Endodontic treatment refers to root canal treatment. It is required when inflammation or swelling of the root canal occurs due to infection. You might experience pain around a certain tooth, along with swelling, tenderness, or soreness in the gums surrounding the tooth. That’s what tells your dentist that you require a root canal procedure. Your dentist might refer you to an endodontist or might undertake the procedure themselves.

What exactly happens during endodontic therapy, you ask? Let us first understand what is going on beneath the white enamel that you see when you look at your teeth. Just below the enamel and dentin, which is a tough, solid layer beneath the enamel, is a soft tissue called the pulp of your tooth. Now, this tissue contains connective tissue, nerves, and blood vessels. They collectively helped your tooth to grow in your formative years.

However, now that your teeth are fully grown, the removal of the pulp will not cause any problems. When you undertake an endodontic treatment, your endodontist removes the infected pulp from inside your tooth.

Now that you have a clear (and admittedly, also daunting) picture of what a root canal is, you’re probably getting ready to run and hide. Hearing the words “root canal”, people’s initial thoughts veer towards how much the procedure is likely to hurt.

Those among us who have already had the procedure before, are possibly cringing at the idea of ever having to endure it once again. However, while everyone acknowledges that the biggest downside of a root canal treatment (also known as RCT) is pain, it has several benefits.

Benefits of Endodontic Therapy

First and foremost is relief from the discomfort, tenderness, and soreness that you are most likely already feeling around the affected tooth. Moreover, patients are usually given local anesthesia during the procedure, so you’re unlikely to feel the pain of your dentist drilling and digging inside your mouth. There is no denying that the affected area will feel sore while chewing after the procedure, but the silver lining is that the patient is pain-free thereafter.

The most significant benefit of a root canal procedure is that it prevents further infection — the surrounding teeth and gums are spared from decay. In some cases, problems related to odorous breath can be eliminated by simply eliminating the infected pulp that is the culprit for the odour in the first place.

Once a root canal treatment is performed on a tooth, it also saves the person getting the procedure done the hassle, cost, and extreme pain involved in tooth extraction. Allowed to rot, however, the tooth might require to be extracted.

You will also experience a far more balanced, more comfortable, and less laborious chewing experience after your root canal procedure. If you are budgeting for realigning your teeth, you might want to check up on whether you need an RCT and factor that into your teeth braces cost, overall.

This is because it is advisable to get your root canal procedure done prior to getting your braces. Otherwise, you might have to spend in order to remove the wires (just the wires, not the entire bracket) prior to your root canal treatment. This in turn might compound your teeth braces cost.

The other side of the coin

Of course, every coin has two sides and root canal treatments to have their downsides. First and foremost, after a root canal treatment, your tooth will, in all likelihood, not be as strong as a healthy tooth. It might require additional support — your dentist might suggest that you get a crown added to the tooth to make it more resilient.

There is also the possibility of re-infection or the possibility that the dentist might miss some part of the root or canal that is obscured. When it comes to the RCT of teeth, the price can be a very big deterrent. Endodontic procedures require multiple visits, multiple X-rays, and a certain level of expertise, which can prove expensive.

However, be aware that the RCT of teeth price is far lower than the price for a tooth extraction — which is where you’re headed if you ignore the signs that you need a root canal treatment.

We already talked about post-procedural pain, but that cannot really be called a down-side, since it is easily alleviated with over-the-counter drugs. Most dentists also prescribe a combination of antibiotics and painkillers after an RCT.

Whether it is teeth braces cost or RCT of teeth pricing, dental treatments tend to only get more expensive over time (not to mention more painful and more complicated). Do not delay visiting your dentist if you are experiencing pain or discomfort in your teeth or gums. Don’t let the cost of the treatments deter you, because you can now pay your bills in small, monthly installments with the Bajaj Finserv Digital Health EMI Network card. The card comes with a pre-approved limit of up to Rs. 4 lakh, and lets you pay the bills in flexible tenors of up to 24 months.