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What is the Treatment Procedure for a Root Canal?
If you need a root canal, the chances are you want to save your tooth from extraction or the treatment is needed ahead of other dental work you may require.
Root canals are performed because a tooth’s nerve and blood supply has been compromised and that supply has become irreversibly damaged. This can mean the tooth is either painfully inflamed in the process of dying or is already dead and infected. In either of these instances, a root canal can be performed to prevent the tooth from extraction.
Although root canal treatments are one dental procedure that often cause consternation for patients, in reality the procedure is straightforward and should be pain free.
Firstly, numbing gel is used to minimize and discomfort the gums prior to a local anesthetic injection, which numbs the tooth itself so no painful sensations can be felt by the patient. In my opinion, this is the most important step of the treatment. If the tooth is not fully numb then you will potentially frighten the patient for life and never get another recommendation again!
At our Apex Dental, Clover office, we have all the equipment and experience you need to accurately and safely numb even the most difficult cases and we do not move onto the next stage of the procedure until the patient is happy and comfortable that the entire tooth is fully anesthetized.
Once a tooth is numbed, a root canal procedure aims to remove the inflamed or dead tissue from the intricate confines of the roots of the tooth. This is done by creating space in the shape of a cone in each canal which allows for the cleansing of the root canals. Once the roots have been optimally cleaned they are then filled with sealers and root filling materials to create a tight seal to stop the potential ingress of bacterial infection in the future.
After the root canal dentist has completed the treatment a temporary filling is placed and the tooth is given time to settle. Once the tooth has settled and pain after the root canal procedure has totally subsided, we can then move on to filling or crowning the tooth to make sure there are no root canal complications after all that hard work!