FAQs
As a Founding Expert for HealthTap.com, an interactive health website, Dr. Yu has answered more than 150 questions which can be found in my HealthTap profile .
Frequently Asked Questions
2. Why am I being referred to a root canal specialist?
3. Can you see children as well as adult?
4. What do I need to bring to my appointment?
7. What is the scope of endodontic care?
8. Who is Dr. Mercola and is he right about root canal treatment?
Answers
1. What is an endodontist?
Endodontists are root canal specialists. They are dentists with advanced specialty training in diagnosing and treating problems associated with the pulp.
The pulp is the soft tissue housed inside the tooth. It is consisted of blood vessel, nerves and connective tissues. When that space becomes infected (most often because of tooth decay), the pulp needs to be cleaned out. The procedure is known as the root canal treatment.
Endodontists must complete four years of dental school plus two or more years of advanced training in endodontics. The governing body of endodontists is called American Association of Endodontists (AAE). Dr. John Yu is a board-eligible member of AAE.
2. Why am I being referred to a root canal specialist?
You are referred by your dentist to see an endodontist because your tooth needs special attention. For example, your tooth may have unusual anatomy such as severe curvature or very narrow root canals which make cleaning the root canal space technically challenging. Or, your tooth may have a crack that produces unusual signs and symptoms. With the aid of a microscope, these cracks can be visualized. You may have an abscess on your gum (looks like a pimple) which suggests infection of the pulp and usually bone destruction as well. The abscess makes cleaning of root canal space more challenging. Perhaps you have a history of trauma to the tooth causing the tooth to discolor or resorb. Most frequently, you may need retreatment because the tooth is re-infected. Revision procedures are usually performed by root canal specialist.
3. Can you see children as well as adult?
Dr. Yu enjoys working with young children. While the majority of them behave extremely well with proper behavior coaching and distraction, some may require sedatives. Dr. Yu has an oral sedation permit licensed by the Dental Board of California to perform oral sedation on minors as well as adults.
4. What do I need to bring to my appointment?
Dr. Yu encourages everyone to write down a list of questions for Dr. Yu so that he can address your concerns. It is helpful but not necessary to bring existing radiographs (x-rays) taken by your dentist. Please bring the referral slip (most important) if given by your dentist, identification card (i.e. driver's license), dental insurance card if you have one and any form of payment (cash, check or credit card).
5. What is retreatment?
While root canal treatment has a high degree of success, no one can have 100% success rate. Common reasons for needing revision procedures (reclean the space inside the tooth) include recurrent decay, contamination, leakage, fracture, additional portals of entrance and exit for bacteria, resistant bacteria, additional hidden canals and unusual root anatomies. Often a retreatment procedure requires the use of a high-magnification operating microscope and additional training and equipments.
6. What is apico surgery?
When it is not possible or impractical to clean out the root canal space from the chewing surface of the tooth (the crown part of the tooth), surgery may be required. Instead of drilling from the crown of the tooth, surgical root canal treatment (apcioectomy, aka, apico) cleans the inside of the root from the root-end side. A small root tip is often resected and remaining root is cleaned and resealed.
7. What is the scope of endodontic care?
assisting in diagnosis of facial pain
incision and drainage
root canal treatment
root canal revision (retreatment)
post removal
post and core build-up
apexification (root-end closure)
pulp regeneration
hemisection
root amputation
apicoectomy (root-end surgery)
exploratory surgery to diagnose crack
flap surgery to repair perforation
tooth replantation
tooth transplantation
emergency palliative treatment
tooth stablization and splinting
guided tissue regeneration
bone grafting
bone preservation
8. Who is Dr. Mercola and is he right about root canal treatment?
Dr. Joseph Mercola is a D.O that practices alternative medicine and promotes controversial and often false medical advice. For example, he is an opponent of childhood vaccination and he believes that HIV does not cause AIDS. While his point about root canal system being complicated and can harbor bacteria is true, his argument that you should extract any tooth that needs root canal in order to save your body is not true. He is rehashing a 100 year-old argument (focal infection theory) that had been discredited scientifically. Dr. Mercola's belief was based on Dr. Weston Price's study whose scientific method was called into question by multiple studies. AAE had published a release called AAE Fact Sheet on Focal Infection Theory in 2012 due to the emerging misinformation caused by the likes of Dr. Mercola. Click the above link to download the complete article.