Endodontics

We may recommend a root canal to help save your damaged tooth. The pulp, which is the soft tissue in the middle of your tooth that contains nerves, blood and lymph vessels, has become diseased and injured and cannot heal itself.

How did my tooth get damaged?

The two most common causes of pulpal infection are deep cavities and fractures or broken teeth. Both allow the pulp to be exposed to bacteria that exist naturally in saliva. These bacteria cause infection, which ultimately results in the pulp dying. Without treatment, the pus from the infection can eventually gather down at the root tip and pass into the jawbone, causing an abscess (a pus pocket). The abscess may then damage the bone that surrounds the tooth. It's the pressure inside the bone and the adjacent ligament surrounding the tooth that causes pain.

What are the steps of root canal therapy?

We will use small endodontics instruments called files to carefully and meticulously remove the infected nerve, arteries and veins that make up the pulp of the tooth. We then replace the pulp with a stable filling material. After we evaluate the tooth for the need for a post (to retain a buildup), we generally prepare the tooth for a crown (cap). Since each tooth is different, the amount of time it takes to complete the treatment varies, but two to three appointments is common.

So in summary, although each case is different, root canal treatment and subsequent tooth restoration often involve three steps:

1.We remove the infection to promote healing and replace the pulp with a filling material.
2.We place a post in the tooth to strengthen it.
3.We crown the tooth to protect it.

What are my alternatives?

You could opt to delay treatment, but remember that an infected tooth will never heal on its own. And as it gets worse, it will continue to be a source of infection that weakens your immune system. This can affect your entire body. The damage to the bone and the swelling inside the bone can also be excruciatingly painful, and even life-threatening. We could extract the infected tooth, which would serve as a short-term solution. While it does remove the source of infection, it sets off a chain reaction of shifting teeth, which causes other more serious and costly dental problems

The Procedure

First, we'll give you local anesthetic so the entire procedure will be comfortable for you. Once you are thoroughly numb, we will place a rubber dam around the tooth that we are going to treat. This isolates it from the rest of your mouth, and keeps it dry and accessible to us. A rubber dam also prevents debris from falling to the back of your throat.

To get at the infection, we use the dental handpiece to make an opening through the top of your tooth down into the pulp chamber. We carefully clean out the infected tissue, and prepare the inside of the root canal(s) to receive the filling material, using tiny dental instruments called files. At left, you will see a photo of a dental file. We may also place medication in the root canals to kill the infection-causing bacteria. Occasionally during the procedure, we'll take X-rays to check our positioning and to make sure we have removed all of the infected pulp tissue.

Depending on the situation and the amount of infection present, we may have you back for a second appointment. When we're sure the root canals are completely clean and free of infection, we'll fill them with a root canal filling material.

Post and core

If the decay or trauma that necessitated the root canal left us with a small amount of remaining tooth stucture, we may also recommend a post and core. Posts come in a variety of materials and lengths, but are designed to be cemented or bonded within the root of a tooth. They serve to reinforce the tooth and anchor the core (or the buildup) that replaces the missing tooth structure. A crown (also called a cap) is often the final step to fully restore the tooth.

Are root canals painful?

Root canal therapy has an undeserved reputation as an uncomfortable and tedious procedure. Modern dental techniques, combined with our commitment to your comfort, now make root canal therapy a dependable procedure that's comfortable for you.