Are you afraid of a radical channel? | The newspaper

This story first appeared on Healthy You – April 2025, the quarterly publication of Gazette’s health.

Everyone is afraid of listening to their dentist that they will need a radical channel. We are afraid of pain and multiple, long visits to the endodontist. Fortunately, developments in the area have made the root canal process much less painful and much faster. Can often be done on a visit.

Dr. Abhishek Parolia, Associate Professor and Research Director at the Department of Endodontics at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinic, often speaks with patients who are reluctant to go through the process.

“We are trying to relieve their pain and save their natural teeth,” he reminds them.

Dr. Derek Peek, an endodontic certified by the Board of Directors at Cedar Rapids, agrees. “The long -term goal is to save the teeth,” he said. Research has shown that people who are able to maintain their natural teeth live longer lives.

Both endodontists point out that today, a radical canal process is no more painful than filling. For the majority of patients, medicine for pain without a medical period-such as ibuprofen or tylenol-are the only post-processing drugs that patients need.

The need for a radical channel begins deep in the tooth. Our teeth are not hard all the way. At the center of each tooth, under the hard layers of enamel and dentin, is the soft, vibrant pulp. Pulp cells helped your body create teeth when you were young. Nerves in our pulp inform when something is very hot, cold or hard for our teeth.

Problems arise when the infection enters this part of our tooth, causing the blunt. Ambolus can cause pain and can even cause the nerves to die.

“If the nerve dies, the inside of the tooth becomes like a tunnel,” Peek said. “This empty tunnel can be filled with bacteria.”

Usually, the hard surface of our tooth protects the pulp from infection. But deep caries, or cavities, can leave the bacteria on the pulp in a tooth. A crack or chip on a tooth due to injury or teeth can do the same thing. Sometimes people can know that there is something wrong: they take toothache. Other times, people can ignore an infection until a dentist notes.

The contaminated pulp – or a tooth with dead nerves where the pulp was – are signs that a root tube should be done. If not, the infection could make you lose your tooth.

Progresses that help the process more comfortable for patients include new diagnostics tools and tools used during the process itself.

To plan the process, Parolia uses CBCT or conecision computed tomography, a imaging device that provides 3-D images of a patient’s teeth.

“I use CBCT to all my patients,” Peek said. “X 2-D rays do not really show everything. They only identified 25 % of the problems.” With a defective diagnosis, patients had to return for more treatment. With CBCT, 100 percent of the tooth problems can see so that patients have a better diagnosis.

Endodontists are also experts to make sure that the patient’s mouth is numbness for a procedure. “We make sure the process is painless,” Parolia said. Depending on the medical history, the patient’s allergies, the depth of the infection and even their level of anxiety, the type of anesthesia can be regulated for each patient.

The process itself is now much faster and more effective than in the past. Once the patient’s mouth is numbness, the endodontic will pierce a small hole in the infected tooth and use tiny organs to make sure that the pulp and channels on the roots of the tooth are accessible. According to Parolia, a surgical microscope can sometimes be used to make the process more accurately.

Then the inside of the tooth must be cleaned of bacteria and infected material. Today, endodontics use a device that uses sound waves and a disinfectant fluid to remove the infected material instead of getting rid of it. This new procedure means that less than the tooth must be removed, leading to stronger teeth post-processing.

Once the interior of the tooth is cleaned, the endodontic will fill any empty tunnels and channels with biocompatible material, sealing the against future infection – and this is the end of the procedure. Most channel root processes in the PEEK office can be made on a visit that lasts 45 minutes or less.

Most people should have their tooth once crowned after the canal root process. The infection has already weakened the tooth, so a crown will help protect it. Peek reminds his patients that although their toothache pre-root may disappear after the root canal procedure that has removed the infection, they still must have a dental crown on the tooth.

With developments in dental technology and knowledge, patients can deal with a root tube with less fear, knowing that their teeth will be saved. As Peek’s website proudly states, “the root channels are fine!”