Root Canals

Have you been experiencing extreme sensitivity while consuming hot or cold beverages? If so, it's time to have your teeth checked by a dentist to understand what may be causing your pain. In most cases, patients begin to feel pain in their teeth when the dental pulp is damaged or irritated from the inside. Pulp infection may have caused due to breakage of the enamel from an accident, trauma, or injury. An endodontist would be able to repair the damage from a pulp infection and restore teeth to its natural form and function with a root canal treatment.

What is a root canal?

A root canal is an endodontic treatment performed on an infected or inflamed pulp chamber.  The pulp chamber lies deep inside the enamel. It houses several connective tissues, nerves, and blood vessels that are responsible for providing nutrition to the teeth. A root canal therapy is a specially designed treatment carried out by an endodontist to treat the nerves of the tooth. The treatment mainly involves removing the infected dental pulp, and filling the pulp chamber with a filling and sealing it with a restoration to prevent entry of harmful bacteria.

Why is a root canal necessary?

A root canal may be necessary for a lot of reasons. There are always many reasons that can damage the dental pulp or the nerves. Your endodontist begins to diagnose your condition by taking a study of the symptoms. Symptoms of wants a root canal can include experiencing extreme toothache (that may even progress to headaches), an abscess or infection of the tooth, signs of deep cavity, dental trauma or tooth fracture that may have reached deep within the pulp.

What is the procedure involved in a root canal?

After determining and diagnosing the condition through a series of X-rays, the endodontist begins the procedure by numbing the tooth with a local anesthesia. Once numb and ready for procedure, the endodontist would place a material around the tooth to ensure that teeth remains dry during the procedure.

An access hole is made (in the form of an opening) on top of the tooth to reach the canal. The canal is then cleaned with a disinfecting solution and filed to ensure that no infected tooth structure remains.

Once cleaned and disinfected, the canal will be filled with a dental filling. The newly restored dental canal would be then sealed with a restoration in the form of a dental crown.

The endodontist would also prescribe antibiotics to help combat infection.

To understand more about your endodontic treatment, request an appointment with Dr. Tognotti by calling our office at (925) 934 2066 or by placing an appointment online.