I want to catch up on my dental work and am hoping to get as much done as possible at my appointment. I have 5 root canals that need to be done, 3 fillings, and I’d like to whiten my teeth. Can you tell me how much of this can be done at once?
Barbara
Dear Barbara,
The amount of work done at each appointment will vary from dentist to dentist. You will find that a dentist who offers dental sedation will be able to get more done at each appointment (and be more willing to). If you don’t want sedation then much of it will depend on your ability to tolerate the treatment.
Any general dentist can do teeth whitening, so that is no big deal. Your root canal treatments can be done in one appointment if they are on front teeth. Back teeth take much longer, especially for a general dentist. Those will take a general dentist between one and a half and two hours per molar. However, an endodontist (root canal specialist) can work much faster. The fillings could also be done in one appointment, as well.
As I mentioned in the beginning, much of this will depend on the dentist and their preferred work flow. If you don’t have a regular dentist, I would start with a sedation dentist so you can squeeze as much in as possible. Then, just call around and ask them about timing.
If your teeth need root canals because of an active infection, then you don’t want to put this off. These infections spread and can become life-threatening. In those cases, I would let them know and they can schedule you during one of their urgent care appointments, if they provide those.
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