What Is the Role of an Endodontist?

An endodontist is a specialized dental professional diagnosing and treating various conditions affecting the tooth’s pulp and the nerves and tissue around the tooth root. Endodontists primarily perform nonsurgical root canal treatments, endodontic surgeries, and apicoectomies.

All Endodontists are dentists, but fewer than three percent of dentists qualify as Endodontists. Endodontists are specialists in their field like any other doctor and have received an additional two to three years of education beyond dental school. The additional training they receive focus is on identifying tooth pain and root canal therapies and other treatments related to the insides of the tooth. Many times a disease or infected tooth is preserved with endodontic treatment. It is why Endodontists refer to themselves as specialists in keeping teeth.

What Makes Endodontists Different?

Endodontists, before becoming specialists receive two to three years of additional education in advanced specialty programs in endodontics after graduating from dental school. Their focus is to study infections or diseases affecting the dental pulp to provide endodontic treatment. An emergency endodontist is qualified to perform prompt root canal therapy whenever the situation demands it.

Endodontists Specialize in Their Expertise

Endodontists limit their practice exclusively to endodontics treating the dental pulp. They finish around 25 root canal treatments every week, while professionals in general dentistry only average one or two. Placing fillings or cleaning teeth is not the focus of Endodontists who dedicate their time to diagnosing and treating tooth pain. Endodontists are skilled specialists identifying the cause of oral and facial pain that is challenging to diagnose.

Pain Management Is Also an Area Endodontists Focus on

Specialized techniques are used by Endodontists to make sure patients are entirely comfortable during the treatments they require. Administering numbing medications is their expertise, especially to patients who conventionally have problems receiving anesthesia and staying numb. Besides treating you comfortably, they relieve you of tooth pain after the process of a root canal. The treatment leads to the healing of the infection and inflammation in the pulp.

Cutting-Edge Technologies Are Used by Endodontists

Making your treatment comfortable and pain-free is the aim of Endodontists who routinely use materials and equipment created to make your treatment successful. Using a plastic or rubber sheet called a dental dam is routine during root canal treatment to isolate your tooth during the procedure. It also helps to protect the rest of your mouth. Endodontists have digital photographs and 3D imaging to take comprehensive pictures of the tiny tooth anatomy to view the root canals better besides any related infections. The insides of a root canal are smaller than you can imagine and Endodontists from Lincoln Dental Associates routinely use dental operating microscopes to view inside the root canals clearly for treating them thoroughly.

If you have an infected tooth causing pain and tooth sensitivity, you will be referred to an Endodontist by your general dentist. Undergoing root canal treatment seems like a fearful thought. Still, with the expertise Endodontists have in managing the entire procedure comfortably and painlessly, you should be happy to have received the referral for treating tooth pain from an experienced dental professional.

As mentioned earlier, Endodontists do not concentrate on routine dental practices such as cleanings, dental exams, fillings, and others. Even after they perform root canal treatments rendering your tooth fragile, they refer you back to your dentist to have a dental crown placed on top of the affected tooth. Endodontists are specialists in relieving the pain you experience from an infected tooth painlessly and comfortably. They help you preserve your natural tooth for a lifetime with endodontic treatments by removing any infections and inflammation from within.

Why Preserving Your Natural Tooth Is Important?

Nothing can replicate the feeling of the functioning of your natural tooth. Brushing your teeth twice a day, flossing, and six-monthly exams and checkups from a dental office in Lincoln help to keep your teeth for a lifetime. However, your teeth may develop infections to need additional care in many cases. Wherever possible, you must consider options to preserve the natural tooth without considering the possibility of extraction.

Do not think extraction is a better option, or it is more affordable. Missing teeth encourage your other teeth to shift position affecting your ability to chew appropriately or smile. Dental extractions are more painful than infections. Replacing an extracted tooth with artificial teeth requires multiple visits to dentist’s offices and substantial expenditure. Rather than go through the trouble of having your tooth removed, why not choose the more straightforward method of visiting an endodontist to preserve your tooth for life? We are confident you will undoubtedly choose the latter.