Once tooth decay has reached the nerve of a tooth and the tooth has become infected, you have two options: extraction or root canal treatment. When a tooth is infected, it can cause you pain.
Root canals can have a bad reputation. But we want to fix that! A well-performed root canal doesn’t need to be scary or painful. At Beaches Dental Mona Vale, we perform many root canals every year – we love saving teeth and restoring smiles.
There’s no denying dental work can cause patients to feel anxious.. The aim is to minimize that potential stress with quality dental care and provide results that last years and years.
Advantages and Disadvantages of a Root Canal
The benefits of a root canal are many, but we have to think about the potential disadvantages, too. Here’s a rundown of some of the advantages and disadvantages of root canal treatments from the Beaches Dental team.
Advantages of Root Canal Treatments
- Root canal treatments allow you to keep your tooth: The alternative to a root canal treatment is tooth extraction.
- Root canal should not be painful: Root canals can be anxiety causing by name, l, but treatment should not be painful in most cases. A local l anaesthetic will keep the tooth numb as your dentist works on your tooth.
- Recovery time is minimal: In fact, recovering from a root canal is often much quicker than recovering from an extraction in most cases.
- A root canal with crown can cost less than replacing a missing tooth after extraction: An extraction may initially be a cheaper solution, but if you decide later that you want to replace the missing tooth for aesthetic or other dental reasons, the process can be comparatively lengthy and costly especially if you are considering replacing the missing tooth with a dental implant.
Disadvantages of Root Canal Treatments:
- They can fail: Although root canals are 90 to 95% effective, they don’t always work. A very bad infection, a fracture or many other reasons could result in your root canal failing and that your tooth ultimately needs to be extracted.
- Root canals take longer than an extraction and are often performed over multiple visits: A root canal treatment can take multiple visits (usually 2 or 3) of varying length (30-90 minutes) to complete.. A tooth extraction typically takes 30-60 minutes.
- Root canal teeth need to be crowned: After completing your root canal treatment a crown is recommended to help strengthen and protect your tooth from future fractures or breaks.
- Root canals are more expensive than extractions: However, if patients decide they want to replace their missing tooth with a denture, bridge or implant this will raise the costs and mean more dental procedures.
Root Canals At Beaches Dental
At Beaches Dental Mona Vale, we’re happy to talk through any worries or questions you might have. If you’re in the Northern Beaches area, contact us to discuss your options or make an appointment for a consultation about root canal treatment or any other dental need.
