Re: Dentist advising to wait on root canal

<Zzzdentist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1193386886.638419.153920@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Oct 25, 6:41 am, "Robert W" <guyinc...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Is there anything I can do to give it a
better shot at recovery: chew on it more, chew on it less, apply heat,
apply
cold, take aspirin, etc etc?

You're welcome. Some of my analogies may be off the wall at times,
but I find that they give people a different perspective on a scenario
to think about. I would chew on the tooth less, stick to lukewarm
foods and liquids, rinse with warm water after brushing with Sensodyne
toothpaste, take an anti-inflammatory like Ibuprofen for the pain if
you have no contraindications to it, check to make sure the tooth's
not high in the bite (have it adjusted if it is high), don't grind at
night on it (use an occlusal guard or NTI), and hope it recovers. It
may very well be on it's way to turning into an irreversible pulpitis,
but you never know, it might recover if given some time.

Root canals on molars run around $600-800 CDN. If your dentist is
trying to see if you can avoid one by giving it some time to possibly
heal, I would think that he's a good guy. That's just money out of
his pocket if the tooth settles down. The downside of observing the
tooth is that the tooth can get worse in terms of ache, and the
dentist can have an ornery patient on his hands if the tooth flares up
badly. So you see, it's a mixed bag for the dentist. He hopes that
the tooth recovers saving you the root canal, but if the tooth gets
worse, he could have an upset patient in pain on his hands.

Some may say just do the root canal at the drop of a hat, get the
money, avoid the possible flare up, and be the hero. Others are
willing to try to be the hero by saving the patient the cost of a
procedure that might be avoidable but in doing so possibly risk the
patient's disastisfaction if the outcome isn't what was hoped for.

Zzzdentist
www.dentalminds.com


Interesting. I would have guessed chewing on it more (e.g., with a child's
teether) to massage it. Thanks for the tips.

No, absolutely, I would not take my dentist to task for being conservative.
I don't think he is thinking so much of saving me money as it is not doing
a root canal unless it is clear it is needed.

In your experience have you ever actually seen this kind of thing heal on
its own? Would it be 10% of the time, 5% of the time, 1% of the time, less?

Incidentally, what is the reason that the pulp usually cannot easily recover
from an infection/inflamation like other parts of the body? I assume it has
a blood supply like everything else?

Thanks again.

Robert




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