least once a year and see whether you have any cavities. If you fill it early enough before it deepens, you don’t have to worry about doing an RCT.
Well while we are on the subject of dental consultations; get your teeth checked up at Dento Medical Solutions, by Dr. Joe George. (you are so laughing at this post aren’t you doc?)
