Endodontics means, as you may already know, a root canal. The mere sound of this word to someone who knows what it is and who has been through this process in the past is enough to bring bad memories of painful experiences to their mind. This procedure is necessary to so many people, but it, unfortunately, is usually a very painful and uncomfortable experience. Even though pain medication is administered for the operation, the endodontic treatment takes place so close to the nerves that this pain treatment is often not enough to make it go away.

When tooth decay or infections have caused significant damage to a tooth, it is needed for the dentist to drill into the tooth to remove the damaged area. Normally, this is a shallow hole, and is filled in with a filler and the problem is cured for good. The problem begins when a cavity is allowed to go untreated. As it spreads deeper in the tooth, it will cause pain that demands for it to be treated. When you go in for that examination, you will probably be sad to hear that the problem has progressed so far down it has affected the root of the tooth. At that point, an endodontic procedure is needed to remove the decay and save the tooth.

Though this operation may be painful, don’t think about putting it off. A tooth that is in a state where it has decayed to the point that a root canal is needed doesn’t have much life left. The tooth could literally die and fall out if it’s not repaired in a timely manner. Speaking of catching things in time, root canals are normally only needed on teeth that have had cavities that have gone untreated for extended periods of time. Get yours looked at during every checkup period, and you’ll likely avoid ever needing a root canal. The short term benefits of putting off your dental checkup are blown away by the long term cost of not doing it.

In external techniques, as the name implies, involves placing the whitening gel on the outer surface of your teeth. However, this method do not work for some types of staining like those caused by metal fillings or condemned blood vessels inside the teeth. External whitening can be done in two ways, namely home tooth whitening and Laser (power) tooth whitening. In home tooth whitening, your dentist designs a rubber mouth guards precisely for your teeth. Then you will be given tubes of tooth whitening gel. Your dentist will give you detail instructions on how to apply the gel in the mouth guards.

In laser or power tooth whitening, your dentist will insert a rubber seal around your teeth in other to protect your gum. Hence, the tooth whitening gel is applied to your teeth such that the gel paints your teeth. A special type of bright light is directed to your teeth. The role of the light is to speed up the whitening processes. It can take up to one to two hours for good result. Internal tooth whitening involves the placing of the tooth whitening gel inside the tooth. This procedure is strictly for teeth that has been root treated successfully

So in internal tooth whitening, the dentist drills a hole in the tooth and put the tooth whitening gel inside the hole. For front tooth, the hole is normally made at the back of the tooth where it is not easily seen. Then he will seal the hole with temporary filings, while he leaves the gel inside the tooth. This process does not hurt because there is no nerve inside the tooth.

Then in a week later you will need to go back to the dentist to remove the temporary filling and tooth whitening gel. Now, if the new shade of your teeth is ok with you, your dentist will use a tooth colored filling to fill the hole. In some cases you might ask your dentist to repeat the procedure if you are not satisfied with the new color shade. Some times internal tooth whitening might require other types of whitening techniques to get your desired effect.