Every endodontist is a dentist, like Aram Cazazian at Bayside Family Dentistry in Bayside, NY, but not all dentists are endodontists. In fact, less than three percent are! Like every other doctor in every other field, endodontists have completed an extra two or more years training after dental school, making them specialists in their field. Their extra training has focused on being able to diagnose tooth pain and allowing them to perform root canal treatment and various other interior tooth procedures. In some cases, a tooth suffering from the disease can be treated and saved using endodontic treatment.
In order to become an endodontist, these specialists must complete an extra two or three years of education in a specialty program. This is after their regular four years of dental school. They study diseases of dental pulp and train on how to treat them.
Endodontists focus almost exclusively on treating dental pulp. They usually will do an average of 25 root canal treatments every week, whereas a regular dentist will only do an average of two.
Endodontists use techniques that are specialized in order to ensure that people are completely comfortable while being treated. They are experts in giving out numbing medicines, including in patients who have had issues getting or staying numb. They will help patients find relief from tooth pain even after the treatment while pulp infection or inflammation is healing.
Endodontists use equipment and material that is specifically designed to help make your procedure more comfortable and more successful. They have a small sheet of latex they use that’s called a dental dam in order to isolate a tooth during treatment. This protects the rest of your mouth. Using digital radiographs as well as 3-D imaging will allow them to create very detailed images of small tooth anatomy, so they can more easily see the root canals and other related infections. The space in a root canal is very small. They use dental operating microscopes so they can more easily see inside root canals to help better and more thoroughly treat them.