Root Canal Therapy

What is a root canal treatment?

 

Root canal treatment is required when the nerve of the tooth has been damaged, the tooth will give symptoms of pain, dull throbbing ache, facial swelling or tooth discolouration. if you have any of theses symptoms then you may require root canal treatment which effectively saves the tooth however this will be confirmed when an xray is taken at your dental examination.

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What can cause root canal?

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• Dental decay that spreads into the nerve chamber

• Trauma or damage to the tooth

• Large fillings that have leaked

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Is a root canal painful?

 

Root canal treatment has the perception that it is a painful procedure however this is incorrect; the painful aspect of the treatment is the nerve of the tooth being inflamed which can cause patients a lot of pain therefore it is recommended that you have routine dental examinations and you should seek dental advice on a regular basis so that future tooth problems can be avoided.

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What does the treatment involve?

 

A root canal treatment is a very technical, meticulous procedure as the instruments used are very delicate and require precision, all root treatments are performed under magnification at Precision Dental Clinic. A root canal can take either 1 or 2 visits case dependant.

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Preparation The dentist will take some digital xrays which will confirm the tooth requires treatment, it will provide us with information such as the location of the infection, how decay has spread through the tooth and what areas of the tooth remain healthy. Local anaesthetic will be administered so that the tooth can receive treatment pain free and a small dam is placed over the tooth for isolation.

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Extirpation The tooth is accessed and the inflamed nerve(s) are removed from the pulp chamber. The tooth which is then drained of any abscess, cleaned with hypochlorite disinfectant and the canals are shaped in preparation for the filling.

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Medication If a large infection was originally present then we would dress the tooth at this stage and insert medication inside the tooth to eliminate and prevent any reinfection (you will then have to return for the final visit for the canals to be sealed). If this is not the case then we can proceed to the final stage.

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Obturation Heated rubber points are inserted into each of the canals, we use the rubber points as they have diverse properties. The rubber can be compressed and packed into any shape of canal, it absorbs voids to create a tight seal and it is radiopaque (visible on an xray) so that we can visually see the results of the treatment.

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Post-Operative Xrays These are taken to analyse the results of the treatment. It will confirm if the root canal has been successful. It will show that the canal has been filled to the apex of the tooth root.

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Long term root canal treatment has a success rate between 85% and 97% any may require some further treatment in the future.