Has the slight discomfort you were feeling for months, now, recently transitioned into extreme dental pain? Does it hurt so badly that it has become difficult to chew comfortably, or even to smile confidently? If so, you may have an infected tooth. While tooth infections can be painful and they are certainly not something anyone wants to be diagnosed with, they don’t have to mean the end of your smile as you know it. In many cases, endodontic care, like root canal treatment, makes it possible to save an infected tooth, and to prevent the spread of the infection. So stop delaying treatment, for fear of what it will entail, and instead find out if root canal therapy could be the solution your smile needs!

What Makes People So Afraid of Root Canal Therapy?

Many people have great reservations about the idea of root canal treatment, without really understanding why. That is because most patients don’t realize that root canal therapy, while more invasive than some procedures like the addition of dental fillings, for instance, is actually less invasive and expensive than alternatives, such as extraction, which would then require a prosthetic tooth be placed.

Perhaps most importantly, root canal treatment is frequently necessary to both save a damaged tooth, as well as to prevent the spread of the infection to other parts of the smile, and even the body, through the bloodstream.

Root canal treatment involves carefully removing any portions of the tooth that have become infected, and then sealing it against reinfection, generally through the use of a dental crown.