What is Root Canal Therapy?

Endodontics is the field of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders in the dental pulp. At Kedron Dental Centre we offer the option of saving a tooth which has been badly damaged due to decay, disease or injury through Endodontic treatment or Root Canal therapy. In the past diseased or infected teeth were often removed. Saving your own tooth rather than extracting (removing) have many advantages. It is better in function, aesthetics and proves to be much easier to clean and maintain than an artificial tooth in most cases. Here at Kedron Dental Centre we aim to save every tooth where possible and not just replace them.

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When is a Root Canal Needed?

When there is infection or inflammation of the pulp it is important to treat the tooth with Root Canal Therapy. This involves removing the nerve, blood vessels and connective tissue and replacing with a filling material. If the tooth is not treated, bacteria can grow within the tooth and can give the patient pain, facial swelling and may lead to the development of an abscess which could result in the loss of the tooth.

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Root canal therapy may be indicated when a tooth suffers from the following:

• Lingering tooth sensitivity to hot or cold liquids
• Tooth sensitivity to sweets
• Pain when biting
• Constant or intermittent tooth pain
• Severe or throbbing tooth pain
• Radiating pain to the ear, along the jaw or referred pain to the opposing tooth or teeth
• Tissues swelling of the face
• Tooth pain brought on by atmospheric changes due to flying or scuba diving

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Root Canal procedure

At Kedron Dental Centre all our dentists are trained to perform root canal treatment. We use Rotary instrumentation technique to achieve fast effective treatment results. This technique keeps the appointment times shorter for the patient and achieves better cleaning of the canals.

A root canal requires one or more office visits and can be performed by a dentist or endodontist. An endodontist is a dentist who specializes in the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and injuries of the human dental pulp or the nerve of the tooth. The choice of which type of dentist to use depends to some degree on the difficulty of the root canal procedure needed in your particular tooth and the general dentist’s comfort level in working on your tooth. Your dentist will discuss who might be best suited to perform the work in your particular case.

Once the patient has made an informed decision then treatment can commence, the procedure listed below does not all happen in one go and as previously stated can take several visits.

1. The dentist will make an opening through the top of the tooth down to the pulp chamber.
2. The injured or dead pulp is taken out and the root canals are irrigated and medicated.
3. A temporary filling is placed in the opening at the top of the tooth in order to protect it between procedures. Alternatively, the tooth may be left open to drain for a couple of days.
4. The temporary filling gets removed and the pulp chamber and root canal(s) are cleaned then filled.
5. A crown is placed over the tooth. The endodontist performing the treatment will advise you to see your dentist to complete this last step.