Endodontics

Your teeth need to be healthy on both the outside and the inside. If you’re suffering from damage or infection in the inside of your tooth, you might need a root canal treatment. At Fantastic Family Dental in Cambrian Park, San Jose, California, Doris Lin, DDS, provides exceptional endodontics services like root canals. To get started, schedule a visit today by calling the office at Fantastic Family Dental or using the convenient online booking tool.

Endodontics Q&A

What is endodontics?

Endodontics is the study of the structures inside your teeth. It’s a dental specialty that requires additional training after earning a dental degree. One of the more common procedures in endodontics is a root canal.

What is a root canal?

A root canal is a procedure that treats damaged or infected tooth pulp. Your pulp is the soft inner portion of your tooth, composed of blood vessels, connective tissues, and nerve fibers.

When your pulp becomes damaged (either through physical trauma to your tooth or through decay that reaches all the way to the inside of your tooth), it swells and compresses the nerves within, which can be very painful.

In a root canal, your dentist removes all of the damaged pulp from your tooth and replaces it with a rubber-like compound called gutta-percha.

After your tooth has erupted through the gumline, your pulp doesn’t serve much of a purpose beyond providing sensation for hot and cold substances, so removing it won’t make a large difference in your day-to-day experience, and it will significantly improve your oral health.

What are the indications of infected tooth pulp?

Some of the signs you might have damaged or infected tooth pulp include:

Discoloration or darkness in your tooth
Severe toothache
A small pimple-like bump near your tooth root
Pus around your gum line
A foul taste in your mouth

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, schedule a visit with Dr. Lin at Fantastic Family Dental immediately for further evaluation.

What happens if I forgo treatment for my infected tooth?

If you don’t seek treatment for damaged or infected tooth pulp, it can cause serious harm to your overall oral health.

The infection in your tooth pulp can spread to neighboring teeth — or even to your gums and jawbone — where the treatment becomes much more invasive and costly. In some cases, the infection can even make its way into your bloodstream, causing sepsis.

Does a root canal hurt?

Root canals have a reputation as being painful procedures, but that’s largely due to their mischaracterization in movies and TV shows. In fact, the most painful element in a root canal is the infected tooth pulp that necessitates the treatment in the first place.

The root canal itself, therefore, actually alleviates the pain. And at Fantastic Family Dental, Dr. Lin uses local anesthetics to keep your mouth numb throughout your entire root canal procedure, so you won’t feel a thing.

Find relief today and improve your oral health by scheduling an endodontics visit with Fantastic Family Dental. You can book your visit by phone or online.