Oral Appliances and Dental Sleep Medicine

 When we discuss our health, 3 major areas always come into play when we ask how do we become healthier.

Exercise, Nutrition and Sleep.  The first two are not areas that I will discuss.  Sleep is an area that I am going to discuss because dentistry plays a role here.

Sleep is key to our bodies healing processes and without sleep we die.  Deprive a human of sleep and they will die.  Poor sleep and we do not heal our bodies and quality of life and longevity decrease.

So what do dentists have to do with poor sleep?  For many people, poor sleep has to do with sleep apnea.  A condition where we stop breathing when we sleep.  This cessation of breathing affects our sleep as our body awakes to avoid suffocating.  These constant awakenings, besides other physical effects, affect the quality of our sleep.

Dentists are in a unique position to observe signs in the mouth that may point to sleep apnea.  Dentists can observe signs of bruxism, scalloped tongues, tori, throat form.  These lead a dentist to ask further questions that may point to sleep apnea and cause your dentist to refer you to a medical specialist who is qualified to diagnose Sleep Apnea.

If you are diagnosed with sleep apnea, one of the treatment modalities is an oral appliance which helps keep the airway open.  This custom appliance is fabricated by a qualified Dentist.

Dentists are in a unique position to help many people with their sleep.

Enjoying practicing dentistry in Hamilton Ontario.

Any questions, post a comment 😁

www.rondentist.com 

https://thehamiltondentist.com/sleep-apnea-dentist-hamilton.html

thehamiltondentist.com

https://thehamiltondentist.com/images/osa-dentist-video.mp4

All the best

Dr. Ron Barzilay

Do I need a Crown after Root Canal Treatment

Do I need a Crown after Root Canal Treatment

This is not the first time I have written on this subject and I keep getting asked this same question.
I understand the question.  People have had their root canal treatment and their tooth no longer hurts so why should they have this expensive treatment called a crown.  I mean they have just paid enough for the root canal. and the filling.
Well, this past week, another patient of mine came in who had his root canal done a few months ago and the tooth was cracked.  Nothing I could do and I had to extract the tooth.  Only problem was that this tooth was his last molar on one side and it held his partial denture.  Now that the tooth is gone he has a real issue holding that denture.  We have repaired the denture to have it hold better but a solution that will let him hold the denture at least the way it was is going to be expensive.
Yes you need the crown after the root canal treatment.  It will save you money in the long run.

Enjoying dentistry in Hamilton Ontario Canada

All the best

Dr Ron Barzilay

www.rondentist.com

PS. any questions, just send them as a comment

I had a Root Canal, I had a Crown and the Tooth still hurts! Why?

I had a root canal treatment.  They put the crown on afterwards and now the tooth is still sensitive.
Why does this happen?
Well let us start off by saying that root canal treatment is highly successful but highly successful does mean that there are failures.  Even with a success rate in the 90 percentile and above, if you are one of the few where it doesn't work, it is very unpleasant.
Why can a root canal treatment fail?  There may be an extra canal or 2 which we did not see and accordingly did not clean and therefore bacteria was left in the tooth.  As good as we get, and we are always getting better with greater magnification and better techniques, we still miss canals. Sometimes there maybe a fracture in the tooth which causes ingress of bacteria and dooms the tooth.
These things can happen and even with our best efforts a root canal may fail.  Keep in mind, our success rates are always improving and at 90 plus success rate we are not doing to bad.

All the best

Dr Ron Barzilay

enjoying doing Dentistry in Hamilton Ontario

www.rondentist.com

I HAD A ROOT CANAL - WHY DOES MY TOOTH STILL HURT?

I HAD A ROOT CANAL - WHY DOES MY TOOTH STILL HURT?

I have heard this question many times from new patients coming into the practise or from emergency patients having problems with a tooth.  Of course the answer is never simple and always depends on the circumstances.
When someone has had a root canal treatment the tooth is now altered and may not feel exactly the way it did before.  The questions we must ask:  Is the tooth functional?  Can you eat on it without discomfort?  If you answer yes to both then there is no problem.  If the answer is no then there is a problem and that is what we will deal with in this blog.
Lets start with the simple.  If you just had a root canal yesterday and your tooth is hurting it is most likely some post op discomfort and it will most likely resolve shortly.  You can even get some swelling after the treatment which may need an antibiotic but then will resolve.
What we really want to discuss here is the tooth that had root canal treatment a while ago and you still can't eat on it.  General success of root canal treatment is in the very high range.  If a root canal treatment does not succeed there can be a number of reasons which in general amounts to bacteria still being in the root canal system.  This can happen because there may be an extra canal (or two) which we didn't find.  It can also be because the root canal system is so convoluted that we couldn't clean out the entire root canal system well enough.  Another reason that a root canal may fail is due to a fracture in the tooth which may never have been noticed.
So probably the more important question in all this is what can be done?
This question usually involves a discussion with your dentist because the answer is not always black and white.  If the root canal looks like it was done poorly then you would consider redoing it.  The results could be very good.  If the root canal looks like it was done well then you have to consider the cost benefit of redoing the root canal or apical surgery (all in an attempt to stop bacterial leakage into the surrounding tissues) versus extraction and implant placement. I have simplified things but as I said earlier this will involve a discussion between you and your dentist as to the proper course of action depending on your individual circumstances.

Having fun doing Dentistry in Hamilton Ontario

All the best
Dr. Ron Barzilay
www.rondentist.com

PS you are welcome to follow the blog and leave comments

Teeth Don't Fall Out After Root Canal Treatment

All kinds of interesting questions come me almost on a daily basis and it is amazing how many repeat themselves over the years.  I guess that is why they are called frequently asked questions.  A little while ago a patient came in and required a root canal.  When I told her she required a root canal treatment she asked me "my friend had a root canal treatment and she said that after the treatment the tooth just fell out.  Is that what happens?"  I smiled at the patient ( I have heard this question before) and told her that this was not true.  I had a root canal in a front tooth of mine when I was about 9 or 10 and it is still there almost 40 years later (yes now you can figure out how old I am).  Many times people do not realize that a tooth that has had a root canal must have a filling and crown placed on this tooth.  This is because teeth that have root canals are usually broken down or have large fillings to begin with.  When the root canal is done even more tooth structure is taken away to do the root canal.  So what you are left with is a severely weakened tooth.  You must first restore the tooth with a filling and possibly posts and pins, then the tooth must be crowned to hold it all together.  This is the case for posterior teeth, front teeth may be different due to the function of these teeth.  In any case a tooth that is not properly restored after the rootcanal is in danger of breaking and eventually being extracted.  I have seen it happen literally within a week of completing the root canal and we didn't have enough time to place the crown.  Those are really sad cases because the patient did not neglect the treatment but just didn't have enough time to finish it.  In other cases this may not occur for  years but many times a patient will come in saying they have broken a tooth and of course it is a rootcanal tooth that did not have the crown that we recommended.  I always tell my patients having root canals on their back teeth that they will need crowns after the root canal treatment.

In short I assured my patient that teeth that have root canals do not just fall out after the treatment!


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