Root Canal Treatment

A root canal treatment needs to be done when there is an inflammation in the canals of a tooth. This can arise by decay of a tooth, a leaking or deep filling, or as a result of trauma of  a tooth. Because of this the nerve becomes inflamed , die, and the present bacteria can cause an inflammation around the root.  If you suffer from a tooth pain and the complaints indicate of  a nerve inflammation e.g.  the pain is provoked by warm or cold irritations. Then the dentist will first make  an x-ray photo to examine the source of the pain and the anatomy of the tooth involved. The number of roots differs  between the teeth, from 1-4.

The Treatment:

• First the dentist gives anesthesia, so the treatment is usually painless.
• Afterwards the dentist makes  a small opening to the nerve chamber. To identify all the canal openings.
• Then the dentist uses files to clean the canals and makes another x-ray to measure the length of the canals.
• The canals are rinsed and cleaned and then filled with a rubber like material spikes and cement. Then a permanent filling is made. (In many cases the dentist performs the root canal treatment in 2 phases, in order to be certain that the inflammation is entirely gone.) During the filling process another photo is taken, to see that the filling reaches the length of the canal. At last, a finishing photo is taken.

A tooth after a root canal treatment has usually a big filling, it’s dry and dead, and therefore weaker than a normal tooth.  As a result it is usually recommended to have a crown on this tooth to keep it from breaking and ensuring longer life time of this tooth in the mouth.