Before entering the dental industry myself, I had no idea what a filling was or what a root canal treatment was. Coming from a family with great oral hygiene and genetically healthy teeth *touch wood* I never had to come across root canal treatments.
The main difference is
Fillings (on the surface) is not so serious, but should be treated ASAP before it turns into Root Canal Treatment.
When I first entered the dental industry I was given the dental schedule as below
Dental Infections Due to Poor Hygiene > Filling >Root Canal Treatment >Crown > Extraction > Implant/Dentures > Chewing Difficulty > Digestive and Severe Health Problems
As it progresses down the dental timeline the treatments get dearer and ends up being bad for your overall health.
Root Canal Treatment comes in a couple of stages:
1. We need to remove the nerve. (out of pain)
2. We need to fill the tooth with composites, if this stage isn’t complete infection can form again and go down through the tooth into the gums (more pain, no gums, no space for implants)
3. Protect the composite tooth we have put a crown as a helmet to make sure the bacteria can not get through to the natural tooth.
This treatment is probably the LAST stage to keep your natural tooth. You will end up extracting it and be toothless or extract it and put an implant in it.
Anything that isn’t natural in your mouth or anywhere inside your body usually needs MORE regular check ups and MORE looking after it at home.
If you have pain or sensitivity, call us on (02) 8383 1400 at any of our practices in Bondi Junction, Pitt St Westfield, Macquarie Centre in North Ryde, Miranda and Chatswood Westfield. Better to be safe than sorry. Catch that bacteria and filling that’s hiding in your mouth before you need something more than a filling.
