FEAR OF THE DENTIST stops many adults from getting preventive care and necessary treatment like root canals. That’s why we’re here to debunk the endodontic myths lingering in our culture!
Endodontic Myth #1: “Root canal treatment is painful.”
Before effective anesthesia and modern technology, this one was true, but not anymore! Modern root canal therapy is very easy on the patient, and the whole point is to relieve the pain of an infected tooth!
Endodontic Myth #2: “Root canal treatment will make me sick.”
Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, a theory that treating an infected tooth would spread bacteria to the rest of the body became wildly popular in the early 1900s. The theory makes no sense: treating an infected tooth removes bacteria, it doesn’t spread it! The result was decades of teeth getting pulled when they could’ve been saved through endodontic treatment. Worse, many people even had perfectly healthy teeth pulled because they thought it would cure ailments in other body parts!
Endodontic Myth #3: “It’s better to just pull the tooth.”
Simpler, maybe, but it is never better to pull a tooth if endodontic treatment could save it. As good as modern dental implants are, they still cannot compete with the natural tooth.