Endodontists are highly trained dental specialists the specialize in the treatment and diagnosis of conditions affecting tissues inside the tooth, also known as the tooth pulp. The tooth pulp is located in the center of each tooth and extends beneath the gum line. It is a hollow chamber that contains numerous blood vessels and nerves. This chamber is protected by dentin, which is a calcified tissue that surrounds the pulp of each tooth.
 
Thus, endodontists can help with tooth pain, infection, and disease stemming from this interior chamber within each tooth. In essence, endodontists are specialists in saving severely damaged or diseased teeth, preventing patients from needing to have one or more teeth extracted. One of the most common treatments that an endodontist performs is the root canal, where they remove the infected portions of a tooth’s nerve and pulp to prevent further infection, pain, and decay.

The main differences between a general dentist and an endodontist are their level of expertise, education, and the services they provide to patients. While both general dentists and endodontists attend dental school, endodontists attend two or three additional years in school for specialized training in endodontics. During these years of additional schooling, endodontists study the various diseases that affect the tooth pulp and how to diagnose and treat them.
 
With this additional education and training, endodontists are able to provide superior treatment and more accurate diagnoses for conditions affecting the tooth’s interior. Whereas a general dentist may perform one or two root canals per week, endodontists often perform around 25 per week. As such, endodontists focus exclusively on diagnosing and treating these conditions, while general dentists offer a broader range of services, such as dental cleaning, fillings, and other services for routine dental care.

If you are experiencing a mild root canal, a general dentist can likely provide sufficient treatment. With conventional root canal treatment, a general dentist uses a small hand file to remove the infected pulp from the tooth. These files are only effective in mild cases, as they cannot bend to accommodate canals with significant curves. Further, general dentists do not specialize in root canal treatment, whereas endodontists do.
 
Endodontists have more experience and expertise to treat complex root canal cases, as they have a superior understanding of interior tooth anatomy and advanced technology to treat and diagnose such cases and solve and manage pain more effectively. Moreover, endodontists also treat root canals with a higher success rate, so there is definitely a strong case to be made for choosing endodontists over general dentists for root canal treatment.

There are many reasons why a general dentist may refer a patient to an endodontist. The most common reason for such a referral is if the general dentist suspects a root canal and believes an endodontist could provide more effective treatment. Some other reasons why a general dentist may refer a patient to an endodontist are:
 
– Severe cavities
– Abscessed tooth
– Persistent toothaches where the source of the pain is unclear
– Examination of a previous root canal
– Cracked tooth
– Failed root canal, requiring a procedure known as an apicoectomy
 
If you’re looking for a top endodontist in the Manhattan district of New York City, we’d love to help you out at JC Endodontics. Our highly skilled and experienced endodontists at JC Endodontics can help provide excellent root canal treatment in addition to several other endodontic procedures. Call us today or visit our website to learn more about our services or schedule an online appointment with one of our endodontists! We are conveniently located at 200 W 57th St #808, New York, NY 10019. We serve patients from all parts of NYC – Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn; including Midtown Manhattan, Hell’s Kitchen, Theatre District, Upper East Side Manhattan, Upper West Side Manhattan, Financial District Manhattan, Wall Street area, Williamsburg Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights, Green Point Brooklyn, and Astoria Queens, Long Island City NY.