Root canal therapy

I’m sure most of my readers have already heard of the term root canal. What exactly? Why do people fear and dread the idea of ​​having to buy one? … I’ll come back to that later!

Root canal therapy involves treating an inflamed pulp tissue from a diseased or infected tooth. This pulp tissue consists of blood vessels and nerve networks. Each tooth has its own blood and nerve supply.

This pulp tissue is located in the narrow space in the center of the root or roots of the tooth. This space is also known as the canal of a single root tooth, such as a central incisor, or the canals of a multi-rooted tooth, such as a molar. Most molars have at least three channels and some may have four or more!

When the pulp tissue becomes irritated or damaged by the prolonged activity of tooth decay or from a blow or traumatic injury, infection of the pulp usually occurs. This infection can be acute or chronic, depending on the circumstances that initially caused the infection or damage.

One of the most common causes of dental nerve damage is trauma. The traumatized tooth may initially become loose and painful and eventually tighten, but later become discolored (darker). The teeth generally used in this type of situation are the maxilla (front) teeth (upper jaw) and less commonly the front teeth (lower jaw).

If you ever notice that someone else’s front tooth or teeth are dark in color, you can safely assume that a particular tooth has been traumatized. Dentistry refers to this type of tooth as a non-vital tooth, chronically infected without painful symptoms…

Traumatized teeth can remain dormant and chronic for years without causing pain and therefore do not require any kind of treatment right away.

Then there are the teeth that become non-vital due to a long-term caries injury. That goes untreated and causes the nerve tissue to become inflamed or infected.

These types of neglected teeth can initially become chronic with little to no associated pain and eventually become acute.

The chronically infected, non-vital tooth may have no symptoms other than obvious discoloration.

Root canal therapy involves removing diseased or infected pulp tissue, using files and reamers to instrument the canal until it is free of all bacteria. It is then sterilized and hermetically filled or sealed with compatible biological filling material, such as gutta-percha, a rubber-like material, usually pink in color.

Successful root canal treatment is usually possible if all canals are located, accessible for instrumentation, sterilized, filled, and hermetically sealed.

Root canal therapy fees vary based on the number of roots involved. The more roots and canals a tooth has, the more it costs to treat.

Root canal therapy is very successful for the most part. Probably in the 90 to 95% range. Most root canals are easy and without any pain or consequences. That said, however, there are situations where root canals can be very painful and undesirable.

While this rarely happens, this is the situation most people will remember and tell everyone about the ordeal they went through with a root canal. Most people never talk about the easy or uncomplicated root canal treatments that usually take place.