An alternative to a root canal is a tooth extraction, in which your dentist can replace a damaged tooth with a bridge, partial denture, or implant. This can be an expensive treatment and usually requires several visits to your doctor. If you're a candidate for a root canal, you'll likely experience less pain over time.
Dental treatment alternatives to a root canal include direct pulp capping, pulpotomy, pulpectomy, endodontic retreatment, endodontic surgery, tooth extraction, dental implants, bridges, or dentures.
Root canals are perhaps the most feared dental treatments. Just like any other medical procedure, early prevention and intervention can save you from getting a root canal. In most cases, a root canal is needed when a cavity gets deep and close to the pulp (nerve) of the tooth.
In other words, you can avoid root canal treatment and other alternatives by avoiding foods rich in sugars, practicing good oral hygiene, going for regular dental check-ups, and avoiding drinks and foods rich in acids and starch.
Accumulation of unwanted materials: Cholesterol crystals can accumulate and irritate the tissues where the root canal was done, as well as scar tissue or cystic lesions. Immune system response: The procedure can cause an overactive immune response in your body, causing negative health impacts.
Root canals are a simple procedure that are recommended to save damaged, natural teeth and prevent the need for dental bridges and implants. Root canals are necessary when the pulp, or soft tissue, inside the tooth becomes inflamed or infected, which could lead to an abscess.
Irrigating the tooth cavity with Ozone gas is another alternative to root canal therapy. Ozone penetrates the tubules of the tooth beyond the drilled areas and the lateral tubules to disinfect the tooth beneath the enamel.
Unlike other human body parts, our teeth cannot heal themselves after being damaged. The sole feasible course of action is to remove the infected parts to save the natural tooth. Schedule your appointment with a dentist today and get the treatment on time!
Root canals save your teeth by getting rid of the infection and fortifying what's left of your natural tooth. The only dental alternative to a root canal procedure is having your tooth removed. Then, tooth replacement is necessary to prevent bone loss in the jaw.
If a root canal is delayed for too long, the bacterial infection can spread to other areas of the mouth, putting the patient at risk for serious dental problems and other medical conditions. The infection can cause something called a dental abscess, which is a pus filled sac that requires immediate medical attention.
Delaying a root canal procedure can cause even more discomfort down the line as the infection is likely to spread. Leaving an infected root canal system untreated can result in an abscessed tooth, the pain of which can be incapacitating—and complications that can be serious, even life-threatening.
In most cases, root canal therapy is a better way to treat an infected tooth than an extraction. However, there are exceptions, such as if the tooth has suffered extreme damage. Your dentist will carefully analyze your oral health before making a treatment recommendation.
Technically, you don't always need a root canal treatment before getting a dental crown. Sometimes a dental crown improves the appearance of a stained or discolored tooth. While the dentist may stain the tooth's enamel, the inside of the tooth isn't compromised, and therefore a root canal isn't necessary.
You must undergo a root canal within a few weeks to fully eliminate the infection and save your tooth.
Age for Root canal
Notwithstanding, as per worldwide exploration, root canal treatment is performed on patients matured 12 to 64 years. The majority of 35 to 44 years of patients register for a root canal treatment.
A Root Canal Counts As An Emergency Dental Treatment
A root canal is typically considered to fall under the umbrella of emergency dentistry. Tooth infections are extremely painful and uncomfortable, and they can cause serious complications if they are left untreated, including the death of the infected tooth.
If the tooth decay has penetrated into the pulp of the tooth, it is likely that a root canal will be required to clean the infection from the tooth. If the tooth decay has not escalated to the pulp, chances are that the cavity can be repaired with the use of a simple filling.
If your tooth has decay to the enamel or dentin, a simple filling is enough to repair the cavity. However, if the cavity is left untreated, the decay will reach the deepest layer of the tooth, the nerve tissue. At this point, a root canal is necessary to repair the tooth.
Typically, a root canal becomes necessary as the result of a severe infection. This can be caused either by trauma to the tooth or by an untreated cavity. Often, the nerve in the tooth has become impacted by this point which can cause extreme pain.
Tooth extraction is necessary when the natural tooth is beyond saving, or the patient prefers an extraction over a root canal. Before an extraction, an oral surgeon or general dentist administers anesthesia and then simply pulls the tooth from its socket.
For example, if your infection is too severe to receive a root canal and antibiotics, your dentist might recommend an extraction instead even if it is not one of your wisdom teeth.
If you wait to have a root canal, you're only providing that infection more time to gain strength and spread. Infection can spread from the tooth into the bloodstream, and then you have a much more serious issue than a common and routine dental practice. 2.
Are Antibiotics a Viable Alternative to Root Canal Therapy? In some cases, a tooth infection will react well to antibiotics and make root canal therapy redundant. However, in other cases, taking antibiotics will only delay the inevitable, and the patient will have to opt for a root canal treatment in the future.