Endodontist

Advancing technologies leads to specialization and super specialization. One such specialization of Dentistry if the field of Endodontics.

Originating from the latin word “ENDO” which means inside and “ODONT” which means the tooth, the science of Endodontics is the study of the problems inside the tooth and an ENDODONTIST is the specialist who treats the inside of the tooth. The outermost layer of a tooth is the Enamel which covers the Dentine. In the core of the tooth is the pulp which has blood vessels supplying nutrients to the tooth and a nerve which provides the sensations. These enter the tooth from the apex of the root and curve up to the pulp chamber which is literally in the centre of the crown.

This pulp chamber which is normally sealed off from the outside world may sometimes get infected by microorganisms. More often than not, these microorganisms gain entry into the pulp chamber due to dental decay taking place on the tooth surface. The dental decay or more technically speaking caries, dissolves the enamel and dentine and over a period of time reaches the pulp chamber. Once it gets to the pulp chamber the bacteria quickly eat away and degenerate the blood supply and nerve tissue of the pulp and the canal till the root apex.

These bacteria then make house in this empty space where the body defence mechanism is unable to reach and keep on proliferating. Such situations generally tend to be quite painfull to the patient due to the toxins created by the bacteria. The toxins not only have a chemical action, but they also exert pressure and cause pain. The only way to treat such situations is to clean out this pulp chamber and the root canal and then fill it with an inert material. It would have been great if somehow the blood vessels and nerve tissue could be restored. Alas, dental science as of today has no known technology to make this happen.

Anterior teeth i.e. teeth in the front of the mouth usually have only a single canal which is relatively straight and hence are easy to treat. Most general dentists would treat such teeth. It is when the problem takes place in the back teeth, especially the molars that problems crop up. Molars have multiple root canals which are quite thin and invariably curved with very difficult access. In such situations the services of an ENDODONTIST is usually called for. An ENDODONTIST is an expert in negotiating such canals and fill it with inert materials which are usually gutta percha or a cement of some kind.

Depending upon the startegy employed and the school of thought followed by the ENDODONTIST such treatment can be completed in either a single sitting or two or three sittings. This therapy is generally known as Root Canal Treatment or RCT in short

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