When it comes to dental care, few things have an undeserved bad reputation quite as much as root canal therapy. Most people spend their lives hearing “root canal” used as a synonym for “not fun.” It’s no surprise they’re hesitant to commit when they need the procedure. Fortunately, things may not be as bad as they seem.
Clearing Up Root Canal Therapy Misconceptions
Culturally, we’ve connected root canal therapy with excruciating pain, but it’s all based on a misconception. When you’re in need of root canal therapy, you almost certainly will be in very serious pain. The actual procedure isn’t painful, though. Not only that, it actually relieves the pain you’re feeling and treats the issue. Treatment is performed under local anesthesia and is no more painful than a routine cavity filling.
When the diseased pulp inside your tooth – what is causing your pain – is treated, the pain will subside, and the tooth structure will be preserved. Root canal therapy alleviates the need to pull a salvageable tooth, and you will be left with no debilitating pain.
Root Canal Therapy vs. Tooth Extraction
When you’re in pain because of diseased pulp in a tooth, it’s tempting to pull the whole tooth out completely. Extraction will put an end to the misery of an infected tooth, but it will leave you with a gap. This gap can eventually affect the underlying structure of the jawbone. Choosing extraction over root canal therapy often means more expensive treatment to replace the tooth, like with an implant or a dental bridge.
Don’t spend another second in agony. Call the experts at Waller Dental today, and let us help you find pain relief without tooth loss.