The most common cause of teeth needing a root canal
is due to decay that has gone into the central nerve of the tooth. Of course
this can be prevented by the timely removal of decay in the early stages and properly
restoring the tooth. I have been practicing dentistry for over 40 years, and
over the last few years I have seen increasing incidences of teeth needing root
canal therapy when there is no restoration, and not even any decay. Most
dentists are becoming aware of another causative factor and that is clenching
and grinding of the teeth.
Teeth have the worst circulation of any structure in
the body. The artery, vein and nerve that go into the tooth have only one entry
which is at the end of the root with an opening that is smaller than the sharp
end of a pin. The tooth is not fused to the bone but is on a ligament system. When
enough force is applied to the top of the tooth, the root is pushed down into
the socket pinching on the nerve and blood vessels at the end of the root, this
causes the blood vessels in particular to become inflamed or expanded. This
would not be a problem in any other place in the body, as we have vessels from
many directions to repair the injury. However, with only one small entry point
at the end of the root, when the blood vessels here are inflamed, blood does
not circulate in and out of the tooth. If the circulation is impaired long
enough, the nerve and blood vessels inside the tooth will die and the tooth
will need a root canal.
Extreme bite forces usually from clenching and
grinding are the main causative factor here. With the extreme stress most
people are under in today's world, I am seeing problems related to clenching
and grinding at epidemic proportions.
In my opinion, the best way to prevent these
problems is to wear a device that helps prevent the teeth from coming together
with such extreme force. While there are many devices to help treat this
problem, the most effective and affordable device I have seen is GrindReliefN.
It is smaller and easier to wear. It has a central power bar which helps exert
the most force at the mid-line on the upper and lower front teeth. This creates
a nerve stimulus which affects the muscles, causing them to contract with 60%
less force.
Sold online and now in some retail outlets; it is
the only over the counter device that performs as well, or better than the
professional device costing hundreds of dollars. You can feel how it actually
works with a simple pencil test. Place a pencil between your back teeth and
bite down. You'll find you can easily
bite through the pencil. Now place the same pencil between your upper and lower
front teeth at the mid-line and you will find you simply cannot exert nearly as
much force.
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