Root Canals

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If these words just gave you an unpleasant feeling, relax. "Root canal" may sound a bit overwhelming - granted, but nowadays it's done painlessly, usually in one visit, and without serious discomfort afterwards. If you need Root Canal Therapy - you are not alone. More than 15 million teeth receive this treatment every year. By going ahead with Root Canal Therapy (RCT), you are choosing to keep your natural teeth as a healthy foundation for chewing and biting for years to come.

Root Canal Therapy is typically necessary when the nerve inside the tooth becomes inflamed or infected. That happens if there is a deep cavity that extends into the nerve, or if there is an old broken-down filling that allowed bacteria to leak under it and infect the nerve. Sometimes a trauma to the tooth may cause nerve damage even if the tooth has no visible chips or cracks. If the infection within the nerve is left untreated, it can be the cause of a great deal of pain and discomfort, and it can lead to more serious infection - an abscess.

Signs of nerve damage include pain, long-lasting sensitivity to heat or cold, discoloration of the tooth, and swelling and tenderness in the near gums. However, in some instances the infection within the nerve may not produce any signs at all, and if person does not come for regular dental check-ups it may be too late to salvage the tooth.

Root Canal Treatment allows the dentist to save your teeth. When cavity is present, your dentist will clean it out, remove the infected nerve, carefully clean and shape the inside of the tooth, and then fill and seal the nerve space. Afterwards, you will need the crown or other restoration on the tooth to protect and restore it to full function. After all the work on the tooth is completed, the tooth continues to function like any other tooth.

Root Canal Treatment is usually done under local anesthesia to minimize all possible discomfort and involves several steps:

1	your dentist examines the X-Rays and the tooth and prepares it by getting it numb

2	an opening is made in the top of the tooth, then small instruments are used to clean the nerve from its chamber and root canals and to shape the space for filling

3	after the nerve space is cleaned and shaped, the dentist fills the root canals with a special biocompatible material, called "gutta-percha", together with the cement to ensure complete sealing of the root canals

4	as a last step (which is usually a separate appointment), a crown or other method of restoration is used to "build-up" the tooth to its original form and function

Occasionally, if the amount of infection within the nerve was too great, your dentist will prescribe antibiotic regimen to stop the development and spread of the infection.

When the nerve of the tooth is damaged, the only alternative to root canal treatment is extraction of that tooth. To restore chewing function and to prevent neighboring teeth from shifting, the lost tooth must be replaced with either a bridge or possibly an implant. This requires surgery or extensive dental procedures on adjacent healthy teeth and can be far more costly and time-consuming than root canal treatment and restoration of the natural tooth. No matter how effective modern tooth replacements are - and they can be very effective - nothing is as good as a natural tooth.