Ok, so I suppose that we can agree that no one is a real fan of visiting the dentist (except maybe the dentist). But for the most part, my teeth are pretty good, so I don’t have any issues usually. A couple of weeks ago, however, I developed a pain in my upper jaw that was too nebulous to determine if it was tooth or sinus. After a couple of medical visits, it became clear it was a tooth, a wisdom tooth to boot. After a course of antibiotics and a visit to the endodontist to confirm, I was scheduled for a root canal. Now I had a root canal about 20 years ago that went well – I was not in pain, it was a straightforward procedure, and was done in about 2 hours. But I wasn’t looking forward to having another one (but I was happy to not losing my tooth).

The endodontist said I’d be done in about a hour, and he was spot on. The only pain was one of the shots of anesthesia. My jaw was sore (working that far back is not easy for the Dr. either), and the skin around the tooth is a bit tender, but that’s about it. But I was curious as to why this procedure took so much less time. Well, for one thing tiny bits (the size of 2-3 human hairs) allow the roots to be removed with the drill, a much faster way than hand filing. Also, they have to take less of the tooth surface down because they can use these bits. The new drying agents and fillers are much easier and faster than their predecessors. And digital X-rays have speed up that process a lot. As Dr Wood (might as well use his name) said, a basic root canal is like a large filling. I’ll have to have a crown made and fitted, but things look good.

One unusual thing with my tooth – this tooth had three roots (many do). However, one of those roots had completely walled itself off from the tooth in a process that Dr Wood said is like a self root canal. He said it’s not an uncommon strategy for the nerve to try to wall itself off from the tooth in an effort to protect the tooth from infection. However, it means that this tooth has been heading to death for a while. This condition lowers my chances of a good outcome by about 5%, but hopefully it’ll all work out.

The interesting thing is that technology has moved on in the background to make procedures (root canals and others outside of dentistry) that used to be considered horrible much quicker and less painful. Now, it’s not like  a cure for cancer, but keeping one’s teeth cannot be underestimated. Both my grandparents lost their teeth in their 60s, and they continued to be a source of pain and trouble for the rest of their lives. And food isn’t all that tempting when your mouth hurts.

Take care of your teeth – you only get one permanent set.