#and some may have soft tissue preserved!

[krindor]

Send help im experiencing childlike wonder and an academic study-bug at the same time

[alphynix]

Strange Symmetries #23: Convergent Earvolution

Although it's not visible externally, owls have one of the most striking modern examples of asymmetry. The ears of many species are uneven, with the right ear opening positioned higher up than the left, giving them the ability to pinpoint the sounds of their prey much more accurately.

But surprisingly this isn't a unique anatomical trait that only ever evolved once in their common ancestor.

Instead, multiple different lineages of owls have actually convergently evolved wonky ears somewhere between four and seven separate times.

The boreal owl (Aegolius funereus), also known as Tengmalm's owl, is a small 25cm long (~10") true owl found across much of the northern parts of both Eurasia and North America. While most other owls' asymmetrical ear openings are formed just by soft tissue, the boreal owl's lopsided ears are actually visible in the bones of its skull.

But despite how many times owls have convergently evolved asymmetrical ears, and how successful this adaptation has been for them, for a long time it seemed to be something that no other animals have ever mimicked.

In the early 2000s asymmetric ears were reported in the skulls of some troodontid dinosaurs, which seem to have been nocturnal hearing-based hunters similar to owls, but proper details on this feature still haven't been formally published.

Then, just a couple of weeks ago, another example was finally announced.

The night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is a small ground-dwelling parrot found in Australia, close to the same size as the boreal owl at around 22cm long (~9"). Critically endangered and very elusive, it's rarely seen and little is known about it – and it was presumed extinct for much of the 20th century, until more recent sightings of living individuals confirmed that the species is still hanging on.

Recent studies of preserved museum specimens have revealed that it seems to have poor night vision but excellent hearing, and that its right ear opening is noticeably asymmetrical, bulging out sideways from its skull. Much like owls the night parrot relies on acute directional hearing to navigate in darkness, but since its diet consists mainly of seeds it's probably not using this ability to locate food sources. Instead it may be listening out to keep track of the precise locations of other parrots, and for the approach of predators – so its sharp sense of hearing may be the reason this unique bird has so far just barely managed to survive the presence of invasive cats and foxes.

———

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[ocean-sunfish-hater]

An Ode to Tongues

Image description: A face-on photo of a model of Tiktaalik, an early tetrapod (Credit: Emma Lee via WHYY)

Ask most people what the most important step in terrestrial vertebrate evolution was, they'll probably say legs (boring, unoriginal, uninspired).

Ask me what the most important step in terrestrial vertebrate evolution was, and I'll say tongues (fun, freaky, blessed with divine knowledge).

"But Ocean Sunfish Hater," I hear you ask, "How the fuck did you get in my house, and why are you talking to me about tongues?"

My dear reader, the answer to one of those questions will be revealed to you in due time.

Tongues aren't just for tasting your food and licking your friends' weenuses. They serve a really important function in the swallowing mechanism of pretty much every terrestrial vertebrate. They're a really handy way to push chunks of food (sometimes called a bolus) down your throat. Try swallowing some food without moving your tongue, at all - it becomes really difficult, almost prohibitively so.

Now at this point you're probably thinking that fish have tongues as well, so how is this relevant to the transition onto land? While it's true that the tongue of a fish does help it to swallow food, its importance in this role is much less than in us. Every time a fish swallows there's at least a little bit of water in there exerting some pressure to help push that food down the oesophagus. It's like me when I try and house an entire wedge of brie in one bite and drink a litre of water to get it down my gullet.

Image Description: A face-on photo of a mudskipper on land with its mouth hanging open. (Credit: Richard Carey via Adobe Stock)

This hydrodynamic force is so important to fish that even the semi-terrestrial mudskipper often brings water onto land with its mouth to assist in swallowing. Maybe this was how my great great great great great great great great grandparents (like Tiktaalik) first started adapting to life on land. There's even speculation that an increase in the size of the tongue and its co-option of more of the musculoskeletal system away from gill support may have been a factor that drove animals onto land.

All of this is of course difficult to prove as definitively as "legs helped us to walk on land" because soft tissue is rarely preserved in the fossil record and therefore we can only really infer things about ancient tongues based off of fossilised skeletons. I'm not even saying that without tongues vertebrates would not have made the transition onto land. But I do think that the contribution of big, beefy tongues in our evolutionary history has been overlooked and underappreciated.

[leaping-laelaps-art]

I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy with some big commissions but here's a low-quality little guy I made as a secondary element of one of said commissions (generalized conodont):

References and notes:

Following the "standard" for conodont reconstructions, morphology is based on the 3 species with known soft tissues (Clydagnathus windsorensis, Panderodus unicostatus, and the giant Promissum pulchrum) (Aldridge et al. 1986, Gabbott et al. 1995, Murdock & Smith 2021), with details filled in from living hagfish and lampreys based on the assumed vertebrate (and possibly even cyclostome) affinity of conodonts (Miyashita et al. 2019). The count of 7 pairs of gill openings (as in lampreys) is simply because i couldn't be bothered to sculpt more.

Note that the mouth is not depicted as a the usual gaping hole filled with spiny elements but rather as folded tissues nicely hiding any trace of offensive toothiness, much like modern hagfish, which, despite their impressive set of "teeth", have a very kissable (closed) mouth. I understand the didactic value of showing the element apparatus in conodont reconstructions but have always felt a little weird about depicting animals actually swimming around looking like that... but who knows?

Another departure from the usual way of reconstructing conodonts is the inclusion of a single nostril. This is based on the single nostril of extant hagfish and lamprey (to which (eu-)conodonts may be most closely related to) (Miyashita et al. 2019), and also supported by the fact that a single nostril may be part of the ancestral state of vertebrates (Oisi et al. 2013) (assuming conodonts are actually vertebrates, of course).

Anyway, that was a lot of reading and shoddy speculation for a background model. Certainly don't trust any of it, I don't know shit about conodonts.

References:

Aldridge, R. J., Briggs, D. E. G., Clarkson, E. N. K., & Smith, M. P. (1986). The affinities of conodonts—New evidence from the Carboniferous of Edinburgh, Scotland. Lethaia, 19(4), 279–291. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3931.1986.tb00741.x

Gabbott, S. E., Aldridge, R. J., & Theron, J. N. (1995). A giant conodont with preserved muscle tissue from the Upper Ordovician of South Africa. Nature, 374(6525), 800–803. https://doi.org/10.1038/374800a0

Miyashita, T., Coates, M. I., Farrar, R., Larson, P., Manning, P. L., Wogelius, R. A., Edwards, N. P., Anné, J., Bergmann, U., Palmer, A. R., & Currie, P. J. (2019). Hagfish from the Cretaceous Tethys Sea and a reconciliation of the morphological–molecular conflict in early vertebrate phylogeny. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(6), 2146–2151. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1814794116

Murdock, D. J. E., & Smith, M. P. (2021). Panderodus from the Waukesha Lagerstätte of Wisconsin, USA: A primitive macrophagous vertebrate predator. Papers in Palaeontology, 7(4), 1977–1993. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1389

Oisi, Y., Ota, K. G., Kuraku, S., Fujimoto, S., & Kuratani, S. (2013). Craniofacial development of hagfishes and the evolution of vertebrates. Nature, 493(7431), 175–180. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11794

[captainswaglord500]

Totlohô

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Cephalopoda

Subclass: Nautiloidea

Superorder: Alysidaceratoidea

Order: Paratetrapoda

Superfamily: Cotylopodoidea

Family: Cotylopodidae

Subfamily: Anomaloteuthiinae

Genus: Anomaloteuthis

Species: A. magnificus (”magnificent unusual squid”)

Ancestral species: possibly Plectronoceras cambria

Temporal range: Early Jurassic (Toarcian) to Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian) (180 - 130 mya)

Information:

While humans have long seen themselves as the first and only sapient species to inhabit their planet, in all truth, there existed another in Xenogaea several hundreds of millions of years ago, one whose legacy can still be felt throughout the region untold eons later in their bizarre ruins and artifacts: the Totlohô-tu-Tẋusko/Tẋusko-tu-Totlohô (IPA: /to̞t͡ɬo̞hɔ tu t͡ʃusko̞/ OR /t͡ʃusko̞ tu to̞t͡ɬo̞hɔ/, meaning "ancestor of (the) architect"), better known as simply the Totlohô (/to̞t͡ɬo̞hɔ/, simply meaning "architect").

As soft tissues of this species have only rarely been preserved, and hard tissues consist only of armor plating and beaks, their size and general appearance alone must be inferred purely based on known proportions from living relatives, other members of the aberrant nautiloid clade Alysidaceratoidea, known more colloquially as the shrikehounds. The most reliable size estimate places them at around 12 feet long, 6-7 feet tall, and weighing close to 600 lbs. The appearance of these creatures, based on ancient stone murals, would seem to suggest that they were centaur-like in build, sporting six main limbs along with a menagerie of smaller tentacles around the face, which housed a long, narrow beak with a noticeable underbite. The exact coloration of this species isn’t known, though as murals exist which depict them, it can be inferred that they might have had a similar coloration pattern to living nautili, with a creamy-colored body and eyes with an earthy red shell and head piece.

Living shrikehound species are not particularly vocal, with only the paratetrapods having an analogue to proper vocal cords. This species was presumably vocal in some capacity, though the exact vocalizations cannot be deduced. It has been suggested that like their living relatives, they might have been able to produce clicks, grunts, warbles, rumbles, belches, screeches, and shrieks. It has been suggested, however, that they may have convergently evolved chromatophores like some of their living relatives and may have had a primarily visual language instead, one which has not, as of yet, been decoded.

Much of these organism's general biology is not known conclusively. Most evidence points to a carnivorous diet, consisting mainly of small dinosaurs/paravians, but also other terrestrial nautiloids, small mammals, and a bizarre group of terrestrial acanthodians known as coelospondyls. Though the exact place where they first evolved has yet to be conclusively found, fossilized beaks first appear in the Matansitra Formation in the southwest of the Isle of Perils, though later formations across the entire archipelago show that almost every habitable landmass sported a population of these creatures at one point. Dubious material from areas outside the archipelago, including what is now China and Australia, suggests they may have eventually left the archipelago at some point as well. At their peak during the Kimmeridgian age of the Late Jurassic epoch roughly 150 millions years ago, their population size was likely upwards of 40 million. Very little (if anything) can be inferred about their reproductive biology, though murals would seem to suggest that courtship and copulation was a very long, drawn-out process, treated almost as an art form unto itself. From their closest relatives, it can be inferred that the males, using a modified tentacle, deposited sperm into a small groove on the female’s underside, where it could be absorbed and used to fertilize the eggs. Their clutch size is believed to have been anomalously small compared to other species in their clade, possibly no more than 10 eggs at a time. The young appear to have matured at a similar rate to human young, if not slightly faster. Sexual dimorphism does not appear to be a prominent trait within their species.

Not much can be inferred about the behavior of this species from what remnants have been found, though it can be inferred that they were likely highly social creatures with complex social structures. They appear to have engaged in agrarianism and the farming of other animals in their later stages of societal development, as evidenced by a high correlation in dump beak remains found near dump sites for animal bones and shell, and even built cities. Murals would seem to suggest Totlohô society was ruled by a class of elders, the oldest respective members of their society, while the youngest members formed the work force. Song and dance appear to have been ways to bond with one another, and spirituality played a large part in their society’s function. Warfare appears to have been an isolated phenomenon in their society and frequently on a much smaller scale than as seen in humanity, though there exists some evidence of widespread warfare in the later years of existence. Even in their later stages, when they evidently had significantly advanced technology (or, as the more conspiracy-minded would suggest, magic of some kind), the Totlohô still preferred to build their homes out of stone.

During the later stages of their existence, the Totlohô appear to have dabbled in what appears to be highly-advanced technology or potentially even magic of some kind, as evidenced by massive, seemingly Totlhômade, carved, levitating stones covered in glyphs. In a place known as the Square Chasm (picture below, artwork by Dipfruit), a reportedly supernatural space some weary jungle travelers have stumbled upon near a triple-forked river, one of these stones appears to have formed a perfectly square-shaped pocket dimension around itself, where gravity itself appears to bend to the stone’s whim.

Fossilized beaks and hard shells are really the only physical parts of these creatures to have been preserved, and they are the only indication of their existence outside of aforementioned ruins and murals. Their written languages have yet to be decoded, and there are believed to have been several thousand at a given time. What exactly led to their extinction has yet to be conclusively revealed, though murals seem to suggest that, from their perspective, supernatural forces may have been at play, with recurrent imagery of what appears to be demonic figures showing up across several murals. Another recurrent image in these murals is a white bird-like creature with horns, which some have suggested may be related to the mythical white bird seen in Xenogaean mythology, which was said to herald the apocalypse. While some have suggested that these murals may have been painted by one of the last Totlohô, who had simply gone insane from isolation and began painting their hallucinations, others suggest that there might be a grain of truth in these murals, perhaps a war of apocalyptic scale which engulfed the entire species, the demagogues fueling it being portrayed as demonic figures. What this doesn’t explain, however, are the high number of artifacts which appear to be made from an unknown metallic substance, one which is highly durable and in near-pristine condition hundreds of millions of years later. This substance, referred to colloquially as “anomalous tungsten”, is paradoxically lightweight yet durable with a high melting point, seemingly higher than almost any other known metal or metalloid. As this metal has not been found anywhere on Earth or even in any known compounds on Earth or another planet, this begs the question of how and where the Totlohô obtained this substance, leading to a wide menagerie of conspiracy theories, with everything from extraterrestrials to divine beings being suggested as the source from which they obtained this material. Whatever the case, those who have studied the artifacts have claimed to have had vivid dreams where they spoke to the Totlohô shortly after contact. Perhaps this is just a form of confabulation or merely even group hysteria, but nonetheless, it would appear that even long after the Totlohô have left this world, their legacy still manages to touch the human spirit. Finally, they appear to have domesticated a species of coelospondyl, Platycephale aridus, the so-called “flat-faced coelospondyl” (1st picture below, artwork by me), and another species of shrikehound, which is currently unnamed (2nd picture below, artwork by me). These appear to have been utilized as livestock animals.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Round Two: Daurlong vs Ambopteryx

Daurlong wangi

Artwork by @i-draws-dinosaurs, written by @i-draws-dinosaurs

Meaning: Wang’s Daur dragon (named for the Daur people of Northeast China)

Time: 121 million years ago (Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous)

Location: Longjiang Formation, Inner Mongolia, China

Daurlong was described in 2022, from a stunningly beautiful fossil that includes the entire body, crushed flat by pressure, and a whole lot of soft tissues like feathers along the back of the neck and even the shape of the intestines! Any part of the digestive system is extremely rare to find in fossils, so Daurlong provides an important glimpse into how the digestive systems of birdlike dinosaurs compare to living dinosaurs today!

Turns out, despite being closely related to the ancestors of modern birds Daurlong’s guts were pretty similar to other, much more distant theropods like Scipionyx instead. That helps fill in a pretty big gap in our knowledge of how the bird digestive system evolved, making this a very scientifically valuable fossil!

That, and it’s just adorable. Look at that lil smiley face!

Ambopteryx longibrachium

Artwork by Gabriel Ugueto, written by @i-draws-dinosaurs

Name meaning: Both wings with long arms

Time: 163 million years ago (Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic)

Location: Haifanggou Formation, China

Look, evolution has done a lot of weird stuff to dinosaurs. It put penguins underwater, and did whatever the hall mamenchisaurid necks are, and game lambeosaurs a built-in face trumpet. But I would argue there is one group that represents dinosaur evolution at its most unhinged, and that is scansoropterygidae.

Scansoriopterygids were generally considered “weird little tree dinosaurs” in the 2000s, with long fingers to pick grubs out of bark or something. Then Yi qi swept along in 2015 and revealed that those long fingers were actually supporting membranous bat wings. With an extra bony rod (the “styliform element”) sticking out of the wrist to help support it, because well if you’re a dinosaur evolving bat wings why bother being normal about it after that? Although really, the dinosaurs did it first so bats actually have dinosaur wings.

Yi was sensational, but it was also extremely weird and completely unique. Even other scansoriopterygids didn’t have wing membranes, so the whole bat thing was a bit up in the air. Or not up in the air, as the case may be. But then along comes Ambopteryx, published in 2019, packing another set of skin wings, and the vindication of Yi is complete! 

Ambopteryx preserves a styliform element and wing membrane, as well as a thick coat of feathers, and honestly out of a whole selection of dinosaurs I think these might be some of the most huggable in the lot. Obviously this whole wing membrane thing didn’t end up working out for them long term, but Ambopteryx is part of an incredible lineage that challenged what we thought was possible for dinosaurs!

[foremyth]

nobutsuna shigyō's full zanpakutō masterpost.

name: kusōkan release command: kusare (腐れ), “rot” bankai: kusōkan jindō fujōsōzu (人道不浄相図), “picture of the unclean human path”

the manifested spirit of nobutsuna's zanpakutō is, for the lack of a better world, horrifying to look at. kusōkan looks like a half-decomposed corpse of a woman in a torn hitoe that slides off her emaciated shoulders, baring her shapeless breasts, portions of green-dead skin and layers of muscle and bones underneath; there is soil in her threadlike black hair and under her sharp clawlike fingernails, her lips have cracked and blackened and some of her teeth have rotted away from her gums. her face displays traces of some mysterious lost beauty, but now it's mostly mummified once-soft tissues spread like tinfoil over her facial bones, lidless eyes flaming with terrible recognition from the dark well of her sockets. she feeds off of bits of nobutsuna's soul to fuel his shikai and bankai, but this does not affect their relationship—they get along splendidly. they like to dance across the corpse-strewn foggy wetlands of nobutsuna's inner world. if muramasa were to force kusōkan to manifest, bitch would start crying

released at the command “rot”, nobutsuna's shikai acts as a parasitic force that dries his enemies of their own reiatsu while accelerating disruption of tissues/cells. the rot in question spreads like a wave or a cloud—it can be avoided if one's fast/responsive enough, but it will chase you, and nobutsuna can control the direction, the speed and intensity of cellular decay. it works both ways; he can revert the effect of his shikai if he so wishes, by feeding kusōkan his own reiryōku instead of someone else's. while the shikai needs releasing, so it's not in a state of constant activation like ichigo's, kusōkan demands to be fed at all times. even when not actively using it, its power is always chipping away at nobutsuna's power/life force. he subjects himself to tedious medical therapy sessions in order to preserve his soul and delay the inevitable decay of it in its entirety

his bankai, jindō fujōsōzu, is the longest in the history of soul society, and it's comprised of nine stages of activation. when in bankai, kusōkan's rot does not act like a wave or a cloud; rather, it controls the battlefield by spreading over it like dust particles, making it impossible to escape it. if it's touched or inhaled, it's going to work. the stages are as follows, although yamamoto forbid nobu from using the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth since the war against the quincy. the effects are not reversible, and they are:

chōsō (脹相), “distension” — the rot settles in the body, making it bloat and expand due to generation of gasses. movements are impaired, veins and arteries may pop.

esō (壊相), “rupture” — gas expansion reaches a critical point; the skin begins to tear, the body breaks, the pain is excruciating.

kechizusō (血塗相), “exudation of blood” — the body takes further damage from the progression of the rot within, bodily fluids begin to leak through the festering cracks. usually the average enemy dies from internal bleeding or passes out from the pain at this point.

noransō (膿爛相), “putrefaction” — actual decay starts with the fourth stage. decomposition advances: movements are unthinkable, organs collapse, reiryōku spills uncontrolled, most people are reduced to a half-solid puddle at this point

shōosō (青瘀相), “discoloration and desiccation” — fluids begins to dry to the point where the victim becomes severely dehydrated, the skin becomes blueish and starts to blacken. still-conscious victims of the fifth stage feel their lungs burn and their souls shrink like a sun-dried sponge

tansō (噉相), “consumption by animals” — forbidden. nobutsuna conjures small beastlike spirits of raw spiritual power that begin to devour the victim.

sansō (散相), “dismemberment” — forbidden. once the worms are done consuming the enemy from the inside out, bigger spirits appear, tearing them from limb to limb and scattering the pieces across the battlefield. nobutsuna can use these two stages in tandem, and order the spirit to fight for him if he wills so, but he cannot summon them without letting them have a bite. it'd greatly upset kusōkan.

kotsusō (骨相), “bones” — forbidden. by accelerating the speed of rot nearly to its maximum, this stage picks the body clean until it's only bleached-white bones. does not require a prior activation of tansō and sansō, although kusōkan does not like it when he skips stages.

shosō (焼相), “parched to dust” — highly forbidden. all tissues come undone, bones turn to ash, the soul is entirely wiped out; its reishi dissolving like dust.

[ildarotyrannus]

Hi all, it's my first post here! I'll show my drawings with some info on portrayed animals. For first post I have my recent Tyrannosaurus rex portrait. Many of those who read (or will read this blog) are probably already familiar with the Cullen et al. (2023) paper concerning the question of whether theropod dinosaurs (and specifically Tyrannosaurus) had "lips". Having presented several lines of evidence (tooth sizes, tooth enamel thickness on different sides of the tooth, jaw closure tightness, etc.), paleontologists claim that "lips" are the most plausible option for theropod facial tissue reconstruction. Those who have read me on other sites (such as DeviantArt) know that many reconstructions of non-avian theropods that I have made have exposed teeth. I have never been completely against "lipped" reconstructions and I really liked many, at least from an aesthetic point of view. Now I will also draw these more often. Of course, without a fossil specimen with preserved soft tissues, it is difficult to speak confidently in favor of one or another version (because the oral anatomy of theropods has some differences from both lizards and crocodiles). This Tyrannosaurus has a well-developed upper "lip" and a lower one that occupies most of the length of the jaw… except for the tip. The reason for this is the large number of labial openings observed in tyrannosaurs in the tip of dentary bone. It looks more like animals with beaks or tight-fitting facial coverings than lizards. I am not an expert in this matter, so I may be wrong. But I decided to play with this interpretation in the drawing. In addition to this feature, the keratinized maxilla integument above the upper lip catches the eye in the drawing. This is inspired by the unusual osteological correlations of this bone in tyrannosaurs (a surface dotted with small holes, ridges and grooves from blood vessels). Otherwise, this is quite an ordinary reconstruction. Initially, I decided to make feathers on the upper side of the neck, but later abandoned them because I didn't want to spoil the well-drawn scales. What else can I say… I drew a platanus tree in the background. It was harder to draw foliage than to draw scales. Perhaps it's a matter of habit. I decided to blur the background. The result is generally good for the first fully digital work in a long time, but I feel that there is a little lack of contrast. Well, I'll learn my lesson. Done in Paint Tool Sai 2.0.

[saritawolff]

#Archovember Day 28 - Tapejara wellnhoferi

The Tapejarids were Cretaceous pterodactyloids famous for their impressive crests. I’ve drawn a handful of various tapejarids over the years, I figured it was finally time for the type species of the family: Tapejara wellnhoferi.

Smaller than their close relatives, Tupandactylus, Tapejara was still a mid-sized pterosaur. It had a bony semi-circular crest over the snout and a bony prong that extended back behind the head, which could have supported a number of different soft tissue crest shapes. Unlike the Tupandactylus species, Tapejara fossils did not preserve signs of a keratinous crest. Study on Tapejara’s scleral rings have shown that these pterosaurs may have been cathameral (active at irregular periods during both day and night, whenever resources are available). There were a variety of pterosaurs in Early Cretaceous Brazil, filling both land predator and fish-eating niches. Tapejara could have filled a different niche as an omnivore or full herbivore.

Like most of Cretaceous Brazil, the Romualdo Formation was a hotspot for pterosaurs. Tapejara wellnhoferi would have lived alongside many species of Anhanguera as well as other anhanguerids like Maaradactylus, Cearadactylus, and Tropeognathus. There were also ornithocheirids like Araripesaurus and Brasileodactylus, and targaryendraconids like Barbosania. It wasn’t the only pterosaur with an impressive crest either, as it would have also shared the environment with other tapejarids like Thalassodromeus, Kariridraco, and Tupuxuara. While pterosaurs dominated the landscape, there were also dinosaurs here, such as the spinosaurid Irritator, the compsognathid Mirischia, and other indeterminate theropods like Aratasaurus and Santanaraptor. There were even some pseudosuchians here, including an Araripesuchus species, Araripesuchus gomesii.

[to-the-sun-with-love]

Don Giovanni.

(Per queste tue manine)

Cracked skin. So dry, it bled pathetically like looking for respite.

You wanted me to see you in Collingwood.

You stake a claim on this city, as though I didn’t live 20 kilometres outside of it. Looking in, trying to see what I’ve been missing.

You were named after a carrion bird, or so you tell me. But the things you eat always still seem to have a heart beat.

Torn raw at the very seams, hands that have chafed from being scrubbed with concrete.

The day the ground shook beneath me for the very first time, your words raised around you like open palms and slow poisoning gas leaks.

Sorry I couldn’t be sad without all of the weight pushing through behind me.

Life made sure I couldn’t just hold all of this together, for some sort of devastation pageantry, to force others to perceive me.

I loved before you and that was the cause for weeks of being displeased.

I felt you, I promise, in every breath squeezed out of me. Pushed through a thinning throat, up and out, like the very world was punishing me for whatever shape your absence took that day.

Thoughts in a slow moving carousel of envy, will the rain that touched your skin salt the earth for not have seeped in? Will the wind that blew through your clothes, find itself in a prison of stasis?

Kafka once wrote, ‘you are the knife I twist inside of myself’ and I find it to be lacking. You are a deliberate injection of poison, melting muscle, rending tissue, scraping through nerves to harvest attention. You are the gasps of the dying, screeching through the dreams of the wanting. A soulless strand of pure entropy. The muse of the writers that came up with eschatology. You are the malevolence of my silent god personified in a single body, so capable in spinning harm. There should be no part of me left unimpressed with just how much I am still willing to drown.

Soft, so disgustingly soft, a dithering fool with a penchant for ignoring self-preservation. A walking, talking advertisement for hindsight dripping in revulsion. An awareness of debasing myself and still following through with it. I should rip my femur out and beat myself to death with it.

You made of a mirror of me and stepped on it to shatter the reflection. Crackles of starlight in the edges of broken faces. Pain, literal, in my chest, like death was rushing in for a mercy kill.

No time will soothe this. No hope will un-break this. No forgiveness will soften this.

Closure is an ending and a one way flight ticket.

If I return, it will be my city then.

I hope your cause of death says asphyxiation caused by ego. May every person you have ever met, pop champagne when it happens.

Rot of the human race, crude waste, may every person you see, kill a part of you for justice and avarice. It is the utilitarian way.

(Questo è il fin di chi fa mal)

[nuadox]

New fossil brings us a step closer to unravelling the mystery of feather evolution

- By Zixiao Yang , Maria McNamara , University College Cork , The Conversation -

Strong but light, beautiful and precisely structured, feathers are the most complex skin appendage that ever evolved in vertebrates. Despite the fact humans have been playing with feathers since prehistory, there’s still a lot we don’t understand about them.

Our new study found that some of the first animals with feathers also had scaly skin like reptiles.

Following the debut of the first feathered dinosaur, Sinosauropteryx prima, in 1996, a surge of discoveries has painted an ever more interesting picture of feather evolution.

We now know that many dinosaurs and their flying cousins, the pterosaurs, had feathers. Feathers came in more shapes in the past – for example, ribbon-like feathers with expanded tips were found in dinosaurs and extinct birds but not in modern birds. Only some ancient feather types are inherited by birds today.

Paleobiologists have also learnt that early feathers were not made for flying. Fossils of early feathers had simple structures and sparse distributions on the body, so they may have been for display or tactile sensing. Pterosaur fossils suggest they may have played a role in thermoregulation and in colour patterning.

Fascinating as these fossils are, ancient plumage tells only part of the story of feather evolution. The rest of the action happened in the skin.

The skin of birds today is soft and evolved for the support, control, growth and pigmentation of feathers, unlike the scaly skin of reptiles.

Fossils of dinosaur skin are more common than you think. To date, however, only a handful of dinosaur skin fossils have been examined on a microscopic level. These studies, for example a 2018 study of four fossils with preserved skin, showed that the skin of early birds and their close dinosaur relatives (the coelurosaurs) was already very much like the skin of birds today. Bird-like skin evolved before bird-like dinosaurs came around.

So to understand how bird-like skin evolved, we need to study the dinosaurs that branched off earlier in the evolutionary tree.

Our study shows that at least some feathered dinosaurs still had scaly skin, like reptiles today. This evidence comes from a new specimen of Psittacosaurus, a horned dinosaur with bristle-like feathers on its tail. Psittacosaurus lived in the early Cretaceous period (about 130 million years ago), but its clan, the ornithischian dinosaurs, diverged from other dinosaurs much earlier, in the Triassic period (about 240 million years ago).

In the new specimen, the soft tissues are hidden to the naked eye. Under ultraviolet light, however, scaly skin reveals itself in an orange-yellow glow. The skin is preserved on the torso and limbs which are parts of the body that didn’t have feathers.

These luminous colours are from silica minerals that are responsible for preserving the fossil skin. During fossilisation, silica-rich fluids permeated the skin before it decayed, replicating the skin structure with incredible detail. Fine anatomical features are preserved, including the epidermis, skin cells and skin pigments called melanosomes.

The fossil skin cells have much in common with modern reptile skin cells. They share a similar cell size and shape and they both have fused cell boundaries – a feature known only in modern reptiles.

The distribution of the fossil skin pigment is identical to that in modern crocodile scales. The fossil skin, though, seems relatively thin by reptile standards. This suggests the fossil scales in Psittacosaurus were also similar in composition to reptile scales.

Reptile scales are hard and rigid because they are rich in a type of skin-building protein, the tough corneous beta proteins. In contrast, the soft skin of birds is made of a different protein type, the keratins, which are the key structural material in hair, nails, claws, hooves and our outer later of skin.

To provide physical protection, the thin, naked skin of Psittacosaurus must have been composed of tough reptile-style corneous beta proteins. Softer bird-style skin would have been too fragile without feathers for protection.

Collectively, the new fossil evidence indicates that Psittacosaurus had reptile-style skin in areas where it didn’t have feathers. The tail, which preserves feathers in some specimens, unfortunately did not preserve any feathers or skin in our specimen.

However, the tail feathers on other specimens show that some bird-like skin features must have already evolved to hold feathers in place. So our discovery suggests that early feathered animals had a mix of skin types, with bird-like skin only in feathered regions of the body, and the rest of the skin still scaly, like in modern reptiles.

This zoned development would have ensured that the skin protected the animal against abrasion, dehydration and pathogens.

What next?

The next knowledge gap for scientists to explore is the evolutionary transition from the reptile-style skin of Psittacosaurus to the skin of other more heavily feathered dinosaurs and early birds.

We also need more experiments studying the process of fossilisation itself. There is a lot we don’t understand about how soft tissues fossilise, which means it is difficult to tell which skin features in a fossil are real biological features and which are simply artefacts of fossilisation.

Over the last 30 years, the fossil record has surprised scientists in regard to feather evolution. Future discoveries of fossil feathers may help us understand how dinosaurs and their relatives evolved flight, warm-blooded metabolisms, and how they communicated with each other.

Zixiao Yang, Postdoctoral researcher, University College Cork and Maria McNamara, Professor, Palaeobiology, University College Cork

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Header image: The studied Psittacosaurus under natural (upper half) and UV light (lower half). Credit: Zixiao Yang (author provided).

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[twicecursedmonk]

Dissection at Dawn: A Pendulum Story

Gerard looked at the gift left on his processing slab overnight with disgust. When he was assigned the role of head mortician, he believed that he would eventually get used to the desiccated husks of the bio-computers. Each operation proved his past self wrong.

Gerard inspected the remains in front of him. The death tag on the toe read “46664 -3.75”.

“Fuck,” Gerard muttered imperceptibly.

There was no-one in the room aside from him and the bio-computer laid supine in front of him. His junior had completed initial processing by collecting the first order recoverable material from the specimen, but after just 4 hours on the slab the outer layers of soft tissue had already begun to turn to ash. The effects of the Scouring were well known to Gerard, but the time before their onset was growing shorter and shorter. The brain would have to be removed immediately to ensure it remained in usable condition.

Gerard readied himself for his task. As senior mortician, his primary responsibility during a dissection was ensuring the integrity of the brain. He began with a steel brush, and scrubbed the cranium clean of any flakes of ash and other signs of biological decay. He worked in a spiral pattern from the top of the cranium outwards toward the edge of the calvaria. He then positioned the cranium in the jig for the oscillating saw, the whining of the blade drowning out any thoughts of disgust while he cut a thin line around the crown of the head.

Gerard wrenched the skull plate from the incision and was promptly met with a billowing poof of ash and dust; the dura mater had also decayed within the skull after the blood was drained by the junior mortician. He inspected the thin layer of powder coating his uniform, he hoped being thorough while brushing off the ash would have kept him clean.

“Some things just can’t be helped,” he thought.

An observation that seemed contrary to the nature of Pendulum, a city whose residents deny the inevitable each day.

After brushing whatever residue he could off his uniform, Gerard inspected the skull’s contents. He was relieved to see that a thick layer of mineral deposits had built up on the outside of the brain. A common side effect of prolonged exposure to the Blood Network, the calcification had the upside of preventing the rapid breakdown of the underlying tissue. If this unit was in better condition, the brain may have been completely lost.

He worked a metal bar towards the bottom of the skull, near the olfactory bulbs. Once in position, he levered upwards until he heard the satisfying snap of a brain with late-stage ossification detaching from the spinal cord. A more precise approach may have been called for under different circumstances, but even with the protective shield of calcium, he did not wish to risk decay setting in. The consequences for failing to recover the material would be the end of his career.

Pulling the brain out of the skull, Gerard gently placed it into a vat of liquid. The calcium deposits, while useful for short term preservation, would prevent the absorption of Ichor into the tissue. He placed 2 probes into the solution, a current would run between them to assist with the decalcification. He took a step backwards and stretched. While time was still of the essence, the electrolysis would take time to complete.

He had about 30 minutes to prepare for the final cleaning, where he would remove any remaining calcium deposits with a scalpel. He found this part of the process therapeutic. The husks were too human for him to be comfortable around them. The brain, however, was simply a component of the divine machine, its maintenance was his expertise.

Gerard considered this, reflecting on the person he had become. After a moment however, he remembered the one truth of Pendulum:

It is the only choice.

He uttered a short prayer to the goddess, and then left to pour himself a cup of coffee.

[twst-the-night-away]

Danica: Happy birthday Savvy! I really hope you like this! *hands Savvy a small glass container wrapped in purple tissue paper, when opened, it reveals a golden crystal perfume bottle with a blue stopper* I think I finally have a grasp on how to properly blend fragrances and created this just for you! Using florals and other scents I felt were best suited to your personality. Even if I’m ever fortunate to open up a fragrance line under my family’s company, this particular perfume will be yours only! 💙

Farron: Happy birthday Savvy! Hoping you have a wonderful day today and all your wishes come true. Here is something from both me and Yuulan! *gives Savvy a gift bag with a fine blue cashmere scarf inside with an elegant motif of Savvy’s initials embroidered at one edge in gold thread* Isn’t this shade of blue lovely? It’s the exact same hue as your headband! I made the scarf myself but Yuulan hand stitched the embroidered motif herself! We hope you like this gift! 

Sidonie: Congratulations on becoming another year older and another year wiser! Here’s a little something from me to you! *hands Savvy a small jewelry gift box wrapped in silver paper, inside is a small pair of red rose earrings* If you’re wondering, yes they are real! With some help of one of my Science Club buddies, I was able to preserve two perfectly sized roses and from them, made these for you! A very happy birthday to you, my dear! 

Maximilian: Savvyyyyyyy!! Happy birthday, darling! Hope you’re enjoying this special day! Please accept this small token so you may shine even brighter today! A little preview of what my family will be offering this spring! *gives Savvy a metallic red gift bag with a long rectangular box inside of the same color. In the box is an elegant white gold bangle encrusted with diamonds*

"Ohhhh!" Savvy's eyes light up when Danica says the magic words. Custom perfumes are always her jam. "I can't wait to see what you came up with!" She opens the bottle and takes a delicate sniff, then closes her eyes happily. "Mmm, it smells like tropical flowers. Like a warm Southern garden! You really made it smell like home. Thank you, Danica, sweetie."

Savvy gasps when she opens the gift from Farron. "OM7, and you both did such a great job on it! It's so soft and elegant, and the stitching is so lovely! Let me just ..." Savvy can't resist rubbing the soft cashmere on her face a little. She giggles. "It's so warm, too! I'm gonna get a lot of use out of this."

When Savvy opens Sidonie's present, she smiles - but when she hears that the roses are real, her jaw drops. "Are you serious?! ... How?? I mean, I'm sure it's a big scientific secret, but ... these are from real roses?! You never fail to impress me, Sidonie! They're so pretty and delicate, I love them!"

Savvy grins wide when Maximilian approaches. "I am loving this day, and all of y'all have been spoiling the heck out of me! My goodness!" She opens the box and squeals a little. "It's so gorgeous! I'm sure this'll be a hit for sure!"

"Perfume, a scarf, earrings, a bracelet - I'm gonna be the most well-accessorized girl on campus!" Savvy's ready to offer hugs to anyone who'll accept. "You're all so sweet, I can't wait to spoil you back when your days come!"

[nvaestheticsdentalhub]

Root Canal Treatment: A Step-by-Step Guide

Root canal treatment, often perceived as intimidating, is a routine dental procedure designed to save damaged or infected teeth. Understanding the process can help ease apprehension and ensure you feel prepared if you or a loved one needs this treatment. This step-by-step guide provides a detailed overview of the root canal procedure, its purpose, and the recovery process.

What Is Root Canal Treatment?

A root canal is a dental procedure used to treat infections in the pulp of a tooth. The pulp is the innermost part of the tooth, containing nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue. When the pulp becomes inflamed or infected due to deep decay, repeated dental procedures, or trauma, it can lead to severe pain and abscesses. Root canal treatment in Jaipur removes the infected pulp, cleans the inside of the tooth, and seals it to prevent further damage.

Step 1: Consultation and Diagnosis

Before starting the procedure, your dentist will assess your tooth through:

Symptoms review: Discussing pain, sensitivity, or swelling.

Dental X-rays: To identify the extent of the infection and locate any damage to the tooth’s root structure. Once diagnosed, the dentist will explain the procedure and address any concerns you have.

Step 2: Administering Local Anesthesia

To ensure a pain-free experience, the dentist administers local anesthesia around the affected tooth. This numbs the area completely, so you won’t feel any discomfort during the treatment.

Step 3: Creating Access to the Tooth

The dentist begins by isolating the tooth using a dental dam (a small sheet of rubber). This keeps the area dry and prevents saliva from contaminating the treatment site. A small opening is then drilled into the top of the tooth to access the pulp chamber and root canals.

Step 4: Removing the Infected Pulp

Using specialized dental instruments, the dentist carefully removes the infected or damaged pulp from the tooth. This step alleviates pain and removes the source of the infection.

Step 5: Cleaning and Shaping the Canals

Once the pulp is removed, the Best Dentist In Mansarovar cleans the canals thoroughly to eliminate any remaining bacteria or debris. The canals are then shaped to prepare them for filling. Antibacterial solutions may be used during this step to ensure complete sterilization.

Step 6: Filling the Canals

After cleaning and shaping, the canals are filled with a biocompatible material called gutta-percha. This material seals the canals, preventing bacteria from re-entering. The access hole is temporarily filled until the next appointment for final restoration.

Step 7: Tooth Restoration

In most cases, a tooth that has undergone a Best RCT in Mansarovar needs additional reinforcement. During a follow-up visit, the dentist removes the temporary filling and restores the tooth with a permanent filling or crown. A crown is often recommended to provide extra strength and protect the tooth from fractures.

Recovery and Aftercare

Recovery after a root canal is typically smooth, with minimal discomfort. Here are some tips for post-treatment care:

Manage pain: Over-the-counter pain relievers can help with mild soreness.

Avoid hard foods: Stick to a soft diet for a few days to prevent stress on the treated tooth.

Maintain oral hygiene: Brush and floss regularly to keep your teeth and gums healthy.

Follow up: Attend your scheduled appointments to ensure the tooth is healing properly.

Why Is Root Canal Treatment Important?

Root canal treatment is crucial for saving a tooth that might otherwise require extraction. Preserving your natural tooth helps maintain your smile, chewing efficiency, and oral health. Moreover, untreated infections can lead to severe complications, including abscesses, bone loss, or systemic infections.

Myths About Root Canal Treatment

Despite its benefits, root canal treatment is often misunderstood. Let’s debunk some common myths:

Myth: Root canals are painful. Truth: Modern techniques and anesthesia make the procedure virtually painless.

Myth: Tooth extraction is better than a root canal. Truth: Saving your natural tooth is always preferable to extraction.

Conclusion

Root canal treatment is a highly effective way to save a damaged tooth and prevent further oral health issues. By understanding the procedure, you can approach it with confidence and ensure the best possible outcome. If you’re experiencing symptoms like severe tooth pain, sensitivity, or swelling, consult your dentist promptly. Early diagnosis and treatment are key to preserving your natural smile!

For those in Jaipur, many dental clinics specialize in root canal procedures, offering advanced technology and expert care to ensure a comfortable experience. Don’t let fear hold you back—root canal treatment is a step toward better oral health!

[malhandentalclinic]

Root Canal Treatment in Jalandhar | Pain-Free Solution by Malhan Dental Clinic

A toothache can disrupt your daily routine and make even the simplest tasks feel unbearable. When the problem goes deeper into the root of your tooth, root canal treatment in Jalandhar becomes essential to save it. At Malhan Dental Clinic, we offer expert and pain-free root canal treatment to help you regain your oral health.

What is Root Canal Treatment?

Root canal treatment, also called endodontic therapy, is a dental procedure used to treat an infected or damaged tooth. The procedure involves:

Removing the infected or damaged pulp (soft tissue inside the tooth).

Cleaning and disinfecting the tooth’s inner canals.

Filling and sealing the canals to prevent further infection.

Restoring the tooth with a filling or crown for strength and function.

This treatment is often the best option to save a tooth that might otherwise need to be removed.

Signs You May Need a Root Canal

Here are some common symptoms that may indicate you need a root canal:

Severe tooth pain while chewing or biting.

Prolonged sensitivity to hot or cold foods and drinks.

Swollen or tender gums near the affected tooth.

Tooth discoloration or darkening.

A small, pimple-like bump on the gums.

If you experience any of these symptoms, don’t delay visiting Malhan Dental Clinic.

Why Choose Malhan Dental Clinic in Jalandhar?

At Malhan Dental Clinic, we specialize in offering safe and comfortable root canal treatment in Jalandhar. Here’s why patients trust us:

Experienced Team: Our skilled dentists have extensive experience in performing root canal treatments.

Advanced Technology: We use state-of-the-art equipment to ensure precise diagnosis and pain-free procedures.

Focus on Comfort: We understand dental procedures can be daunting, so we prioritize patient comfort every step of the way.

Affordable Care: We offer cost-effective root canal treatments without compromising on quality.

Benefits of Root Canal Treatment

Relieves Pain: Say goodbye to toothache and discomfort.

Saves Your Tooth: Preserves your natural tooth, preventing the need for extraction.

Improves Oral Health: Prevents the spread of infection to other teeth.

Restores Function: Enables you to chew and speak properly again.

Schedule Your Root Canal Treatment Today

Ignoring a dental infection can lead to severe complications, including tooth loss and gum issues. If you’re experiencing tooth pain or any symptoms mentioned above, trust Malhan Dental Clinic for effective root canal treatment in Jalandhar.

Our team is dedicated to providing you with a stress-free and successful treatment experience. Contact us today to book your appointment and take the first step toward a healthier, pain-free smile!

Read more on:

[knightstreetdentist]

Root Canal Treatment: Everything You Need to Know for a Pain-Free Smile

Introduction

Root canal treatment has long been misunderstood, often associated with pain and anxiety. However, modern dentistry has transformed this once-dreaded procedure into a safe, effective, and relatively painless solution for saving teeth. Root canal treatment is vital for addressing infected or damaged teeth, preventing further complications and preserving your natural smile. In this article, we’ll cover the essentials of root canal treatment, highlight common questions, challenges, and myths, and provide an in-depth look at the process through a step-by-step guide and case study.

1. What is Root Canal Treatment?

Root canal treatment, also known as endodontic therapy, is a dental procedure designed to treat infection at the center of a tooth (the root canal system). The treatment removes the infected or damaged pulp (the soft tissue inside the tooth containing nerves and blood vessels) to prevent further infection, relieve pain, and save the tooth.

Root canal treatment is recommended when the pulp becomes inflamed or infected due to decay, trauma, or other factors. Without timely treatment, this infection can spread, causing abscesses and possibly leading to tooth loss.

2. Common Misconceptions About Root Canal Treatment

Myth: Root Canal Treatment is Painful

Modern root canal treatment is generally painless, thanks to advancements in dental technology and anesthesia. Most patients report feeling little to no discomfort during the procedure.

Myth: Removing the Tooth is a Better Option

While tooth extraction is an alternative, it can lead to complications such as difficulty chewing, misalignment, and bone loss. Root canal treatment allows you to retain your natural tooth and avoid these issues.

Myth: Root Canals Don’t Last Long

When done properly and followed by appropriate restoration (e.g., a crown), root canal-treated teeth can last a lifetime.

3. When Do You Need a Root Canal? Key Signs and Symptoms

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, it may be time to consult your dentist for a root canal evaluation:

Persistent toothache or pain

Sensitivity to hot or cold that lingers

Swollen or tender gums around the affected tooth

Darkening or discoloration of the tooth

Pus or drainage near the tooth

4. Challenges of Root Canal Treatment

While root canal treatment is a common and effective procedure, some challenges may arise, including:

Fear and Anxiety

One of the most common challenges is dental anxiety. Many patients fear the procedure due to myths and misconceptions.

Complex Root Structures

In some cases, the tooth’s root structure may be complex, with multiple or curved roots, making the procedure more intricate. This is why experienced endodontists or specialized dentists often handle complex cases.

Post-Procedure Discomfort

While the treatment itself is often painless, some patients experience mild discomfort after the procedure. This can be managed with pain relievers and usually subsides within a few days.

Risk of Infection or Re-treatment

Although root canal treatments have a high success rate, there is a small chance that the tooth may need re-treatment if infection reoccurs. This can happen if the canals are not completely cleaned or if a new infection develops.

5. Step-by-Step Guide to Root Canal Treatment

Understanding the process can help alleviate anxiety and provide clarity. Here’s what a typical root canal treatment involves:

Step 1: Examination and Diagnosis

The dentist will examine your tooth and may take X-rays to assess the extent of the infection. This initial assessment ensures that root canal treatment is the right choice.

Step 2: Numbing the Area

To ensure a pain-free experience, the dentist will administer local anesthesia to numb the tooth and surrounding area. You should feel comfortable throughout the procedure.

Step 3: Accessing the Root Canal

The dentist will create a small opening on the surface of the tooth to access the pulp chamber and root canals. This allows them to reach the infected tissue.

Step 4: Cleaning and Shaping the Canals

Once the canals are accessed, the dentist will use specialized tools to remove the infected pulp and bacteria. The canals are thoroughly cleaned and shaped to ensure no infection remains.

Step 5: Filling the Canals

After cleaning, the dentist fills the canals with a biocompatible material called gutta-percha, which seals the area and prevents bacteria from re-entering.

Step 6: Sealing the Tooth

The dentist will seal the tooth with a temporary or permanent filling. In most cases, a crown will be recommended in a follow-up visit to provide added strength and protection to the treated tooth.

6. Case Study: Sarah’s Journey to a Pain-Free Smile

Let’s look at a real-life example to understand the impact and effectiveness of root canal treatment.

Case Background: Sarah, a 35-year-old office worker, had been experiencing a persistent toothache in one of her molars. Initially, she dismissed it as a minor cavity, but the pain worsened over time, affecting her ability to eat and concentrate at work. Sarah also noticed increased sensitivity to hot and cold foods.

Diagnosis: Sarah visited her dentist, who performed an X-ray and confirmed that she had an infection in her tooth’s root canal. Her dentist recommended immediate root canal treatment to save the tooth.

Treatment Process: The dentist began by numbing the area around the affected tooth. Sarah was nervous but felt comfortable due to the anesthetic. The dentist created a small opening in her tooth, cleaned out the infection, and filled the canal. Sarah felt relieved that the procedure was not as painful as she had expected.

Outcome: After a few days of mild discomfort, Sarah’s pain completely subsided. She followed up with her dentist to place a crown on the treated tooth for added durability. Today, Sarah’s tooth functions normally, and she is grateful to have avoided extraction.

This case shows how root canal treatment can effectively address severe dental infections, improve quality of life, and preserve natural teeth.

7. Conclusion: Embracing Root Canal Treatment for a Healthy Smile

Root canal treatment is a safe and highly effective way to save infected teeth, relieve pain, and restore oral health. By understanding the process, dispelling common myths, and knowing when to seek treatment, patients can make informed decisions that lead to long-lasting dental health.

If you’re experiencing tooth pain or suspect you might need root canal treatment, don’t let fear hold you back. Consult a qualified dentist who can guide you through the process and help you achieve a pain-free, healthy smile.