Root Canal Treatment

If your tooth’s nerve chamber becomes infected by decay, or damaged by trauma, root canal treatment is often the only way to save your tooth.

Root canal is a dental procedure which helps in removing the entire internal parts, mainly pulp chamber of the tooth. It also involves the filling of the prepared empty cavity with a suitable bio-compatible material. This procedure is done and advised only when the tooth can not compensate restoring material in a small cavity on the surface. The procedure involves the removal of the nervous elements of the tooth which have been infected or decayed already due to microbial action or any physical pressures.

The procedure that involves the root canal is also called as root canal therapy or root canal treatment. This is the only procedure that can help when the entire pulp and its contents are decayed. This procedure of root canal treatment can be done by a general dentist, but the one who specializes in this field is an Endodontist.

Inside the hard outer shell of each tooth is a specialized area called the pulp or nerve chamber. The pulp chamber contains a system of blood vessels, lymph vessels and nerves, the pulp, which enter from the bone through the root canals. This system provides nourishment for the cells within the tooth.

Deep tooth decay or other injury can cause damage to or infection of the tooth pulp. In a root canal or endodontic treatment, the dentist removes the damaged or infected pulp and replaces it with a special filler which helps maintain the remaining tooth structure.

 Root Canal Treatment is done using the latest technology (RVG).

  Spontaneous pain or throbbing while biting.

  Sensitivity to hot and cold foods.

  Severe decay or an injury that creates an abscess (infection) in the bone.

1. The dentist diagnoses a patient and advices for the treatment if the root canal is decayed.

2. The tooth area is isolated with the help of rubber dam kit, which is a rubber sheet fitted with the help of clamps or clips around the tooth which is going to be treated. This isolation helps in ease of operation for the dentist and prevents the entry of mixing of fluids from the motor and the saliva in the mouth.

3. The dentist would then prepare a cavity by the help of an aerotor which is done with proper outline and depth into the root, but this does not eliminate all the contents of the pulp chamber. Then the root canal files are used to entirely clean the root. These root canal files increase in thickness when they enter the root and help in removal of the pulp of the tooth.

4. After this is done, there are 2 ways of which one is chosen by the dentist - Either do everything else in a single seating or sealing the cavity with a soothing medicine with a temporary filling material for a week until the next seating is called for the completion of the procedure.

5. The use of soothing medicine is that it prevents the spread of further infection, if there was any prior to the cavity preparation, or also prevention of occurrence of any new infection in that region.

6. The final stage includes the filling of the canal with some plastic material called Gutta Percha which are bio-compatible, and after the canal is filled, a suitable and aesthetic regular cement filling is done over it, which can be accompanied with crown placement sometimes.

Sometimes just doing Root Canal Treatment will not suffice & surgical of the root ( Apicoectomy) will be required.

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