Pu-erh is one of 10 famous teas in China. High quality Pu-erh demands a premium price in China, and barely makes its way to oversea market. Low quality Pu-erh that makes to oversea massive tea market painted a damaging image of Pu-erh. Most of those low quality Pu-erh have poor tastes, or simply undrinkable. Luckily, with increasing globalization, many oversea tea drinkers start to have access to higher quality Pu-erh, and start to realize wonderfulness of Pu-erh.

With help of internet, we are now able to share our knowledge with Pu-erh lovers around world, and to offer exceptional quality Pu-erh to everybody that wants a true taste of this Yunnan treasure. We have translated many of our articles on Pu-erh into English and posted on our site at www.teahub.com.

Is there an alternative to endodontic treatment? If you choose not to have root treatment, your affected tooth will be extracted. Should you fill space? That depends on functional and aesthetic grounds. People today are aware of their mouth and smile, so someone displaying unaesthetic black gaps between their teeth may feel self-conscious about speaking or smiling. Back teeth may not be immediately noticed in a smile, but they are very important in terms of chewing function. Every tooth stabilizes teeth adjacent to it and those immediately above or below. If it is removed and not replaced, other teeth may well shift from their natural positions. This will stimulate problems with gum disease, food packing (leading to further decay) and bite problems.

If a tooth needs extracting, what next? Teeth can be replaced with bridges, implants or removable dentures and possibilities should be discussed with your own dentist. Implants have revolutionized restorative dentistry and can be an excellent substitute for natural tooth. The dental root has often been described as nature’s implant, so wherever possible existing teeth should be kept in place. However there are situations when it is neither feasible nor cost-effective to keep tooth. The options have to be considered carefully either by your general dental practitioner, or by an endodontics specialist.

How successful is endodontic treatment? Nobody can guarantee success. However when endodontic treatment and restorative treatment that follows it are both carried out to a high standard, long-term success is very likely. Failure would be caused by leakage of bacteria into root canal system or by mechanical failure i.e. fracture of remaining tooth.

Should endodontic treatment fail, it may be possible to re-treat tooth. If further treatment is impossible, tooth may require extraction. Endodontic re-treatment may be carried by your own dentist or by an endodontist, depending on particular problems and reasons for failure.

General dentist or root canal specialist? General dentist are trained to carry out root canal treatment and many of them do this to a very high standard. Whether root canal treatment is carried out by your regular dentist or an endodontics specialist will depend on many factors. Is your dentist skilled, experienced and confident in performing these kinds of procedures? Is it a straightforward treatment or are there complications? The molar teeth have a more complicated root canal system than front teeth (incisors and canines), are harder to access and may require more specialized equipment.

While endodontics specialists are usually more expensive, their training and experience enable them to deal more easily with complications. In many cases, this involves re-treating teeth where original root treatment has failed.

Dr Anthony Druttman, Endodontics Specialist, www.londonendo.co.uk