Endodontics – Page 7

December 5, 2016 By Dr. Jacqueline S. Allen

Employee Spotlight: Kevin Conroy

At Phoenix Endodontic Group, we believe that our staff is what makes our practice so special! As a part of our employee spotlight series, this month, we are highlighting the work of our C.E.O. and Operations Manager, Kevin Conroy!

Q: Tell us a little about yourself—where are you from? Where did you get your degree?

A: I am originally from New York, but I have also lived in Virginia. I got my degree from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Q: Have you always worked in the dental industry?

A: No, I used to be work for corporate finance at AT&T Capital and Wells Fargo financial leasing.

Q: How did you end up at Phoenix Endodontic Group?

A: My wife is Dr. Allen, and she wanted to grow the business, so I joined on. I serve as the C.E.O. and Operations Manager here at Phoenix Endodontic Group.

Q: What is your favorite part of working at Phoenix Endodontic Group?

A: No two days are ever the same here! I also love using state-of-the-art technology in order to deliver the very best services to our patients.

Q: What do you admire most about Dr. Wood?

A: Dr. Wood is able to easily put her patients at ease when they come to our office for root canals. Her kind and unassuming disposition makes our patients feel right at home.

Q: What is a piece of advice you would offer to patients?

A: Don’t fear the endodontist! The process is not painful for most people.

Q: What is the most rewarding aspect of working at Phoenix Endodontic Group?

A: We treat our patients and referring offices the way we wish to be treated. We value integrity, honesty, and providing the finest endodontic care found anywhere.

Our team will restore your smile and heal you of pain. To learn more about our practice, or to schedule an appointment, call (602) 748-4190, or visit our website.

October 24, 2016 By Dr. Jacqueline S. Allen

4 Myths About Dental Implants

Dental implants have been offered in recent years as a panacea for fixing the problem of ailing teeth. However, the reality when it comes to treating a badly injured or infected tooth is more complex. Both endodontic procedures such as root canals and dental implants have their proper place – your dental care team can help determine what treatment will be most effective for you.

Here are four common myths related to dental implants, and the factual situation in each case.

Myths related to dental implants and root canal treatments

Myth #1: The best thing to do in all cases with an injured or infected tooth is to replace it with a dental implant.

There are a range of factors that will determine if a dental implant or a root canal is the best way to proceed. Although dental implants would appear at first glance to permanently resolve the issue with a troubled tooth, they can also cost more and require more visits to the dentist to complete. Most root canal treatments, which remove inflamed pulp and clean, fill and seal the inside of the tooth, can be accomplished in a single visit and are virtually painless.

Myth #2: Dental implants have a higher success rate than root canals.

A number of studies have shown both dental implants and root canals can have success rates of more than 95 percent. Currently, both procedures are considered excellent choices for treating an ailing tooth, and decisions to go with one procedure over the other should be based on factors related to an individual’s unique situation.

Myth #3: If you have a root canal and it fails, you need to have an extraction done and a dental implant placed.

Not necessarily. Root canals can fail for reasons that include damage to the crown protecting the treated tooth, additional tooth decay, or hidden canals that were not properly cleaned and filled the first time. However, endodontic retreatments of root canals can successfully restore the natural tooth to health in as many as 75% – 88% of all cases.

Myth #4: Your endodontist can’t help you if you need an implant.

Actually, the American Association of Endodontists has released a position statement affirming that if a endodontist determines a tooth must be extracted and a dental implant placed, he or she may proceed with the extraction and the placement of the implant if it is in the best interest of the patient.

“The decision whether to save a natural tooth or to proceed with an extraction and dental implant can be a difficult one,” says Dr. Jacqueline S. Allen, who practices with the Phoenix Endodontic Group. “Your endodontist can help you sort through your options and make the best decision for your individual health needs.”

October 17, 2016 By Dr. Susan Wood

Employee Spotlight: Dallas Clary

At Phoenix Endodontic Group, we believe our staff is what makes our practice so successful! As part of our employee spotlight series, this month, we are highlighting Dallas Clary, one of our dental assistants! With over 17 years of experience in dentistry, she loves to disprove the negative reputation and impressions of endodontics and root canal procedures many patients have prior to treatment. Read on to learn more about Dallas!

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself—where are you from? What hobbies do you enjoy?

A: I grew up in Eagar, AZ. I got my dental assisting degree from White Mountain School of Dental Assisting in Linden, AZ. As for hobbies, I love crafting, and Pinterest definitely inspires me!

Q: Did you always want to work in the dental industry? How did you end up at Phoenix Endo?

A: My mother worked in a dental office when I was growing up, so I guess I followed in her footsteps. Since I’ve worked in the endodontic industry for so long, I looked for an office closer to home, and fortunately, Phoenix Endo was looking for a dental assistant.

Q: What is your favorite part of working at Phoenix Endo?

A: I love helping patients have a comfortable and enjoyable experience during a root canal. It gives me great satisfaction to disprove the bad reputation that root canals have been given. Since they relieve the patient of pain, root canals shouldn’t be thought of negatively.

Q: What do you admire most about Dr. Wood?

A: Dr. Wood has a huge wealth of knowledge, and she does a great job informing patients about their treatment.

Q: What do you admire most about Dr. Allen?

A: Dr. Allen is so generous and truly cares for her patients and those in need. She spends tireless hours in and out of the office providing treatment to people.

Q: What are the most rewarding aspects of working at Phoenix Endo?

A: We have great doctors and a great team! We all work very hard to make sure that our patients have a great experience, despite the fact that they are having root canal treatment.

Tune in next month for to get to know another member of our team!

October 12, 2016 By Dr. Susan Wood

Two Root Canals, Same Tooth—Endodontic Retreatment

Endodontically treated teeth can last a lifetime. Some of these teeth, however, may not heal properly or may develop new problems months, or even years, after they were initially treated. An additional endodontic treatment, called a retreatment (a second root canal procedure), can be performed, which could again, allow a patient to keep his or her tooth for a lifetime.

Root canal treatment is like any other medical or dental procedure. It may not heal or respond to treatment, as expected for many different reasons:

Often times, the permanent or temporary restoration may not have prevented salivary contamination inside the tooth.
There may have been an extended period of time between when the crown or other restoration was placed, and when the root canal treatment was completed. Most endodontists and studies agree that a definitive restoration should be placed within one month following an endodontic procedure.
There may be canals that were undetected, or canals that were too narrow, or calcified, to negotiate for the original practitioner.

There are occasions when a new problem arises with a tooth that has been treated previously that may compromise the original endodontic procedure:

If a tooth develops a vertical fracture after endodontic therapy, it is no longer a viable tooth to keep in the oral cavity.
A new cavity could develop in the tooth and expose the root canal to recontamination with bacteria.
The restoration that was placed in or on the tooth after the endodontic treatment was complete can break down, creating microleakage of bacteria into the canals, which can cause recontamination.

Before endodontic retreatment is started, the endodontist may want to take a CBCT of the tooth. A CBCT is a 3-dimensional X-ray that allows the endodontist to look at the tooth in all planes to help diagnose a pattern of bone loss that may be indicative of a vertical fracture, canal anatomy that may not have been addressed in the original endodontic therapy, and other factors that will help your endodontist determine the best treatment for the tooth.

Even though a CBCT may offer more information about why a retreatment may be necessary, sometimes the endodontist must go back into the tooth and look for a potential cause that prevented the original root canal from healing.

A retreatment procedure consists of removal of the original contents of the crown and canals and exploration of the tooth and internal root structure that remains. If any canals were missed, they are addressed at that time. If a fracture exists, then the tooth will ultimately need an extraction, and may be removed at that time or may be removed at some point in the future by another practitioner. Once these issues are addressed, and once the canals are free of their filling material, they are disinfected, and an antibacterial paste is placed in each of them. This paste may be left in the tooth for several weeks until the tooth is symptom-free, and all other clinical signs of infection have disappeared. At that point, the patient returns, and the root canals would once again be filled with the endodontic filling material and a restoration crown would top the tooth. Most endodontists will evaluate the tooth for proper healing for several years after a retreatment is performed.

Although the goal of primary endodontic therapy is to save the natural tooth for a lifetime, there may be factors that can affect that overall outcome. When this happens, other treatments can save a natural tooth for a lifetime.

September 14, 2016 By Dr. Susan Wood

Dental Emergency Over the Weekend

Tooth pain is almost always a signal that something is wrong inside your mouth and that you need to see a dentist immediately. The last thing you want to worry about in this situation is what day of the week it is.

Specialists with the Phoenix Endodontic Group, like many other Scottsdale endodontists, are able to see emergency cases on the weekend. However, what if you’re in pain, but not sure if it’s bad enough for you to see your Scottsdale endodontist? Here is a quick guide for assessing your weekend dental emergency and determining the best course of action to resolve it.

Weekend Dental Emergency Guide

When to call 911. Some conditions mandate immediate medical care, including jaw fractures, jaw dislocations, lacerations of the soft tissues of the mouth and face, or an abscessed or infected tooth that is severely swollen and/or impacting one’s breathing or swallowing. The emergency room staff can stabilize your condition, so that your Scottsdale endodontist can then safely provide treatment to preserve your teeth.
When to call your Scottsdale endodontist. If you’re not experiencing symptoms that are life-threatening, it’s appropriate to call your dentist or endodontist and request to be seen immediately. Cases of cracked and knocked-out teeth fall in this category. If you have badly decaying teeth and are experiencing symptoms of dental infection, you may need an emergency root canal treatment. Don’t hesitate to ask for weekend treatment – in these cases, you will be preventing a potential trip to the ER, not to mention reducing your pain.
When to practice self-care at home. If your dental pain is very mild, you may choose to apply some self-care techniques over the weekend and call your Scottsdale endodontist on Monday. Avoid extremely hot or cold foods and beverages, take over-the-counter pain relievers for your toothache and gargle with warm salt water to keep the area clean. If your symptoms get worse, don’t hesitate to make a weekend appointment to address the situation.

“Your treatment for your dental emergency should be predicated on what symptoms you have, not the date on the calendar, says Dr. Susan L. Wood of the Phoenix Endodontic Group. “Our practice, or that of any Scottsdale endodontist, will be happy to see you get care during a weekend dental emergency situation.”

September 12, 2016 By Dr. Susan Wood

Employee Spotlight: Suzie Salas

At Phoenix Endodontic Group, we believe that our employees make our business successful. Our mission is to provide our patients with the finest endodontic and root canal treatment available anywhere in Arizona, and our Phoenix endodontists help to make our patients feel comfortable during their procedures. This month, we want to highlight the work of Suzie Salas, one of our dental assistants.

Q: Have you always lived in Phoenix? What do you do for fun?

A: I was born and raised Yuma, Arizona, and I went to Bryman Dental School in Phoenix. I’ve been married to my husband Chuck Salas for over 26 years, and I am now a mother to my two amazing kids, Zaq and Alicia. I love hiking in the Phoenix Mountain Preserves, and I also love reading and spending time with my family.

Q: How did you end up at Phoenix Endo?

A: After I graduated high school, my sister-in-law introduced me to the dental field, so I went to Bryman Dental School to become a dental assistant. I wound up at Phoenix Endo through a referral from a friend who was currently working at the practice.

Q: What is your role at Phoenix Endo?

A: As a dental assistant, my role is to make sure that patients feel comfortable during their dental treatment, and I assure that they know what the procedure will be like.

Q: What is your favorite part of working at Phoenix Endo?

A: My favorite part of working at Phoenix Endo is the moment that our patients feel comfortable after their procedures. Sometimes patients will come in, afraid of the procedure, but by the time they leave, they comment that if they ever need a root canal in the future, they want us to perform the treatment. I always tell them to be calm because they’re in good hands with Phoenix dentists Dr. Wood and Dr. Allen!

Q: What do you admire most about Dr. Allen?

A: What I admire most about Dr. Allen is that she unselfishly gives her time to patients. Her compassion for her charity and her work for the community are truly remarkable. I don’t just consider Dr. Allen a boss or a Phoenix endodontist; she is also my friend!

Tune in next month to get to know another member of Phoenix Endodontic Group!

August 2, 2016 By Dr. Susan Wood

What Is A Non-Restorable Tooth?

The goal of endodontic treatment is to save the natural tooth for a lifetime. However, there are instances in which a dentist or specialist may decide that a tooth cannot be saved and, therefore, render it “non-restorable.” These teeth may also be called “non-retainable” because they cannot be retained in the mouth for any significant, predictable period of time.

Here are a few reasons why a tooth may be considered non-restorable:

Extensive decay or destruction of the natural tooth structure—this scenario prevents a dentist from adequately restoring the tooth, leaving it susceptible to further decay, pain, and possible infection.
Advanced periodontal issues—if periodontal issues are not controlled, this predisposes the teeth to recession, bone loss, and eventual loss of the tooth.
Resorption is a dental process that occurs when the cells that surround the tooth begin to eat away at it, which is is typically due to some form of trauma.
Iatrogenic causes can occur; these are typically induced inadvertently by a medical or dental professional during treatment or diagnosis. For example; some teeth can have root canal systems that are very calcified or small, and during the search for these, a hole (or “perforation”) can be created by the dental drill or instruments. If these perforations are not addressed and repaired in a timely fashion, or if the size of the perforation is too large to repair, the overall health of the tooth will be compromised in the long run.
A crown-to-root ratio that is less than one to one is not ideal. In other words, the remaining tooth that is encapsulated in bone should be at least the same amount that is outside the bone. Torqueing forces that are exerted on the tooth are an unstable environment for any tooth, especially one that is already compromised.
Certain types of trauma can lead to early tooth loss. For instance, if a tooth is avulsed, or “knocked out,” and is not put back into the socket within one hour (depending on stage of root development), the overall prognosis for retaining that tooth is poor, and the tooth will eventually be non-retainable.
Vertical root fractures will inevitably doom a tooth to failure. A root that has a fracture extending vertically, especially if it communicates with the oral cavity, has a hopeless prognosis and is considered non-retainable.

Like with any dental procedure, it is the obligation of the treating dental professional to present his or her patient with dental treatment options, along with the likelihood of success associated with those options. Our duty as endodontists is to provide our patients with all of the necessary information about their oral health, their treatment, and the projected outcomes of those treatments so that they can make an informed decision that is best for them.

July 25, 2016 By Dr. Jacqueline S. Allen

Dental Implants 101

When you’re experiencing pain from a damaged or infected tooth, you typically have one top priority: to feel better quickly. Your dental team will likely recommend one of two treatment pathways for you at this point. You will either have to undergo a root canal treatment to save your natural tooth, or if your natural tooth is too damaged to save, you may have to get a tooth extraction and a dental implant.

Dental implants represent one part of a treatment spectrum that endodontists are qualified to perform, and root canals are located at the other end of this spectrum. Because patients frequently want to retain their natural teeth and associate endodontists only with root canals, it’s useful to review how dental implants fit into the endodontic treatment picture.

Dental Implants in Endodontic Treatment

Implants are artificial devices that substitute for individual human teeth. A dental implant has three parts: a fixture, which acts as an artificial tooth root; an abutment, which supports and secures the dental work place on top of it; and a restoration, a crown or other dental prosthesis that “stands in” for the extracted natural tooth.
Many factors come into play when choosing between a dental implant and root canal treatment. This is a decision that must be made on a case-by-case basis. A patient’s overall health, the health of his or her gums and jawbone, how many other natural teeth the patient currently has (and what shape they are in), and how many treatment “steps” a successful outcome would require are all important aspects that must be taken into account. While both treatments have a high overall success rate (greater than 90 percent), selecting the wrong treatment for a patient can lead to another future treatment intervention.
Dental implants can be installed if a root canal fails and the natural tooth must be extracted, but not vice versa. If it is not immediately clear which treatment choice to make, endodontists and your entire treatment team will take into account the permanence of implants and will proceed with treatment planning and sequencing accordingly.

“Endodontists are familiar with dental implants, and they see them in the perspective of all they know about preserving natural teeth,” says Dr. Jacqueline S. Allen, an endodontist in practice with the Phoenix Endodontic Group. “They are particularly skilled in assessing the best course of treatment for a compromised tooth.”

June 29, 2016 By Dr. Susan Wood

Endodontic Technology

Endodontics became a specialty in the early 1960s, but dentists have been performing root canal procedures on patients since the 1800s. Thankfully, the world of root canals has come a long way since the turn of the 19^th century.

Implementing a root canal has gotten much easier, and the overall outcome of the procedure itself has improved since the introduction of nickel-titanium files. These files were first introduced in the late 1980s and are made of a unique alloy that is extremely flexible, which helps to preserve the original anatomy of the root canal. This, in turn, results in better efficiency, predictability, and improved clinical results of endodontic treatment, especially in significantly curved canals.

Digital radiography is another handy tool that we use as endodontists. Originally introduced in the 1990s, it has certainly revolutionized the field of endodontics, as well as the entire dental community, by allowing the dentist to manipulate an image and provide a much higher overall diagnostic quality. Thankfully, it does this with much less radiation than was needed to capture a standard radiographic dental film in the past.

In addition to digital radiography, the operating microscope is relatively new in the endodontic world. Magnification and fiber optic illumination are helpful in aiding the endodontist by allowing him or her to see very small details inside the teeth that that need work. Also, a tiny video camera on the operating microscope can record images of a patient’s tooth to further document the doctor’s findings.

Finally, three-dimensional radiographs (cone-beam commuted tomography) allows endodontists to help diagnose potential issues more accurately and provide treatment with unprecedented confidence. Unlike a traditional spiral CT scanner, this 3D system provides precise, crystal-clear digital images while minimizing the patient’s exposure to radiation. This system allows for unmatched visualization of anatomical detail, which aids in diagnosis, treatment planning, and the actual root canal treatment. Your doctors can use this innovative technology to quickly and easily share 3D images of the area of concern with your referring doctor, giving them an opportunity to collaborate on your care, improve your experience, and deliver a positive treatment outcome.

Although there are many other advancements in endodontics on the horizon (stem-cell regeneration of the root canal system, as well as reconstructing the teeth themselves), the current ones allow for much better diagnosis, treatment planning, and pain-free root canals than ever before.

June 28, 2016 By Dr. Susan Wood

Online Dental Referral System

Phoenix Endodontic Group has been using an online patient referral system since 2005. That’s right – for the last 11 years, we have offered our referring dentists the ease and convenience of online referrals and case management for patients sent to our office for endodontic treatment.

Back in 2005, online referrals were a difficult concept for Phoenix dentists to come around to. The old pen-and-paper method worked just fine before, but the explosive use of technology, along with tighter HIPPA requirements has made utilizing an online referral system a “must” for dental offices in Phoenix. “The rest of the world has finally caught up with our capabilities,” said Kevin G. Conroy, Operations Manager at Phoenix Endodontic Group.

Simply put, from the start of the referral process to the end, when a final report is generated, Phoenix Endodontic Group’s TDO software handles the communication between offices seamlessly. The referring office has its unique sign in to a HIPPA Compliant web portal to exchange patient information directly with our office. There is no need for secure emails because no patient information is sent via email.

Enhancements to this system are ongoing, and there are many benefits for the Phoenix dentist office that uses our referral system:

Saves time — a referral can be made before the patient leaves the general dentist’s office – there are no hold time or delays.
Convenience — no more looking for paper referral slips, which sometimes get misplaced by patients prior to making an appointment.
Accuracy — not all doctors have the best handwriting, so typing in the specifics of a referred case makes misinterpretation less likely.
HIPPA Compliant — using online referrals eliminates the risk of a potential privacy violation.

The 21^st century has changed the way we all conduct business. At Phoenix Endodontic Group, we are always interested in utilizing best practices for our referring offices and patients alike.

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