Deborah S. Bishop, DMD Blog

It’s October, and many people love to get into the spooky spirit with Halloween just around the corner. There are some scares that aren’t so exciting, though, and dental emergencies are among them! Harmful bacteria are attracted to the sugar in all the goodies available this time of year, which can lead to tooth decay. If left unaddressed, it can progress to the point that it needs a root canal, which would ruin anyone’s festive fun.  

As a result, a lot of parents worry that their child will overeat candy and end up with a cavity- or worse. Fortunately, you can help prevent that by following these 4 helpful tips.

Dental problems can be daunting, to say the least. And if you’ve been informed that you’re going to need a root canal to address something going on inside your mouth, sometimes simply knowing that you’re choosing the best person for the job is enough to put your doubts to rest. While many dentists can perform root canals, an endodontist is a specialist uniquely qualified for this intricate and useful procedure. Keep reading to learn more about why your trusted endodontist is the one you should visit.

Root canals are dental treatments designed to rescue and rejuvenate severely damaged or infected teeth by eliminating infected pulp and sealing the inner canals. Often associated with apprehension and discomfort, these procedures are commonly misunderstood but can offer relief while preserving your natural tooth, avoiding extraction. Contrary to misconceptions, they are generally straightforward and almost painless. If you’re preparing for root canal therapy, continue reading to discover what to anticipate post-procedure and how to prepare for it.

Toothaches result from infections within the teeth and have a reputation for being quite aggravating. On their own, they can be miserably painful, but many people avoid getting help out of fear of going to the dentist. While one might be tempted to say, “My teeth are pretty far from all my vital organs, so ignoring this toothache couldn’t be that bad,” nothing could be further from the truth. What might seem like a simple toothache can progress into a potentially fatal condition. Here’s more about why you should seek emergency dental care for a toothache.

There are several myths and horror stories surrounding root canals that can lead people to needlessly allow problems to get much worse. In fact, a root canal can take the pain out of a miserable toothache in one or two sessions. Read on to learn more about how root canals are routine and perfectly humane dental procedures.

When you’re dealing with a really serious oral infection, the number one priority is usually to treat it as quickly as possible. In that situation, you probably care a lot more about how fast you can get treated as opposed to what kind of treatment you get.

However, there is an important choice that you need to make if you’re dealing with a toothache—whether you get a root canal or an extraction. Here are a few more details about this kind of treatment and how to pick which one is right for you.

If you’re an athlete, it’s easy to wind up dealing with some serious dental emergencies while trying to play the best game that you can. This is obviously the case in contact sports, but even some non-contact sports like basketball can get rough enough to cause problems from time to time.

For that reason, athletes need to be even more conscientious than others about protecting their teeth. Here are a few dental emergencies you may want to watch out for, along with what you can do about them.

When dealing with a severely infected tooth, waiting for the infection to heal on its own or relying on antibiotics won’t suffice. A root canal is the only effective treatment. Although the procedure boasts a 95% success rate, misinformation about it is not uncommon, including the belief that it can cause cancer. But is there any truth to this claim? Read on to learn more about how root canal therapy works and whether it poses a cancer risk.

If your dentist told you that you need root canal therapy, you may have instantly groaned with dread. However, it’s not quite the bad news it seems to be. While Hollywood has perpetuated the myth that it is painful, only 95% of people experience little to mild discomfort with the procedure. As a matter of fact, root canal therapy is meant to relieve you of your tooth pain, not cause more! But what if your toothache goes away? Read on to learn more about root canal therapy and why you may still need the procedure even if your tooth isn’t causing you discomfort anymore.

If you’ve had a root canal performed at some point, you probably experienced firsthand that the procedure wasn’t nearly as scary as you expected it to be. Root canals are usually used to save a tooth that would otherwise require extraction, and can be a painless way to treat very uncomfortable infections.

However, you might have noticed recently that you’ve started feeling the same discomfort you had when you first needed that root canal. In that case, you may require what’s called a root canal retreatment. If you want to know a little more about what this is and why you may need it, here’s a guide that can help you.