Root Canal: Affordable Financing Over Time
One of the more expensive dental treatments, root canals can be a burden on your wallet as well as your lifestyle. Luckily, at Castle Dental, our team of emergency dentists are always standing by to alleviate your pain while keeping your wallet free of holes. We offer a range of affordable payment plans that allow for financing of dental services over time. If you need extensive dental work in 2018, skim through our blog to learn about insurance alternatives, credit options, payment plans, and even coupons to keep your local dentist appointment affordable.
What is a Root Canal?
A root canal is required when a tooth has died. A tooth dies when the nerve endings within the tooth are killed. There are many causes behind the death of a tooth, but most come from sudden impact. The nerve endings and blood vessels inside of a tooth are also referred to as pulp, so your dentist may say they need to remove the tooth’s pulp, instead of blood vessels and nerve endings. A sudden shock to the tooth can kill the nerve endings within the tooth (this is also one of the many reasons why investing in a quality mouthguard when partaking in physical activities it a must).
The nerve endings stretch from the main body of your tooth down into the roots. During a root canal, a small hole is drilled into your tooth. This happens in the back of your tooth for the front teeth and the top of your tooth for side teeth. With the hold in place, it is possible to remove the dead root canal tissue. It is important to remove the dead nerve endings from the tooth, otherwise the nerves will begin to decay. This not only may rot out your tooth (which means you’d need to have it removed and a bridge or implant installed), but it can spread to nearby teeth, causing infections in both these neighboring teeth and the gemlike.
After all of the nerve endings have been removed, a bleaching agent is injected into the tooth. This helps keep the tooth white and looking alive. The hole is capped off and it will feel like nothing even happened. The tooth will remain healthy as long as you care for it properly. Discoloration down the line may happen, requiring you to have the tooth bleached again from the inside, or it may need a veneer when dealing with a front tooth, but that is more difficult to forecast as any kind of tooth discoloration would not occur for a long period of time.
Do I Need a Root Canal?
A root canal is not one of those things you automatically know you need. For many, it isn’t obvious such a procedure is required until after seeing the dentist. However, there are some signs that indicate, at the very least, a visit to your local Castle Dental should be scheduled in the very near future.
For starters, serious tooth pain when chewing, or even applying pressure to the tooth is a major give away. It is a far more severe pain than what someone might experience with a cavity. If the gums around the tooth start to swell or become tender, this is another sign. Additionally, if the tooth’s color begins to darken, or if there is an odd pimple that keeps returning to the gums, it is another sign that the tooth has decaying pulp and it is beginning to affect the surrounding gums as well.
What to Expect During a Root Canal
Local anesthesia is applied to the area around the root canal, so you will not feel a thing. In fact, this will help numb the pain you’re currently experiencing from the damaged, infected or dead tooth. By the time the local anesthesia wears off, you won’t have any pain remaining from the tooth itself, although as stated previously, you may have some slight inflammation lingering for a few days.
What to Expect After Root Canal
Eventually, everything will go back to normal and feel like nothing ever happened. However, after the first few days of a root canal, the area may be a bit sensitive. This is due to inflammation, which is completely natural. Nerves and blood vessels were removed from inside of the tooth, so there will be some kick back from the body’s defense system. It is possible to control this pain with ibuprofen.
It is important to return to normal oral healthcare. This includes brushing and flossing. If additional blood is seen while brushing for the first few days that again is natural as it may cause some bleeding around the inflamed gums. However, this should stop after a few days or so. However, it is important to listen to your dentist with regards to oral healthcare. If you did have a crown or veneer placed, they might have specific instructions regarding brushing and how to care for your tooth.
Root Canal Complications
Complications may arise if there are more root canals in a given tooth than expected. When this happens it may lead to one of the roots no being cleaned and cleared of the dead pulp. Outside of this, if a hairline crack goes undetected in the roof of the tooth it can lead to some complications, although with x-ray technology, missing such a crack occurs infrequently. Typically no, there are no problems. Your dentist will take x-rays in order to see the extent of the damage and what needs to be done.
On occasion, you may need to have the seal applied again to your tooth. For some root canals, a crown or veneer is not initially applied. This is because the structural foundation of the tooth is still intact and the internal bleaching of the tooth leaves it looking alive and well. It is impossible to tell how the rest of the tooth will fair over time, although some discoloration may occur. Should you start to notice some discoloration, your dentist will likely provide you with a few options. Realistically the only time this is an issue is if you had a root canal for a front facing tooth. A re-bleaching may be attempted in order to correct the color issue. If this doesn’t work, your dentist will give you a few different options, one of which is the application of a veneer. A veneer is applied without much of an issue. The top layer of the enamel is removed and a mold of your tooth is taken. The veneer is then applied over the current tooth, correcting the color issue while also strengthening the tooth itself.
Dental Insurance Coverage
If you have dental insurance, Castle Dental takes most forms of insurance. If this is your first time out to the dentist office, make sure to contact Castle and make sure your insurance is accepted. This way, you know what to expect when it comes to paying for the procedure. Each Castle Dental office is a bit different, so it is necessary to contact the specific dentist office you intend on visiting in order to avoid any possible confusion.
Dental Coupons for Root Canal Treatment
Affordable Emergency Dentists are available by searching local Castle dentist offices and luckily, most offer financing options. In order to help pay for the procedure, there are a handful of different options available. First, you need to check out what kind of available discounts are provided through Castle Dental. We are pleased to introduce new dental discounts throughout the year in 2018. This currently includes a $100 discount on most dental services, including a root canal. This way, you can cut down a bit on how much you would pay. So, even if you have insurance, this can help with your other out of pocket expenses you might have to pay. Check with your specific Castle Dental dentist office to find out what kind of discounts are currently available to you.
If you are interested in staying up to date on the latest money saving offers provided by Castle Dental, you can do that easily as well with our memberships. The first option is to sign up for emails through the dental office you visit. When taking down your information just provide your email address and check off that you want to receive email updates on current and upcoming offers. However, you can also do this from the comfort of your own home as well by registering for the eSmiles Email Program online.
Root Canal Payment Plans
If you don’t have dental insurance, or if you do and it still leaves you with a potential bill, you are not able to cover right at once, there are different options available. Financing and payment plans may be the best course of action as you can break up the payments into smaller chunks. In fact, Castle Dental provides three different kinds of dental financing payment plans.
- The first is a “low down payment and no interest” plan. This way, you make an initial payment up front and then pay monthly as you go.
- We also offer a “no money down and no interest” option. After all, root canals pop up out of nowhere and you may not have the money set away to pay for the sudden dental procedure.
- Third, if you need a longer payment period, you can select the extended term payment option, which gives you up to 48 months (four years) to pay the loan amount back, with a 14.9 percent promotional interest rate.
You can apply for financing either directly at your Castle Dental office, or through our website. This way, you will have a better understanding as to whether or not you’ll have the desired financing ahead of the procedure.
We Accept Credit Cards
You might not have the available cash to pay for the root canal, but Castle Dental does accept all major credit cards. This way, if your credit card has a lower interest rate, or if you’d like to build up those airline points for an end of the year vacation, you can do exactly that. Credit cards including Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover are all acceptable forms of payments. If you decide to pay with a debit card, it may be necessary to contact your bank ahead of time. Larger purchases can sometimes flag your account and the bank may block it by default. This is a bank by bank (and account by account basis), so it is worth checking in on if you can.
Affordable Root Canals from Your “Dentist Near Me”
If you are in need of a root canal (which you may not realize until you visit the dentist) there are plenty of financing options available to you. Try our “dentist near me” Zip search tool to find a handful of location options that are nearest to you. So whether you already have dental insurance and need help offsetting the rest of the price, or you don’t have insurance and want to work with our financing partners, there is a way for you to cover the root canal costs. After all, it is important to have the root canal performed in order to prevent the problem from spreading into your gums and other, surrounding teeth. If you believe you need a root canal, have a dental emergency, or other questions regarding dental services offered, make sure to reach out and contact Castle Dental today at 1.844.700.7645.
