Root Canal Therapy
The name of the dental procedure commonly referred to as a "root canal" is actually endodontic therapy, which means "inside the tooth."
“Root canal" is not a treatment, but part of a tooth. It is the hollow section of a tooth that contains the nerve tissue, blood vessels, and other cells, also known as the pulp.
Inside the crown and the root, or the root canal, is the pulp. The pulp nourishes the tooth and provides moisture to the surrounding material. The nerves in the pulp sense hot and cold temperatures as pain.
However, the term "root canal" has come to be commonly used to talk about the procedure.
What are the steps?
Root canal therapy is done in three steps, and it takes between one and three sessions to complete.
1. Cleaning the root canal
First, the dentist removes everything that is inside the root canal.
With the patient under local anesthesia, the dentist makes a small access hole on the surface of the tooth and removes the diseased and dead pulp tissue with very small files.
2. Filling the root canal
Next, the dentist clean, shape and decontaminate the hollow area, using tiny files and irrigation solutions. Then tooth is filled with a rubber-like material and seal the canals completely using the adhesive cement.
After root canal therapy, the tooth is dead. The patient will no longer feel any pain in that tooth because the nerve tissue has been removed, and the infection has been eliminated.
3. Adding a crown or filling
However, the tooth will be now more fragile than it was before. A tooth with no pulp must receive its nourishment from the ligament that attaches the tooth to the bone. This supply is adequate, but in time, the tooth will become more brittle, so a crown or filling offers protection.
Patient should not chew or bite on the tooth until the filling is done. Once there is a crown or filling is done, the person can use the tooth normal as before.
Who needs it?
If the pulp becomes injured or diseased, it cannot repair itself, and the tissue dies.
If there is a deep cavity, a cracked tooth, or a loose filling, bacteria can enter the pulp.
An infection will weaken the bone and break it down. The ligaments around the tooth will swell, and the tooth will become loose.
A pulp injury will make the tooth sensitive to high and low temperatures. There may be pain when chewing, and some people have a continuous, throbbing pain.
Without treatment, the infection will spread. Eventually, the tooth will become loose and need extracting.
Some patients opt for extraction, especially if it hurts a lot or if the tooth cannot be restored.
Removing a tooth may mean that the surrounding teeth start to move and become crooked. This can look unsightly, and it can make it hard to have a good bite.
If the tooth cannot be saved, the next best option is an implant.
However, saving the natural tooth is best, if possible, because nothing functions as well as a natural tooth.