Patient Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

What is endodontics?

What will you experience during our first visit together?

What will happen during our first visit together?

What tests and technologies will be used to make your endodontic diagnosis?

How much time will our first visit together take?

What sets the Center for Endodontics apart?

What happens after your endodontic treatment?

What is your payment responsibility?


What is endodontics?

Endodontics is root canal system treatment. Root canal treatment is one of the most common and predictable dental procedures performed, well over 15 million every year. Success rates are reported to be above 97% (ref.1). This nonsurgical or surgical micro treatment saves your natural teeth, and helps you to avoid the need for dental implants or bridges.

 

Our teeth are hollow and at the center of your tooth is a collection of blood vessels, lymphatic systems, innervations, and connective tissue. Without these tissues, teeth would never form. Once your tooth is formed, however, the pulp serves no developmental function. Its real job is to tell us when we have damage to the tooth or the pulp itself. The health of a tooth does not depend on a living pulp. It depends, instead, on a healthy and living attachment to surrounding bone. When pulp becomes diseased due to decay or a cumulative effect of needed restorations, root canal treatment successfully replaces the damaged delicate root canal system with an inert pulpal repair. The damaged pulp is microscopically removed and the canals are prepared with measurable precision and then freshly repaired with an inert three-dimensional seal.

 

What will you experience during our first visit together?

First of all, we want you to know you will be seen and heard during your time with us. We want you to know that we know that it is important you feel that you are in a professional, safe, and nurturing environment.

 

Second, we want you to know that any and all treatment choices for saving your tooth (teeth) will be clearly explained once we have made the endodontic diagnosis. Then our job is to educate you about your treatment choices, including the outcome of no treatment. Your family dentist has already determined that your diseased tooth is important to your dental health. By understanding the advantages and disadvantages of your treatment options, you can make choices that are in your best interest and the best interest of your oral health dental structures and your oral appearance. We encourage you to ask questions, identify concerns, or tell us “stories” that you may have heard about predictably saving teeth through endodontics. Our thinking is that we recognize all of us have fears of the unknown. It is natural. It is our intention that there are no unknowns for you while in our care and therefore, no fears. We want you to feel comfortable and confident, while we save your tooth.

 

What will happen during our first visit together?

Depending on what you want, the treatment needed to successfully save your tooth, and schedules in general, we may begin treatment during your first visit and finish on a second visit, or the entire treatment may be scheduled for another time. If you have a toothache, we will make the time to resolve it and ensure that you leave in comfort.

 

What tests and technologies will be used to make your endodontic diagnosis?

  1. A thorough oral and pulpal clinical exam will evaluate the biologic, structural, and esthetic condition of your tooth (teeth).
  2. Digital images of your tooth (teeth) and the inside of your tooth (teeth) will be taken.
  3. Comfortable pulp tests will be made in order to determine the health of your tooth’s pulp.
  4. Your tooth (teeth) will be examined through an operating microscope, a technology that was first introduced in the Pacific Northwest at the Center for Endodontics. We are the only endodontic office in the Pacific Northwest that has the benefit of having a digital panorex unit. When needed, this technology allows us to digitally view all of your teeth and supporting structures at one time.

How much time will our first visit together take?

Typically, plan for an hour. Depending on your diagnosis and time available (yours and ours), the first visit could take half as long or twice as long.

 

What sets the Center for Endodontics apart?

  1. Both endodontists, Dr. Jason West and Dr. John West, trained at Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine and were significantly influenced by the legendary master of clinical endodontics, Dr. Herbert Schilder.
  2. As members of interdisciplinary study networks, Drs. Jason West and John West fully understand endodontics in the context of dental conditions as a whole. That means better diagnosis and treatment planning which, in turn, increases positive treatment outcomes. We study with other dental specialists, including orthodontists, periodontists, oral surgeons, and pediatric dentists. In this way, we understand the big picture, which facilitates making treatment choices that are in your best interest and the best interest of your dental health.
  3. In short, for more than 30 years, the Center for Endodontics has been a resource for solutions that simply are not available anywhere else.
  4. Two full-time hygienists, Sara and Katey, are an essential part of our team. This concept is novel in American and global endodontics. The benefit to you, our patient, is that we have professionals dedicated to the gentle and profound pulpal (dental) anesthesia when needed. Our hygienists take the time needed to alleviate any concerns you may have about endodontic dental anesthesia. They are interested and compassionate listeners. Sara and Katey also take the time needed to administer gentle and successful anesthesia. We don’t begin endodontic treatment until your tooth is thoroughly anesthetized. Endodontic hygienists significantly contribute to your positive experience with us.
  5. The Center for Endodontics treats patients Monday through Friday. Someone is always accessible if needed.
  6. The Center for Endodontics is proud of our 24/7 after hours answering service where our friendly, knowledgeable, and professional staff is available if necessary.
  7. The Center for Endodontics frequently publishes noteworthy endodontic articles, text book chapters, and educational endodontic videos.
  8. The Center for Endodontics is a renowned resource for some of the most advanced endodontic technology inventions in the world today.
  9. The Center for Endodontics is a prestigious resource for teaching modern endodontics to dental colleagues.
  10. The Center for Endodontics is a significant resource for leadership in the field of endodontics.

What happens after your endodontic treatment?

You will be connected back with your family dentist for continued care, which may involve restoring the structural part of your tooth (the part that you see in the mirror). You will be clear about what is next before we even start. We want you well informed from the beginning. When all of us know “what’s next,” then you can relax and let everyone on your dental team perform at their highest level.

 

What is your payment responsibility?

Our payment rule is simple. In a single word it is responsibility. Drs. Jason West and John West are responsible for providing you with the finest endodontic care anywhere. You are responsible for compensating us for your care. It is the responsibility of our administrative staff, Epris, Rheo, and Kathleen, to arrange treatment compensation.

 

Most of our patients prefer to take care of their responsibility at our first visit together. However, we require that your payment balance is taken care of at completion of treatment.