Are There Alternatives to Endoscopic Treatments?
Saving your natural teeth, if possible, is the very best option.
The cost or simplicity of a tooth extraction might seem attractive in comparison to having root canal treatment performed. But this solution might not be the easiest or least expensive treatment choice in the long run. Nothing can completely replace your natural tooth. An artificial tooth can sometimes cause you to avoid certain foods. Keeping your own teeth is important so that you can continue to enjoy the wide variety of foods necessary to maintain the proper nutrient balance in your diet.
Claims have been made that it is impossible to fully sterilize a tooth internally, or fill it in a perfectly inert biocompatible permanent fashion. There is an ongoing risk of infection, which may pose dangers to the rest of the body. Unfortunately, there is generally no satisfactory alternative. Pulling the tooth leaves a gap which poses both aesthetic and functional problems, and endangers the structure of the adjacent teeth. When a tooth is missing its neighboring teeth will tend to shift, sometimes significantly. This in turn can have a major impact on your dental health. Even losing a single tooth can lead to problems with your chewing ability or your jaw joint. Teeth that have shifted because of a lost neighboring tooth can be more likely to have dental problems themselves.
Endodontic treatment, along with appropriate restoration, is a cost-effective way to treat teeth with damaged pulp and is usually less expensive than extraction and placement of a bridge or an implant. Endodontic treatment also has a very high success rate. Many root canal treated teeth last a lifetime. Placement of a bridge or an implant will require significanly more time in treatment and may result in further procedures to adjacent teeth and supporting tissues.
Millions of healthy endodontically treated teeth serve patients all over the world, years and years after treatment. Those healthy teeth are helping patients chew efficiently, maintain the natural appearance of their smiles and enhance their enjoyment of life. Through endodontic treatment, endodontists and dentists worldwide enable patients to keep their natural teeth for a lifetime.
Brian P Trava DMD, SuJean Oh DDS and Alison Petix DMD: Endodontists - Providing services in endodontics and root canal dentistry to the areas of North Jersey (NJ).
Paterson NJ Dentist
290 LaFayette Avenue Hawthorne, NJ 07506 | Ph. 973-423-0789
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