Root Canal

I neglected going to the dentist for a couple years, I know, I'm bad. The last time I had gone to the dentist, it was to get a cap and crown put on a tooth that had been the subject of a root canal. I had no real problems for the last several years, I brushed and flossed regularly. When I recently went to the dentist, I had no cavities, very little tartar and rather healthy gums. Good for me!

However, I had been experiencing some discomfort in a tooth which brought about my recent visit to the dentist. Some X-rays suggested that I needed a root canal. OK, not that I want to get a root canal, but it's better than walking around in pain or without teeth.

Today I went to see the endodontist. He did some X-rays then things started to go a little weird. He wasn't so sure that the tooth the my dentist suggested needed a root canal actually needed a root canal. In addition, he suspected a significant infection of the tooth next to the suspect tooth, the one that had previously been subjected to a root canal. According to him, it could only be diagnosed by employing a 3D CAT scan, which would not be covered by my dental insurance, but might be covered by my medical insurance. The scan would cost $300. Being one who values my teeth and doesn't want an infected tooth to cause any complications, I agreed.

I think to myself, is this really necessary or is this guy really just trying to pay off a fancy new toy? Well, I was led down the hall into a room with a big shiny machine and decided it was the later. I was positioned in the machine and it whirled around my head for a couple minutes. A couple minutes later, the endodontist comes in and shows me a set of pictures that confirm the infection and further suggest that the old root canal had only covered 2 of the 3 roots in the bad tooth. To my eyes, the pictures were not that much more informative than the standard X-rays. Maybe he could tell more, but he wasn't sharing any of that information.

Was the $300 CAT scan necessary, I'm not sure, hopefully insurance covers the cost, but only time will tell. If it assists with targeting the treatment, OK. Still not sure that it needed to cost $300, other than paying off the cost of the unit.

So I went in for a root canal, got a CAT scan, and came out with no root canal, suggestions for a series treatments and significantly poorer. Not really happy with the events of the day.