I'm Nervous About My Upcoming Root Canal

A root canal is a common dental procedure in which your dentist removes decayed and infected matter from the inside of your tooth in order to save it. Your dentist may recommend a root canal if you’ve:

• Developed a deep cavity
• Developed a tooth infection
• Knocked out your tooth
• Cracked or chipped your tooth
• Weakened your tooth through multiple fillings

At AB Dental and Oral Surgery clinic in San Antonio, Texas, Dr. Anthony Osei expertly and painlessly performs root canals with the help of sedation dentistry. Your sedation choice keeps you comfortable and relaxed throughout your entire procedure, so your tooth can be fixed and you’re pain free once more.

Are you nervous about your root canal? Here’s why you should relax.

Dental fears are common (and unfounded)

First, don’t feel bad about your fear. Fear of the dentist and dental procedures —especially of root canals — is widespread, perhaps because of how dentists and root canals are negatively and erroneously portrayed in the media. 

In an attempt to understand dental fears, the American Association of Endodontists surveyed 1,000 adults in the United States. They asked participants if they’d rather undergo a root canal or choose another activity. The results are actually comical:

• 57% would rather spend 1 hour in a room with 10 spiders
• 54% would rather sing the national anthem at a sports event
• 53% would rather have a snake in their lap for 15 minutes
• 41% would rather go swimming with sharks

Unlike sharks, spiders, and snakes, root canals aren’t dangerous. Unlike public singing, there’s no potential for humiliation. And unlike all of the other situations, a root canal comes with built-in sedation.

Root canals are painless

You don’t have to worry about pain if you undergo a root canal or other dental procedure these days. Unlike decades past, when drills and novocaine were the only tools in the dentist’s arsenal, today’s dentist is better equipped.

High-tech tools, including lasers, make dental procedures faster and more precise. Sedation dentistry makes it pain-free. In fact, sedation dentistry removes anxiety and fear as well as pain. 

You choose from a variety of sedation methods, including:

• Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) — awake, relaxed, and euphoric
• Oral sedation — drowsy and relaxed
• Intravenous (IV) sedation — sleepy and relaxed or fully asleep

We monitor your dosage and response throughout your procedure so you never feel pain. If you opt for oral sedation or IV sedation, you must have someone drive you home afterward.

Root canals save teeth and end pain

Root canals not only are painless themselves, they save you a world of pain, too. If you don’t have a root canal, that infected or broken tooth will only get more painful. It could become infected, too, and the infection can spread not only to your gums and jawbone but to your heart and other organs.

A root canal can also save your tooth from an extraction. Although dental implants are a wonderful way to replace a missing tooth, it’s always better to preserve the natural tooth and its natural root.

With a root canal, your dentist can rescue a tooth that might otherwise have to be extracted and replaced. A root canal removes infectious and decayed matter from your tooth, completely cleans and disinfects the tooth, repairs any damage, and then caps it all with a false (but natural-looking) crown.

Root canals leave you smiling

Between the ease of the procedure itself and the end result of your dentist’s work, a root canal lets you face the world with a smile again. Your pain is gone. Your broken or decayed tooth has been cleaned and repaired. 

You don’t need an extraction or tooth replacement, either. You’ve kept your tooth and its all-important root.

Save your tooth and save yourself pain by booking your root canal today. Call us at 210-682-2700 or schedule an appointment with our online form.