Human teeth have one to four roots depending on the tooth.  Inside each root is a pulp chamber that goes down the whole length of the root.  This pulp chamber is known as the root canal.  Within this root canal, is the nerve of the tooth.  Any trauma or infection to the nerve may result in the need for endodontic surgery or root canal therapy.  An example of a situation that would require a root canal would be deep tooth decay that goes all the way through the tooth to the pulp.  The tooth may become infected (abscessed) resulting in a painful tooth.

How are root canals done?

After your dentist has determined that a tooth needs a root canal by x-rays or dental digital x-rays, hot/cold tests, and/or pulp vitality test, he or she may give you antibiotics if the tooth is infected.  Next, your dentist will give you anesthetic to numb your tooth.  After your tooth is numb, your dentist will do the following:

• Isolate your tooth with a rubber dam. This is done to keep your tooth dry and to protect your other teeth from medicines used to disinfect the inside of the infected tooth.
• A small hole is drilled through the top of the tooth to the pulp chamber to gain access to the nerve.
• Tiny files are used to remove the nerve and infected tissue from the tooth. At this point, another x-ray may be taken to ensure that all of the nerve has been removed.  If it hasn’t, then re-infection and possible tooth loss can occur.
• After the entire nerve has been removed, the tooth is dried and filled with a material called gutta-percha. Gutta-percha seals the inside of the tooth.
• Next, your dentist will remove any decay from the tooth. If the tooth has so much decay that it will not support a crown or a new filling, a post may be placed inside the tooth.  The tooth will then be built up to strengthen it for a crown.  If your root canal was performed by an endodontist, then he will place a temporary filling on the tooth and send you back to your dentist who will most likely recommend a crown for the tooth to protect it from cracking and breaking.

After your appointment, your dentist may recommend a pain reliever to take at home. If you were given antibiotics before the  root canal, you will be told to finish all of the medication. Now you are ready to enjoy a pain free smile courtesy of your dentist and root canal therapy. That is, assuming your dentist is a trusted professional and does not use paper clips for root canals!

Here is a short video of the root canal therapy process:

An endodontist is similar to a general dentist in that they both have graduated from dental school, which is usually four years long.  In addition to dental school, an endodontist must complete two to three years of advanced training to become a specialist in root canal therapy.  Although many general dentists perform root canals, sometimes the procedure may require the expertise of an endodontist.

Unfortunately, the term “root canal” has gotten a bloodcurdling reputation as being a painful procedure, but those days are long gone.  Today, routine root canals are effortlessly performed by endodontists with little to no discomfort to the patient.  In a root canal procedure (otherwise known as endodontic treatment) the diseased nerve, blood vessels, and tissue are removed from inside of the tooth and replaced with restorative material.  A crown is then positioned on top of the tooth to protect and make your tooth strong.  By and large, endodontic treatment will restore the function of your tooth and reclaim your dazzling smile!

For more info about endodontics and root canals, check out this short video clip:

-Katie

1. What is your purpose for wanting to visit the dentist? Did you smoke too many Marlboro lights in high school and now your teeth are a lovely shade of nicotine? Or maybe you wince in pain every time you chew on anything thicker than baby food. The answer will help you determine what type of speciality you’ll want your dentist schooled in.
2. What’s your budget? Do you have dental insurance to help foot the bill? If not, are you willing to give up next year’s vacation in order to afford a doc with the latest Matrix-like technology? Decisions, decisions…
3. When reading reviews of a dentist on a social media site, please please please keep your salt shaker by your side. Review sites possess a few fundamental flaws. These include:

• The reviews are opinions. We all perceive experiences differently.
• There are rumors that businesses pay people to write positive reviews. I’m no Veronica Mars, teenage PI, and I have no proof of this, but it’s definitely conceivable.
• There is the probability that some of the positive reviews are being written by employees of the business while negative reviews may be written by their competitors.
• Small sample size. Users are basing their decisions on possibly one or two reviews when the business is visited by hundreds or thousands of people.

Hopefully answering these questions will give you a bit more focus on what type of dentist you’ll want to look for. For more helpful tips on finding that one-of-a-kind dentist in San Francisco, check our dentist reviews and ratings.

Photo by gerlos

Before hitting the yellow pages or searching for a San Francisco dentist online there are a few criteria you should be wary of.

Reputation

All dentists, as with any profession, were not created equal but you will be glad to know that the general level of technical capability of San Francisco dentists is quite high for the most part. Searching for dentist reviews online can help as can word of mouth from a friend but remember that it can be difficult for a layman to tell the difference between good, bad and average. Professional referral is a slightly better gauge as a dentist will know a good, bad or average dentist.

Facilities

Did you know there are tools to get rid of or reduce that gagging feeling, or a machine that can build a dental implant immediately on site removing the need for multiple visits or that there is a shot that halves the time you have that numb feeling after you visit? Well, there are and not all San Francisco dentists have all. Some people have such levels of fear when visiting the dentist that full or partial sedation is a definite need – not all San Francisco dentists do this, but some do. If you have an idea of what work you will be doing, ask about the appropriate equipment the dentist will be using or ask him what is available to combat any concerns you might be harboring.

Cost

Depending on the procedure the cost of a visit to the dentist in San Francisco can become somewhat expensive. Factors that determine cost will be primarily reputation or experience, equipment (he has to pay for the machines some way), location (San Francisco rent is not cheap) and of course the procedure being delivered.

Insurance

For most, dental insurance is quite basic so if you are getting more than a check-up or a filling, do not bank on insurance protecting your wallet. I am including this here so sticker shock is somewhat reduced if you are seeking something like cosmetic dentistry.

Convenience

In some cases, you may be required to make multiple visits in a short amount of time so thinking with location, parking and even traffic may be an important factor. What is the point of driving to a cheap part of San Francisco (if there is one) to save a couple of hundred dollars when the time to get off work, drive and park negates that saving.

So there you go. Don’t worry, your odds are good. We at Doctorbase would like to humbly offer our listings of quality dentists in San Francisco as they have been checked for reviews and facilities with many having peer reviews too. They wouldn’t be on our listings if they had a bunch of bad reviews. If you choose not to, you obviously know how to use Google – you found us – so good luck.

E-mail the author with a question, seriously I don’t mind, it’s what i’m here for. If I don’t know the answer, I know a lot of dentists, I’ll get you an answer.

A root canal is the space within the root of a tooth. It is part of a naturally occurring space within a tooth that consists of the pulp chamber (within the coronal part of the tooth), the main canal(s), and more intricate anatomical branches that may connect the root canals to each other or to the surface of the root. The smaller branches are most frequently found near the root end (apex) but may be encountered anywhere along the root length. There may be one or two main canals within each root. Some teeth have more variable internal anatomy than others. This space is filled with a highly vascularized, loose connective tissue, the dental pulp. The dental pulp is the tissue which forms the dentin portion of the tooth. The formation of secondary teeth (adult teeth) is completed by 1-2 years after eruption into the mouth. Once the tooth has reached its final size and shape, the dental pulp’s original function ceases for all practical purposes. It takes on a secondary role as a sensory organ.

Root canal is also a colloquial term for a dental operation, endodontic therapy, wherein the pulp is cleaned out, the space disinfected and then filled.

You can find an endodontist in your area.