Root canal treatment can be a scary process to go through, but it is a lot more common than you might think. In fact, over 14 million root canals are performed each year in the United States alone!
Knowing what to expect from your root canal procedures will help to ensure that you have a calm and relaxing experience for your procedure.
What Is Root Canal?
Root canal treatment is a common dental procedure that involves the removal of the nerve from a tooth that has been damaged due to decay or an injury.
The purpose of root canal therapy is to remove all bacteria and clean out the diseased tissue from within the roots of your teeth. By doing so, you can save an infected tooth from future infections and pain.
Root canal can be uncomfortable and take time before you start feeling normal again, but it’s possibly the least painful and most effective way to save teeth and keep them healthy.
How Is A Root Canal Done?
Treatments like root canal involved removing the pulp of your damaged tooth and replacing it with some other object such as gutta percha (a rubber like material), porcelain or gold balls etc.
This can help you save a tooth that would’ve been otherwise deemed as unusable, but it needs to be done correctly for best results.
Types of Root Canals
There are three types of root canals to be taken into consideration. They include:
1. Primary root canal:
When you’re dealing with the primary roots, the tooth is young and healthy. You might need a treatment like this because your tooth has begun decaying due to an infection or trauma.
2. Lateral root canal:
This type of treatment is needed when you’re dealing with an adult tooth that has two roots which are spread away from each other.
3. Apical root canal:
When your infected or dying nerve needs to be removed, it can be very painful. An apical root canal aims at the top part of your tooth which is the root canal itself.
Root Canal Process
Before Getting Your Treatment Done You need to be sure that you have an appointment for a treatment like this.
After the dentist has taken the necessary scans and photos, they will provide you with anesthetic if needed. This might feel uncomfortable because it can affect your entire face, but you’ll get through it after some time. The rest of the process goes on with the following steps:
1. Canal Cleaning and Enlargement
After numbing the area, your dentist will make an opening in the tooth and then clean it thoroughly before using a special tool (called as files) to enlarge the canal.
This is where the infected material inside your tooth might smell bad because of all the bacteria.
2. Antibiotics
After cleansing the canal completely, your dentist might suggest you use antibiotics to make sure there are no infections later on.
3. Filling
Then, they’ll fill up the root canal with gutta percha, a special material that can seal your tooth safely. You might have to come back for another check up once they are done, but it’s completely normal if you feel some pain during the entire treatment because of all the sensitive tissues inside your mouth.