Dan's Papers - March 28, 2008 - The Y Factor with Christian McLean

The American Association of Endodontists has declared March 30-April 5 National Root Canal Awareness Week. I know what you're thinking - life just doesn't get any better than this! But in all honesty, while dentists scare the bejesus out of most people, they are a necessary evil in our society (they're not really evil).

While this article may make you squirm a little, I think it's about time everyone gets a little dental terminology down. (Just last week I was talking to someone who didn't know what a root canal was. He was clearly one of the lucky ones who never received one.) We hear plenty of dental procedures being thrown around in everyday conversation and many of us have no idea what they mean. Bridges, implants and root canals are common practice, but what are they and are they really as frightening as they sound?

Most people have been unlucky enough to have a cavity and while the sound of a drill makes them shiver, new technology today makes getting a filling a snap. I'm talking about laser beams. Like Lasik surgery, these lasers are so precise they can eliminate the need for Novocain. They also cut down on the possibility of hairline cracks, which sometimes occur while drilling.

Next to cavities, root canals are one of the most common dental procedures. Exactly what is a root canal? If you examine your x-rays the next time you go to the dentist, you'll notice that your teeth look like they have vertical hollow tubes inside them. Those tubes are actually filled with pulp, which contains nerve endings, lymph vessels, arteries, and veins. When these areas get infected and begin to degenerate, the pain can be severe, and due to the degeneration of the lymph vessels, they cannot bring white blood cells into the tooth to fight the infection. The solution is a root canal. What dentists do is get you good and numbed up then begin drilling, much like they would to get rid of a cavity. They continue until the pulp or "nerve" is exposed. They then begin to clean it out with little files that look like pins. The files vary in size, and as the procedure advances, the files will get larger, cleaning out a larger amount of the pulp. Once the canal is cleaned out, a rubbery substance called gutta percha is applied to the canal. It can be put in the canal and then heated to fit better or applied from a gun that heats it before it's released. Either way, once the canal is filled, the upper part of your tooth is filled the same way a cavity would be. That's it. You can go on living like a normal person.

If the tooth cannot be saved, then you can opt for a bridge or a dental implant. When a tooth must be pulled, obviously there's going to be a gap. This gap can lead to twisting or shifting of other teeth, so in addition to the simple aesthetic of a full set of teeth, a bridge helps keep your teeth in place. A bridge is just that. It connects two existing teeth with a prosthetic one. In other words, if you are missing a tooth, a device is created which connects to the two surrounding teeth with a replacement tooth.

An implant is a little more intense. A titanium screw is attached to the bone and then an artificial tooth is attached to it. While it sounds simple enough, there are a few different procedures. Some take a couple of hours and some take multiple visits over several weeks to complete. All of them take time for your body to accept the foreign metal that now exists in your mouth, but eventually you will look and feel great.

Okay, that's all the space I have to fill you in on teeth. While all these things seem painful, the most painful thing about them is they cost a fortune, so unless you have dental insurance, you'd better take dang good care of your chompers. The best way to do this is to practice proper dental hygiene. That means flossing, brushing and visits to the dentist.