Endodontists: Specialists In Saving Teeth
Dental care quality .
Your
dentist has decided that your tooth needs special care and has referred
you to an endodontist. By referring you to a specialist, your dentist
is showing a personal concern for the quality of your dental care.
What’s
an endodontist?
An endodontist is a dentist with advanced training in
treating the diseased or damaged pulp, or soft inner tissues, of your
teeth. Endodontists spend at least two years after dental school training
to become specialists in the techniques involved in diagnosing and treating
dental problems that originate inside your teeth. In practice, they
perform only endodontic procedures and therefore have extensive experience
in this area.
Can’t my
regural dentist treat these problems?
General dentists do have some training in these procedures,
but your dentist feels you deserve the best care possible and that the
advanced skills of an endodontist will serve you best in this case.
What’s so
“special” about what endodontists do?
Endodontists save teeth. All dentists are in the business
of saving teeth. But endodontists are specialists trained to save teeth
with deep decay, abscessed teeth and even teeth that have been knocked
out. They also diagnose and relieve oral and facial pain, perform surgery
when necessary, treat traumatic injuries to your teeth and bleach discolored
teeth.
In all of these cases, the pulp in your theeth is infected or damaged.
To save the teeth, endodontists remove the diseased or damaged tissue
and clean and fill the remaining space. This procedure is commonly called
a “root canal”.