Office of Dr. Eric Fullerton Uses Root Canals to Save Patients' Teeth and Lives

FULLERTON, Calif. - May 30, 2017 - PRLog -- Eric M. Meyer, DDS
714-879-7943
www.fullertondental.com

Office of Dr. Eric Fullerton Uses Root Canals to Save Patients' Teeth and Lives

Is there still a place in dentistry for root canals? As a dentist with extensive experience in implants who takes four times the number of required hours in continuing education, Dr. Eric Meyer says absolutely. Implants and modern crowns have made tooth replacements more satisfactory than ever, but if a patient still has their natural tooth, doctors will generally try to save it. This is because, despite its undeservedly fearsome reputation, a root canal is actually a less invasive procedure than extracting and replacing a tooth and involves addressing the cause of a patient's discomfort.

A toothache is not merely an inconvenience; it is potentially a major health hazard. When a tooth is cracked, bacteria can enter the pulp inside it and cause inflammation. In the worst cases, the inflammation can become a full-blown infection, resulting in a pulp-filled abscess at the tip of the root. Though the abscess is a result of the body's attempt to isolate the infection, the infection could still spread, resulting in fatal sepsis. An extraction would remove the infected pulp, but not an abscess, and placing an implant requires that the gum and bone tissue beneath the root be healthy.

During a root canal, Dr. Meyer or one of his associates, Dr. Eric Cho or Dr. Leonard J. Plaitano, will drill through the crown of the infected tooth and spray antibiotics into the pulp chamber. The inflamed pulp can then be suctioned out and filled in. Metal-free white fillings are used to fill in the drill site and the crack through which the bacteria entered. In cases involving an abscess, one of the specialists may want to replace the root tip with a filling in a procedure called an apicoectomy after removing the puss and infected tissue, in cases when root canals prove insufficient.

However, with the advanced technology in Dr. Meyer's Fullerton dental office, the need for repeat procedures should be rare. Their advanced imaging technology allows them to fully analyze the pulp chambers so no inflamed tissue gets missed and their surgical microscopes allow them to see fine details during surgery. The office also offers several sedation options to keep patients free from pain and anxiety during the procedure and uses rotary instruments to speed up the entire process. With modern technology, patients have little to fear from root canals but can receive tooth-saving, and life-saving, benefits.

Eric M. Meyer, DDS, operates at 2720 North Harbor Blvd, Fullerton, California, 92835. To schedule an appointment, call 714-879-7943 or visit FullertonDental.com (http://www.fullertondental.com/) and fill out a contact sheet (http://www.fullertondental.com/contact-us/).