Not every tooth needs replacing. Dr. Melih Kaya is the endodontist at Dentfix — the specialty whose purpose is to save a tooth that would otherwise be removed.
Plan with Dr. Melih →Endodontics deals with the inside of the tooth — the pulp, the nerve and the root canal system. It is the specialty you meet when a tooth is painful, infected or abscessed, and it exists to keep the natural tooth in place.
That aim is worth stating plainly, because it runs against the assumption many patients arrive with. A tooth that hurts is not automatically a tooth to extract and replace with an implant. Where the root is sound, treating it is usually the better outcome — your own tooth root, kept.
It also matters for planning. An untreated infection under a tooth that is about to be crowned, or next to a site where an implant is planned, has to be resolved first or it compromises the work built on top of it.
Removing infected pulp, disinfecting the canal system and sealing it, so a tooth that is painful or abscessed can be kept rather than extracted.
Read about Root canal treatment →Diagnosing where pain is actually coming from — which is often not the tooth the patient points at — and treating the cause.
Read about Treatment of dental pain and abscess →Reopening and re-treating a previously treated tooth where the original work has failed or the infection has returned.
Read about Root canal retreatment →Checking that a tooth is free of infection before a crown, veneer or bridge is built onto it.
Read about Pre-restorative assessment →Dentfix articles covering dental pain, infection and tooth preservation are medically reviewed by Dr. Melih before publication. 8 articles.
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