Endodontic Treatment

Endodontists primarily focus on the nerves, blood vessels, and tissues inside each tooth, which they refer to as “tooth pulp”. They regularly service patients suffering from cracked teeth, dental trauma, and root canals. While root canal treatments can be treated in normal dental offices, endodontists use state-of-the-art equipment to treat your teeth on a microscopic level to eliminate all the bacteria causing infections. Endodontists see a much higher volume of root canal patients than typical dentists and attend two to three years more schooling to gain their accreditation. The biggest difference lies in their purpose: endodontists want to fix teeth instead of replacing them!

Usually a tooth that has undergone a root canal can last a lifetime and never need further endodontic treatment. Occasionally, a previously treated tooth needs additional care at a later time. Your general dentist may refer you to our practice to repair root canals or root canal treatments that were previously completed. A cavity, decay, new tooth trauma, or a loose, cracked or broken filling or faulty crown can lead to a new inflammation or infection. With 3D cone beam CT (CBCT) x-ray imaging and use of endodontic microscopes, an endodontist may also discover additional very narrow or curved canal spaces not located or treated during the initial procedure.

If further root canal treatment is recommended for your tooth, our endodontists offer retreatment options to save your tooth, preventing the need for tooth extraction. No matter how effective modern artificial tooth replacements are – and they can be effective – nothing is as good as a natural tooth.

Endodontic retreatment can be completed through your tooth’’ crown or by directly treating the tip of the root or tooth apex via a microsurgical procedure commonly referred to as apicoectomy or root end resection. The aim is to remove your existing root canal filling material, examine and thoroughly clean any remaining spaces, and re-seal the inside tooth space to relieve your pain and fully restore your tooth function.

Here at Endodontist Specialists, we’ll schedule an initial meeting to talk with you about your issues, take state-of-the-art 3D pictures to identify infected or swollen areas, and set up a date for your surgery. On the day of the surgery, procedures vary, but we always provide amenities to help you feel comfortable. We’ll numb the area being worked on, isolate the area using a dental dam to avoid sterility issues, and clean the area on a microscopic level with NASA approved tools to save your teeth instead of replacing them! Let us know if pain persists past the normal healing time.

Explanation of the most common endodontic procedures, including:

Root canal therapy: When the pulp of your teeth gets damaged from an injury, infection, crack, gingivitis, a gum infection, or repeated dental procedures, endodontists remove the infected or inflamed tissue from inside the tooth. After treating the area, your endodontist will fill the tooth and place a crown to protect it. After a few days, the tooth should feel no different than any other tooth and heal naturally, but if any sensitivity remains after the healing process, let your dentist know to check for any remaining issues.

Apicoectomy: Endodontists remove the apex, or tip, of a tooth’s root if it cannot be saved by normal root canal treatments. Since endodontists still want to save the natural tooth, they make an incision into your gums near the affected tooth’s root to remove the inflamed or infected tissue and clean it out. They also remove the tip of the root and seal it with a small filling before stitching up the gums they cut.

Pulp capping: Two different methods, direct and indirect, of pulp capping exist:

Direct Pulp Capping – With exposed pulp tissue, we isolate the affected tooth. Exposed pulp tissue bleeds, so once that bleeding stops, we clean and dry the tooth and apply a protective biocompatible material directly over it. It seals the area to let it heal, and we place another restoration on top of it to get it feeling normal again.

Indirect Pulp Capping – When decay isn’t causing symptoms (like pain), but hasn’t quite made it into the dentin (inner tooth material), we consider indirect pulp capping. Your endodontist will remove the majority of the dedicated tooth, and leave behind a small bit that covers the pulp tissue, adding a sealant and temporary filling to help remineralize the inner tooth material.

Six to eight months after the initial treatment, we remove the temporary treatment, and usually the dentin covering the pulp recovers. If all goes according to plan, we restore the tooth and keep it from needing to be removed. The treatment costs less than a root canal, but if the recovery does not take, a root canal will still be needed afterwards.

Pulpotomy: Baby teeth end up growing out and being replaced by their adult teeth, but cavities cause a lot of discomfort and should be removed before the bacteria spreads to other healthy teeth. When baby teeth become infected with cavities, we use pulpotomies to restore their infected baby teeth by removing the damaged and infected pulp and treating the remaining pulp with a special medication to avoid further infection before adding a filling or crown to cap it off.

Retreatment: If your first root canal treatment ends up hurting for longer than expected or the area becomes reinfected, you may need a retreatment. Sometimes a tooth continues to decay, or a crack or broken crown exposes the area to become reinfected. The endodontist will reimage your tooth to check for new infections or untreated canals, clean and reshape those canals, and then fill them again before sealing the pulp with a temporary filling that will need to be replaced by them or your dentist before adding a crown to seal it off.

Endodontists save teeth! The main focus of endodontic work aims to restore your original tooth without replacing it entirely. While infected teeth can and sometimes need to be removed, endodontists know that no replacements work as well as your natural teeth.

Root canals, apicoectomies, pulp capping, pulpotomies, and retreatment all save the patient’s original teeth. Modern anesthesiology makes the surgery mostly painless, and the mouth naturally heals quickly. Instead of ripping out problematic teeth, your endodontist will talk with you about the best options you have before scheduling a date to work on the affected areas. During the procedure, they maintain sterile conditions and work to remove infections on a microscopic level using state-of-the-art imaging and NASA grade tools while providing you amenities to keep you occupied and as comfortable as possible during the operation. Call our office to learn more about endodontic treatment costs today!

You do not need to live with tooth pain! Our endodontists use the latest treatment advancements, techniques and procedures to save your natural teeth and relieve your oral pain. If you’re in need of endodontic treatment performed by a root canal specialist, we can help. Contact us today to schedule your endodontic evaluation at our location in Pueblo or Colorado Springs.