Root Canal Therapy: A Step-by-Step Guide to Saving Your Tooth

Your teeth have a mixture of blood vessels and nerves inside them called pulp. If this pulp dies or becomes irritated, it can cause pain and swelling.

A root canal treatment franklin ky removes infected or dead pulp, cleans the tooth and its roots, and seals it. It may take more than one visit to complete a root canal.

Numbing

Root canal treatment is necessary when the soft inside of a tooth becomes irritated or infected. This may happen due to deep decay; repeated dental procedures on a tooth; large fillings; cracks, chips or other damage to the tooth; or trauma to the face.

To begin the procedure, your dentist or endodontist administers local anesthesia. This is done via injection near the infected tooth. A topical anesthetic is also applied before the anesthetic to minimize discomfort.

This numbness typically lasts two to four hours, but can sometimes extend into the following morning. For this reason, patients are advised to avoid eating while their mouth is numb. If a patient must eat, they should only consume cold foods or take an over-the-counter pain reliever such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

Making an Access Hole

Root canal treatment is a routine dental procedure that can save your natural tooth, relieve pain, and help you maintain good oral health. Despite its reputation, it isn’t painful and, thanks to modern technology and techniques, you should feel no more discomfort than during a routine filling.

A root canal is necessary when a tooth becomes infected. This can happen due to deep decay, cracks in the tooth that allow bacteria to enter, or even from trauma to the mouth that causes pulpal nerve damage. Infections can lead to excruciating tooth pain, sensitivity to temperature and/or pressure, swelling in the mouth and gum tissues, or even death of the pulpal tissue. To treat the infection, your dentist will first isolate the affected tooth with a rubber dam.

Removing the Pulp

During this procedure, your dentist will remove the dead pulp tissue and bacteria inside your tooth. They’ll then clean and disinfect the empty space. This process is called root canal treatment.

Firstly, your dentist will put a small rubber covering on the bad tooth (called a dental dam) to keep it dry and prevent saliva from getting in the area. Then they’ll make a hole in the top or back of your tooth to access the pulp.

They’ll use files of varying sizes to clear out the infected pulp, then disinfect the empty canals with sodium hypochlorite or water. Once they’re completely clean, they’ll seal the canals with a rubber-like material called gutta-percha. A tooth that doesn’t have a healthy pulp will become brittle over time.

Cleaning

A root canal treatment franklin ky is often misconstrued as a painful dental procedure, but in fact it is designed to save injured or diseased teeth. Pain is caused by the damaged pulp, not the treatment itself.

Local anesthetic is used to numb the tooth, and it is isolated from the rest of the mouth with a rubber dam. This allows the use of disinfectants to clean out the canals without saliva washing them away.

Then small files are worked down the length of each canal to clean and shape it, followed by rinsing with disinfectants to remove bacteria. Bacteria in the canals are usually found as a colonized surface-attached microbial community, which is called biofilm.

To prevent infection, you should practice good oral hygiene by brushing twice daily with a soft-bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste. Rinsing your mouth with warm salt water several times a day is also recommended to reduce inflammation and promote healing.

Filling

While our teeth appear hard and solid, they have softer inner cores that are susceptible to infection. If the tooth pulp becomes inflamed, a root canal treatment is necessary to prevent further damage and alleviate pain.

Once the infected tissue is removed, the dentist will clean and disinfect the area before filling and sealing it with a rubber-like material called gutta-percha. This seals the tooth, preventing bacteria from reinfecting the tooth in the future.

Although some discomfort may occur after the procedure, this can typically be managed with over-the-counter pain relievers. The tooth will then be restored with a filling or crown to strengthen it and give it the ability to bite and chew normally once again. Despite having been treated, the tooth will still need to be well cared for to prevent infections in the future.