If you ever watched the television show “Mythbusters,” then you know the premise of the show was to demonstrate if something was confirmed, plausible, or “busted.”<\/p>\n
They often took on generally held beliefs such as whether yawning is contagious and the “five-second rule” about dropping food. <\/p>\n
We wish they had done an episode on another widely held misconception \u2014 that root canals hurt.<\/p>\n
This is the reason that many people will live with a toothache instead of coming to get a root canal treatment. Today, we will tackle some myths about root canals in hopes of helping our patients understand that root canals are beneficial for you and your oral health.<\/p>\n
And if you need a root canal treatment, we hope you will contact our dentist office in Monroe, LA as soon as you can. Your teeth aren’t supposed to hurt. <\/p>\n
If they do, Bayou Dental Group wants to relieve your pain. A root canal might be the best way to do that.<\/p>\n
Myth: Root Canals Hurt.<\/b><\/p>\n
Fact: Root Canals Relieve Pain.<\/i><\/p>\n
We don’t know why this belief persists.<\/p>\n
We have all seen movie scenes where dentists are portrayed as having a fascination with pain. In real life, we don’t know any dentists like that, and the last thing we want to do at Bayou Dental Group is cause more pain for our patients.<\/p>\n
In modern dentistry, we have a number of ways that we can repair your teeth so that you won’t feel a thing.<\/p>\n
Before we perform a root canal, we will first examine your tooth to identify the cause of your pain. We will not recommend a root canal unless we think it is the best treatment option for you.<\/p>\n
When we perform the procedure, we take steps to prevent you from feeling any pain. We start by giving you a local anesthetic to numb your mouth and the nearby gum tissue.<\/p>\n
But if you want to make absolutely sure that you don’t feel a thing, then you can undergo oral conscious sedation. With this, you will take a pill before the procedure begins. This ensures that you won’t be aware of what is happening during your treatment.<\/p>\n
You will need a ride home if you receive oral sedation, however.<\/p>\n
Myth: Root Canals Make People Sick.<\/b><\/p>\n
Fact: Root Canals Improve Your Oral Health.<\/i><\/p>\n
The internet is a wonderful thing. It allows people to research information on a wide range of topics. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of bad information on the internet, too.<\/p>\n
An example of this are websites that claim root canal treatments cause disease. If anything, the opposite is true.<\/p>\n
If you need a root canal, it is because you already have an infection. The bacteria that cause gum disease and tooth decay eat into your teeth when they can. <\/p>\n
If you don’t stop they, they will eat into the center of your tooth where you have a soft tissue known as pulp. Nerves and blood vessels run through your root canal into this pulp.<\/p>\n
If the pulp becomes infected, that’s when you will feel the pain of a toothache. Often the best way to fix it is by removing the infected pulp along with the nerves and blood vessels and filling in your root canal.<\/p>\n
The filling material prevents new infections from developing inside that tooth.<\/p>\n
Myth: It’s Better To Remove Your Tooth Than To Have A Root Canal. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Fact: It Depends On The Condition Of Your Tooth.<\/i><\/p>\n
The origins of this myth go back to a dentist who practiced in the 1920s. We have learned a lot more about the causes of diseases in the past century, and multiple studies have shown how that dentist was wrong.<\/p>\n
Does this mean we always recommend a root canal? No, it doesn’t.<\/p>\n
We prefer to save as much of your healthy tooth as we can. This is why dentists give dental fillings and create dental crowns for patients. It’s also why we perform root canals as a way to save as much of your healthy tooth structure as we can.<\/p>\n
With that said, if your tooth has been severely damaged, then there may be times when extraction is a better option.<\/p>\n
We aren’t going to recommend any procedure unless we believe it is the best option for your long-term oral health.<\/p>\n
Myths Should Not Stop You From Getting Help<\/b><\/p>\n
We want to reiterate that your teeth are not supposed to cause you pain. If they are, then you should do something about it, and a root canal may be the best way to alleviate that pain.<\/p>\n
To learn more about root canal treatments, contact us or stop by our dentist office in Monroe, LA.<\/p>\n