When decay reaches the nerve inside a tooth, the pain stops being occasional and starts keeping you awake. A root canal clears the infection and keeps your own tooth in place.
We remove the infected pulp from inside the tooth, clean and shape the canals, then seal them. The tooth is usually capped with a crown afterwards, because a treated tooth is more brittle and can crack under normal chewing.
Modern root canal treatment is done under anaesthesia and is closer to a long filling than to the horror stories. The pain people remember is usually the infection before the treatment, not the treatment.
What the treatment includes
- Digital X-ray diagnosis
- Cleaning and shaping of the canals
- Sealing and temporary filling
- Crown fitting where needed
Worth knowing
Do not wait for the pain to pass on its own. An infection that spreads to the bone turns a routine root canal into an extraction.
Questions about root canal treatment
How many visits does a root canal need?
Often one to three, depending on how infected the tooth is and how many canals it has. Molars take longer than front teeth.
Do I really need a crown after it?
In most back teeth, yes. Those teeth take the chewing load, and an uncrowned treated tooth can split — after which it usually cannot be saved.