Root Canal Treatment

Root canal therapy is only performed on a patient who suffers from deep cavity infection or serious cracked tooth in order to repair or save the tooth from being completely removed.

Although the thought of root canal surgery can fill a patient with dread, the only factor that makes the treatment painful is the presence of an abscess, which renders useless any local anesthetic that might be used. Once the affected tooth is free of abscesses, the anesthetic can do its job and the procedure is performed with little to no pain felt on the part of  the patient .

There are several signs that you might need a root canal therapy.

• Severe tooth pain when chewing
• Sleepless night caused by toothache
• Intense and lingering sensitivity on your teeth when reacting to hot or cold
• Discoloration or darkening of the tooth
• Swollen gums

Modern root canal therapy is painless.

Procedure

Anaesthetic is given to numb the tooth prior to commencing the treatment.
First, through the crown of the affected tooth, an opening is made into the pulp chamber. Then the soft tissue inside the tooth is then removed and the root canal is cleaned thoroughly and medication is placed into the canals. Usually, this procedure requires a single visit because at our dental office we  follow the principles of rotatary endodontics . . After  cleaning the root canal and pulp chamber and  the root canal  is filled with a special filling material. All this is usually done under rubber dam to prevent saliva and bacteria from the mouth entering and re-infecting the tooth.

Finally the tooth will have a permanent filling or crown over the top. In most cases, root canal therapy has a high success rate and can last for a very long time.

Sometimes when the decay is very close to the pulp then the pulp is removed to allow for the proper reconstruction of the tooth with a crown , the process being called as “Elective Endodontics”