What Is Root Canal Treatment?
A root canal treatment is needed when a tooth pulp has started to degenerate due to decay, disease or injury. The purpose of a root canal treatment is to save your natural tooth from being extracted.
What Does This Involve?
The tooth will be carefully isolated during treatment to keep the area clean and dry. Once an opening is made into the tooth, the canal is cleaned and infection is removed using fine instruments. Anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial medicines may be put into the canal to stop further infections. This will also ease your painful toothache. A temporary filling is used to protect your tooth between visits.
Mostly root canal treatments are successful but factors like tooth morphology, blocked canals may affect prognosis, if such then the dentist will refer you out to a specialist Endodontist.
Pain or discomfort may be experienced at times during and after treatment. This can be managed with pain relief , anti-inflammatory medication.
To ensure the long term success of a root canal treated tooth a crown is usually placed after treatment.