Teeth can become infected due to poor oral hygiene that leads to cavities and gum disease, or an infection can develop as a result of an injury like a cracked tooth. Dental infections can be extremely painful, especially if an abscess forms, and they need to be treated right away so they do not spread throughout your body. The most effective way to treat a dental infection is through a root canal procedure.
What We Do During a Root Canal
Your teeth contain something called pulp, which is where all your sensitive nerve endings, blood vessels, and tissues are found. When bacteria enters your tooth, either through a cavity or a dental crack, it infects the pulp. The infection can spread all the way down to the root of your tooth and cause an abscess, or pus-filled sac, to form. In order to save your tooth, we need to thoroughly disinfect the entire tooth including the root canals, drain the abscess if one has formed, and protect the tooth with a crown. During a root canal, we numb your affected tooth with a local anesthetic and use a dental dam—a square of latex or nitrile with a hole in it—to isolate the tooth we will be disinfecting. We make an opening at the top of your tooth, then use special tools to remove all the infected pulp from inside your tooth. After all the infected pulp is cleaned out, we fill your root canals with a material called gutta-percha to completely seal the tooth and prevent reinfection. Finally, we place a crown over the disinfected tooth to protect it. The crown allows you to eat, speak, and brush your teeth normally, and prevents you from needing to have a tooth extracted. Root canals have a success rate of about 95 percent, and as endodontists, we perform an average of 25 or more root canal procedures per week. Call our office today to find out how we can help save your tooth.
Teeth can become infected due to poor oral hygiene that leads to cavities and gum disease, or an infection can develop as a result of an injury like a cracked tooth. Dental infections can be extremely painful, especially if an abscess forms, and they need to be treated right away so they do not spread throughout your body. The most effective way to treat a dental infection is through a root canal procedure.