Root Canal Treatment

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:30:19 +0000

Common Myths:

1) Root Canals are painful
2) Root Canals go bad anyways

Fact:

1) With proper anaesthesia root canals are painless, most patients we work on actually fall asleep during the procedure!
2) This misconception stems from individuals who have root canals done, and don’t follow through and complete the treatment on the tooth. Most root canaled teeth require crowns.

What is a Root Canal?

In the center of the tooth is soft tissue (otherwise known as pulp). The upper part of this soft tissue (or pulp) is known as the pulp chamber. This pulp chamber extends to the bottom portion of the tooth known as the root via pipe-like canals, giving rise to the term “root canal”. The blood vessels in these canals provide nutrition to the tooth. Occasionally, the internal soft tissue of the tooth becomes infected or traumatized beyond repair and can result in a serious pain and/or infection if left untreated. Our doctors use a number of guidelines to evaluate whether a tooth requires root canal treatment. In the old days, “root canals” were considered to be painful, not anymore. With modern methods of anaesthesia the procedure is now painless.

Some indications for the need of root canal treatment may be:

Spontaneous pain or throbbing
Sensitivity to hot and cold foods
Severe decay or an injury to a tooth

The Root Canal Treatment Procedure

The first step in a root canal involves getting the tooth fully anesthetized. We take special care before proceeding to make sure that the tooth is fully “numb”. Once we are sure it is “numb” we place a hole into the pulp of the tooth through which we can use tiny instruments to extract the remaining pulp. Thorough-out the procedure the canal is constantly irrigated with antibacterial solutions. Once completely disinfected, the interior of the tooth is filled with a putty like material preventing bacterial proliferation thus completing the root canal.

Dr. Badyal and Dr. Karren are trained to perform most endodontic treatments. For overly difficult root canals they may refer you to an endodontist (root canal specialist).