What is a Root Canal?

Today, most of us suffer from tooth decay problems. The easy availability and high consumption of various kinds of junk food have made tooth decay problems common in individuals of all ages.

The decay can increase without our knowledge and reach the root canals of our tooth, causing inflammation, pain, or death of the canal’s nerves. Root Canal treatment is the only treatment suggested by the dentist to save such damaged teeth.

What is Root Canal treatment?

Root canal treatment is designed to extract the infected pulp from the tooth, thus removing the bacteria from the tooth’s diseased root canal. This helps prevent reinfection in that tooth and lessens the chance of affecting the surrounding nerves and gums.

In a root canal procedure, the infected pulp is removed, cleansed carefully, disinfected, followed by filling and sealing.

Root Canal Procedure

• Local Anaesthesia – This is given to numb the affected tooth and the surrounding area.
• Dental Dam – It is a thin sheet of rubber or vinyl applied to protect the surrounding tissues and gum. This helps focus on that specific tooth and provides a sterile environment preventing infection in the rest of the mouth.
• Drilling – A small hole is drilled in the diseased tooth to access the infected or dead pulp chamber.
• Tissue & Nerve Removal – The infected pulp tissue and the nerve are removed. At this point, the affected tooth does not feel any pain anymore. 
• Disinfecting – The canals of the affected tooth are disinfected.
• Insert Flexible Root Canal – After one more round of cleaning to remove the remaining debris, a flexible root canal is inserted to help to hold the shape for the filling and sealing procedure.
• Filling – A rubber-like, thermoplastic filling called gutta-percha is filled. Then an adhesive cement sealer is applied to set everything in place and prevent the tooth from any kind of reinfection.
• Post Insertion – Based on the tooth structure, a post may be inserted during the filling to hold the filling in place.
• Crown placement – The filling is sealed, and a crown of any preference is attached. Mostly natural-looking crowns are preferred that blends with the original tooth structure.

Some minor pain or discomfort may last for a couple of days after the process.

Benefits of Root Canal

• It prevents the spreading of infection to the surrounding teeth.
• It saves your tooth from further infection and restores it to healthy condition to function normally.
• Tooth preservation helps to keep the jawbone intact.
• The natural-looking crowns placed provides an aesthetic look, maintaining your beautiful smile.
• Helps in the enhancement of oral health and hygiene.

Root canals are recommended by dentists for the healthy restoration of your damaged tooth.

 If you would like to know more about how we can help, please call Dentist in Murfreesboro TNat (615) 624-6919, book an appointment online, or visit us at 206 A N Thompson Lane, Murfreesboro, TN 37129.