Root Canal: Everything You Need to Know

Root canals are incredibly unpopular with patients despite 41 million Americans receiving this treatment yearly. Root canal treatment has a fearsome reputation as a painful treatment, although it helps relieve excruciating pain in a specific tooth allowing the patient to preserve it from extraction. In addition, root canals are performed by specialized dental professionals qualified in treating infections inside and not the exterior parts of the tooth. Perhaps the fearsome reputation induces people not to visit dentists to receive essential treatments.

In reality, the specialists performing this treatment are called Endodontists, who are experts in pain management and ensure the patient doesn't feel more pain when undergoing root can treatment in Spring. Patients report the discomfort was no more than getting a tooth filled. Therefore if you receive a suggestion that you might need this treatment, consider the information as beneficial for your dental and financial health.

When Might You Need Root Canal Treatment?

If you need treatment from an Endodontist or a root canal dentist, it indicates some symptoms confirming that you need this therapy to save your tooth and prevent the infection within it from spreading to your body. The indicators are excruciating pain when chewing or biting foods, a dental abscess, and lingering sensitivity to hot and cold temperatures in the mouth, even after removing the sensation.

The symptoms you develop could emanate from untreated cavities expanding deep into your tooth to infect the dental pulp or from chips or cracks to your tooth from impacts on your mouth. You might also notice the darkening of your gums from deep decay. The symptoms you experience all indicate that you need a root canal as soon as possible to prevent the infection's spreading further.

What Happens When You Seek Root Canal Treatment?

When you visit, the specialist performing root canal therapy in Spring expect the professional to x-ray your tooth to determine the severity of the infection. You receive adequate local anesthesia in the mouth with sedation if you are anxious about the procedure.

Depending on which tooth is affected, the dentist completes canals in one or two appointments. Molars need multiple appointments because they have several canals. Root canals on a front tooth are completed in a single appointment.

After numbing your mouth and confirming you feel no pain specialist drills your tooth to make a tiny access hole to expose the dental pulp and the root canals. Using flexible instruments, the specialists get into your tooth to remove the infected dental pulp and root canals and shape the area for a filling.

After cleaning and shaping the space, the specialist fills your tooth with a biocompatible rubber-like filler called gutta-percha with adhesives to seal the root canals. Finally, they close the access hole in the tooth's crown with a temporary filling. Your tooth needs restoration by your dentist with a dental crown because it becomes weaker after the removal of the infected dental pulp. Therefore, the temporary filling placed by the specialist is removed by your dentist when restoring your tooth with a dental crown.

What Happens After Completing Root Canal Therapy?

You can expect some discomfort after receiving this treatment under anesthesia. The pain starts as the anesthesia starts wearing off. However, the specialist prescribes or recommends taking medications to help alleviate the pain and swelling you experience in your cheeks. In addition, you receive suggestions not to bite with the treated tooth until you have it restored. Therefore you must remain cautious not to have complex foods that might irritate the tooth or create complications like root canal failure.

What Causes Root Canal Failure?

As mentioned earlier, root canals are complex, especially if you need therapy on a molar having multiple canals. The specialist performing root canal treatment in Spring makes every effort to locate all canals to clean them during your procedure. Occasionally a canal can remain hidden from view of the sophisticated instruments they use to allow some infection to stay in the tooth.

Root canal failure is also a result of not following after-care instructions provided by the specialist after you receive your treatment. Therefore root canal failures occasionally result from infections remaining in the tooth or developing again due to neglect and offering improper care to the treated tooth.

Root canal failures need prompt treatment from the specialist because if left untreated, the tooth will need extraction and replacement with an artificial tooth. However, most root canals proceed without complications if you manage the after-care instructions appropriately and care for your tooth as suggested by the specialist. Most importantly, the treatment helps keeps your natural tooth in the mouth for many years after restoring it with a dental crown for best results.

Immediate Smiles performs numerous root canals on teenagers and adults, helping them preserve an infected tooth. Root canals are complicated procedures causing minimal discomfort. If you think you are affected by the indicators of needing a root canal, consult this practice today to receive the treatment and save your tooth.