Dr. Valerie Kanter explains regenerative endodontics, which aims to preserve living tooth structure and nerves instead of removing them. She walks through a case of tooth resorption caught on 3D scan and discusses adjunctive therapies like ozone and lasers for disinfection and healing.
Hi, my name is Dr. Sanda, and I'm here with Dr. Valerie Kanter, who is a regenerative endodontist. So, Valerie, please tell us, what is a regenerative endodontist?
As a regenerative endodontist, I strive to keep the tooth alive whenever possible. Now, sometimes we don't have that option. So if the tooth is infected and it's filled with bacteria, we have to do everything we can to eliminate it to decrease that burden on the body.
Now, let's face it. I mean, those of you who have had a root canal, you know how painful it can be. So luckily, Dr. Val can really help us maintain healthy nerves when those first symptoms start popping up.
Absolutely. And in addition, we use a lot of homeopathic remedies that can really just keep you calm when you come in for your appointment and decrease inflammation afterwards.
And I know sometimes there's something called resorption of a tooth. Maybe some of you out there have had this issue, and that's where Val and I work together to really help to save these teeth. So. So, for example, the other day we had a patient who actually had this exact problem where she was recommended to have the tooth removed. But tell us a little bit about what you did.
Absolutely. That's why I love endodontics. When we can, we can save the tooth, and that's the most natural thing that someone can keep in their body. So this patient had resorption, and that can happen to anybody. It just. The right perfect storm comes in, and all of a sudden it's like Alzheimer's of the tooth. You don't even know what's going on. Your tooth starts forming a hole, and it's not a cavity, and it's not because you didn't brush properly. It just happens, and it can happen to anybody. So we were able to find it early with a 3D scan and get in there and take care of it. And we saved that person's tooth.
Yes. I love that term, the Alzheimer's of a tooth. Meaning the tooth forgot it belonged to the body.
Yeah.
And the body starts resorbing it. But nowadays, better than in medicine, we can actually reverse that, because in medicine, we still don't have a good cure for Alzheimer's. But let's talk about ozone, because ozone is one of those things that both you and I use.
Absolutely.
So how do you use it?
We actually use it in that case. And we're able to do a lot of regenerative endodontics where we keep the nerve healthy. We can kill the bacteria in a natural way and boost the immune system of your nerve at the same time.
And besides ozone, we also use lasers, and I'm very excited about lasers. How do you use it in a root canal therapy or maybe to preserve a nerve?
I am just so thrilled to have the opportunity these days to be able to use lasers in the mouth. It's so crazy, but it works so well. I've never seen anything clean a tooth like this laser. And it doesn't actually work on your tooth. It just works on the solution that we're using to clean the tooth. And it vibrates it all around and it gets everything out. So that way we know your tooth is perfectly clean. There's a lot of other tools out there that say that they do it, but they are not doing it like this. I've seen it firsthand.
That's pretty amazing when you think of laser energy, because laser is our energy, and we ourselves are energy. And when you combine the right energies, magic happens.
Yeah, it does. We've proven that here at Beverly Hills Dental Health and Wellness.
So definitely come and visit us or ask us a question@ask.cassanda.com or go to our website and we'd be happy to answer your question.
Or just stroll down Roxbury Drive and come on in.
