The root canal of the tooth contains the nerve tissues and blood vessels, also known as the pulp. Root canal therapy or endodontic therapy is designed to cure or remove the infection from the tooth’s root canal by removing the infected nerve and pulp.
The removal of the infected tooth nerve or pulp does not affect your tooth’s normal functionality as these serve no purpose once the tooth is fully grown, and only acts as a sensory nerve.
Why a Root Canal Is Needed
The root canal therapy is painless, yet an important treatment to undergo. It protects the tooth from further infection and the possibility of severe tooth decay. Delay in the therapy may cause an abscessed tooth due to the exposure of bacteria and debris and even bone loss around the root tip. However, getting a root canal therapy helps restore your infected tooth and overall oral health.
Signs to Help You Decide If You Need a Root Canal
Identifying the need for root canal therapy is vital for your oral health. Ignoring these signs might lead to a badly infected or decayed tooth.
- Swollen or tender gums
- Severe sensitivity to cold or hot objects
- Severe pain while chewing
- Bad decay of the gums
- Cracked tooth
Root Canal Therapy: The Procedure
Once you identify the need for a root canal therapy and consult your dentist or endodontic, an X-ray is taken to analyze the shape and sign of infection in the surrounding bone. Patients are given anesthesia so that the whole process is done at their ease and comfort.
The first step of the therapy is cleaning the root canal: the endodontic or dentist starts by making a small access hole at the tooth’s surface and removes all the decayed tissues and pulp along with the bacteria in small files.
Next, the dentist cleans and decontaminates the hollow and infected part of the tooth through medication. In some cases, the dentists flush away the debris periodically through sodium or hypochlorite. Then, the tooth is filled with a compound into the tooth’s root canal.
In the last step of the therapy, a crown or filling is added to the tooth. Due to the removal of the pulp, the tooth receives its nourishment from surrounding tissues, which in the future may cause the tooth to become weaker, so a crown or filling protects the tooth.
After the crown is placed and complete restoration of the tooth is completed, the patient can use their teeth like before and can easily perform actions like chewing or biting.
Root Canal Completion
However, your tooth may feel sensitive after the completion of a root canal because of inflamed tissues. So your dentist may prescribe you an over-the-counter medicine like ibuprofen to ease the discomfort and pain.
Benefits of Root Canal Therapy
- Efficient chewing and biting
- Healthy gums and teeth
- Maintenance of oral health
- Zero pain and inefficiency
Lastly, root canal treatment has a more than 95% success rate, and the teeth fixed with the help of a root canal treatment can last a lifetime.
If you have an affected tooth and are looking for a root canal procedure to help save it, contact your leading team of dentists in West Des Moines at Plaza Dental Group to get expert root canal treatment.
