Re: Root Canals: Please Read Before Having an Extraction!

Hello,
I am Dr. Michael Goldman that Kristen Lee was nice enough to quote from my website http://www.mgoldmandds.com.
I very much enjoyed reading the several posts Kristen's original post stimulated and I wanted to add a comment or two.

First, the calcium hydroxide can be used for many months if needed, but it should not be left in the tooth for more than about 6 weeks at a time. It can be removed and replaced for another 6 weeks if needed and repeated several times. In practice I have rarely had to do more than 4 weeks total. The reason not to leave it more than 6 weeks at a time is that it is water soluble and can dissolve out of the tooth leaving a space, which can then be a home for bacteria. The comment about calcium hydroxide weakening the tooth seems to me to be nonsense.

The second point is that while I have no argument against gutta percha if used well, one post commented that the only problem is that it shrinks "a little bit". Bacteria are very very small and only need "a little bit" of space. That only happens when gutta percha is used warm or hot and then it shrinks on cooling. Other techniques use cool temperature gutta percha and if used skillfully I would have no argument with it. I hope that's helpful. I'm encouraged by all the interest in this topic. Read more on my website. I have several articles just on root canals and many about other dental topics. Have a good one!

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