Tooth Saving Tips

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Patients today have more options than ever before to treat their teeth. Understanding your choices and their impact on your future dental health and lifestyle is important. Read on to learn why nothing is as good as your natural tooth and get simple tips for saving your teeth!

Saving a natural tooth through endodontic treatment should always be the first choice for your overall health and the best aesthetic results. There are many advantages to saving your natural tooth:

  • Efficient chewing
  • Normal biting force, so you can continue to eat your favourite foods
  • Maintains a natural appearance
  • Limits the need for more costly, ongoing dental work
  • Avoids surgical extraction and surgical implant placement as well as adjunct surgical procedures and costs

Tips for Saving Your Teeth

  1. If you are given a choice between root canal treatment or tooth extraction, always choose root canal treatment. Dentistry has yet to produce a denture, bridge, or implant that looks, feels and functions as well as a natural tooth. Nothing beats the real thing!
  2. If your dentist recommends tooth extraction, ask whether root canal treatment is an option.
  3. If your dentist says that an endodontic procedure is not an option, ask why, and request a referral to an endodontist. Endodontists are dentists who specialise in saving teeth, and have two to three years of advanced training in root canal diagnosis and treatment. They are experts at diagnosing and relieving tooth pain, and use advanced equipment to treat patients quickly and comfortably. Your dentist probably has partnerships with endodontists in your area already.

What to Avoid

Never choose extraction because you think it will be cheaper! When a natural tooth is extracted, it must be replaced with an artificial tooth to prevent other teeth from shifting, and to avoid future dental problems. The cost of a denture, bridge or implant, plus the extraction, is more often than not higher than the cost of root canal treatment. Modern endodontic procedures allow more teeth to be saved than every before! Most dental insurance plans cover endodontic treatment.

Never choose extraction because you think root canal treatment will be painful! Modern techniques and effective anaesthesia make root canal treatment virtually painless. In fact, discomfort after the procedure is generally greater with a tooth extraction. Patients who have experienced root canal treatment are six times more likely to describe it as “painless” than patients who have not had a root canal.

Never choose extraction because you think it will be quicker! Endodontic treatments generally require one to two visits lasting an hour or less each. An extraction requires one visit, but the denture, bridge or implant will require several additional visits with your dentist.