Your Helpful Guide to Root Canal Treatment

Root canal treatment is one of the most dreaded dental procedures, and you might even hate the idea of it. However, if done correctly, it’s no more difficult or painful than any other dental procedure.

You may wonder, “What is root canal treatment? Why do I need it? How do I know if I need it? What happens during the treatment?” To help you, let’s shed some light on these questions from a dentist’s perspective and provide a step-by-step guide to root canal treatment.

What is Root Canal Treatment?

Root canal therapy (Endodontics) is required when a tooth is badly decayed, and the nerve and root canal are infected. The procedure involves cleaning and medicating the infected nerve or root canal and then filling it with a root filling.

Without this treatment, the blood vessels and nerves inside your tooth can become severely infected, forming pus and abscesses.

Your dentist could advise applying a crown to the tooth following root canal therapy to maximise long-term protection.

WHY IS ROOT CANAL TREATMENT NECESSARY?

You often come to the dentist with a toothache and pain, and your dentist tells you your tooth needs root canal treatment.

Why? Root canal treatment eliminates the bacterial infection inside the tooth and minimises the risk of future reinfections. Although drawn out and laborious, each treatment step ensures the chance of reinfection is as low as possible.

There are various components to a tooth’s structure, which we must first comprehend to understand root canal therapy and why we need it properly.

1. Enamel is the hard layer that covers the top part of a tooth. It is hard and dense and protects the dentine and pulp from the external environment.
2. Dentine is the layer underneath the enamel, making up most of the tooth structure.
3. Pulp – the middle or inside of the tooth contains the nerve and blood supply. NOTE: The root canal is the tunnel inside the roots of the tooth that extends from the pulp

If a broken or decayed tooth is left untreated, the cavity progresses to involve the tooth’s nerve, and the bacteria present attack it.

At an advanced stage, the disease affects the nerve so much that an abscess develops in the oral cavity.

At other times, you may be unaware of the pain or discomfort caused by a tooth that requires root canal treatment.

A root canal is a procedure used when bacteria caused by tooth decay attack the living nerves and blood vessels in the tooth’s root canal.

This is an infection that emanates from the pulp tissue, which is comprised of the tooth’s nerve and blood supply.

Once bacteria have compromised a tooth’s pulp and root canal, two alternatives exist to manage the tooth.

1. Removing or extracting the tooth
2. Treat the tooth with endodontic treatment (root canal) to keep and preserve it.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T TREAT THE TOOTH?

Severe pain and discomfort will be one of the problems caused by not treating the tooth.

If not treated, the blood vessels and nerves of the tooth become infected, and pus and abscesses form inside the mouth. An abscess is a swelling full of pus, usually located at the end of the root canal because of the build-up of the infection.

The abscess can be so severe that it causes swelling around the face, eye or neck. In these circumstances, you may need to go straight to the hospital. Other disadvantages of not treating the tooth include furcation involvement in the bone where the tooth’s roots connect.

An abscess is a swelling full of pus, usually located at the end of the root canal, caused by the build-up of the infection.

WHAT ARE THE COMMON SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF A TOOTH NEEDING ROOT CANAL TREATMENT?

• pus developing in an abscess or seeping out of the gums around the afflicted tooth
• severe soreness and pain specific to a tooth
• you can’t eat or chew on the tooth
• extreme heat sensitivity to foods and beverages
• spontaneous pain that isn’t triggered by just eating and drinking

WHAT TO PREVENT ROOT CANAL TREATMENT?

• Brush 2 times a day and floss daily
• Get a routine cleaning and check-up from your dentist every six months. Regular maintenance avoids significant breakdowns.
• If your dentist tells you there’s tooth decay on a tooth that needs a filling, please book yourself to get the filling done. The longer you leave the tooth decay, the higher the chance the bacteria spreads and infects the nerve, which leads to root canal treatment
• It is essential to understand that the cost of a root canal is what you will value in saving and keeping your natural tooth in your mouth.
• A root canal is far more expensive than routine brushing, flossing, and seeing your local dentist for check-ups every six months.

CAN I TAKE ANTIBIOTICS TO FIX A TOOTH REQUIRING ROOT CANAL TREATMENT?

Getting antibiotics for an infected nerve makes it impossible to treat an infected tooth because the tooth is closed inside its small environment. Thus, the antibiotics we imbibe cannot penetrate through the root canal and the pulp, which are meant to heal the infected tooth.

The only situations in which antibiotics can help are intense infections in which an abscess may be associated with the infected tooth or if you experience fevers.

If your breathing is compromised or the swelling is considerable and painful, please contact your dentist or doctor immediately.

Another reason antibiotics aren’t always used during root canal treatment procedures is that the process should primarily remove the bacteria from the inside of the tooth.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING ROOT CANAL TREATMENT PROCEDURES?

There are 3 stages involved in performing and finishing root canal treatment on a tooth.

Although root canal therapy is a laborious and intricate procedure, every stage of the treatment is carried out to reduce the chance of reinfection and provide the best possible clinical outcomes for our patients.

Stage 1 – Extirpation: Rubber dam and clamp are placed. Small files perform an initial root canal clean to remove the nerve, control infection, and medicate the tooth. It can take 20-45 minutes, depending on the complexity of the tooth.

Stage 2 – Instrumentation: Rubber dam and clamp are placed. Detailed cleaning of the root canal to ensure bacteria is controlled and the tooth is pain-free. It may require thirty to sixty minutes, contingent upon the intricacy of the tooth.

Stage 3—Obturation: A rubber dam and clamp are placed. Obturation is performed when the tooth is entirely pain-free. The root canals are filled with unique gutta percha material to seal them up and complete the root canal treatment. Depending on the complexity of the tooth, it could take thirty to sixty minutes.

HERE ARE THE DETAILED EXPLANATIONS OF THE 3 STAGES OF ROOT CANAL TREATMENT

1. Extirpation: Initial clean to control bacterial infection.

• A patient comes into our dental clinic at Seven Hills because the tooth’s pulp is infected, causing severe pain or oral abscess.
• A diagnosis for the tooth includes percussion, palpation, cold tests, and an x-ray.
• Once confirmed that the tooth requires root canal treatment, we will inform you of the steps and costs involved.
• If you proceed with root canal treatment, we begin Step 1: Extirpation.
• Your tooth is numbed, and a rubber dam and clamp are placed around the tooth. The rubber dam isolates the tooth and keeps it clean from saliva, but also prevents any risk of the tiny instruments we use during the procedure from falling down the mouth.
• After securing the rubber dam and clamp, we make a small gap on the top of the tooth to clean the root canal using small files.
• We rinse the tooth with antibacterial solutions to eliminate the bacteria.
• We leave medicine inside the tooth and place a temporary filling on top until Step 2: Instrumentation.
• Usually, there may be some residual soreness in the first 24 hours after Step 1: Extirpation, but most of the pain and swelling should have subsided by then.

2. Instrumentation: Thorough cleaning and medicine

• The patient usually comes 1-2 weeks after Step 1: Extirpation. Sometimes, we may perform Steps 1 and 2 of Root Canal Treatment in the same appointment, but we will inform you if this is possible.
• Step 2: Instrumentation is essentially the same as Step 1: Extirpation, but we will be more thorough with cleaning the root canal so that we will eliminate all of the remaining bacteria and infection inside the root canals
• Along with taking X-rays to verify the size, we will also measure the length of the root canal. We will ensure that the root canal is cleaned and filled all the way around.

3. Obturation: Filling the root canal

• When we are confident that the infection and germs are under control—when there are no longer any indications of tooth pain or soreness—we can install the root filling.
• We place the rubber dam and clamp on the tooth, rinse it with antibacterial solutions, dry the tooth, and insert Gutta Percha (rubber points) into the root canals, ensuring they extend the length of the root canal. Then, we heat the Gutta Percha to seal it inside the root canals.
• Once the Gutta Percha is placed, depending on the next steps, we will either put a permanent or temporary filling in the tooth.

What to Expect After a Root Canal: Next Steps, Side Effects, and Tooth Care

• Does it need a permanent filling and a crown? Does it need a post? A post is sometimes used to allow more retention for a filling. This is often the case in situations where the original cavity is deep, and there isn’t a lot of tooth structure remaining. The post is placed inside the root and helps to retain a permanent filling, and often, a crown is placed as well.
• There are no side effects besides the tooth feeling different because the nerve is missing. It is a common misperception that receiving a root canal treatment exposes you to dangerous infections within your mouth. But this is not true. No scientific evidence suggests any toxic side effects of root canal treatment.
• It is essential to know that after root canal treatment, your nerve is no longer inside your tooth, so you won’t have any feelings or sensations of hot and cold sensitivity from that tooth. Because of this, it can often feel funny and different when you bite onto the tooth with root canal treatment.
• The tooth will feel different. Some patients have described it to be like a dead arm or numb arm or leg, where you think it, but it feels dull and weird.

WHAT ABOUT A CROWN? MY DENTIST TOLD ME TO PUT A CROWN ON MY TOOTH AFTER ROOT CANAL TREATMENT. WHY?

• Depending on the tooth, your dentist recommends placing a crown over it within 3 months after root canal treatment to provide maximum long-term protection.
• A tooth undergoing nerve infection and root canal treatment is weak and brittle. When we eat and chew, we put a lot of biting force on our back molar teeth, so placing a crown on the tooth provides the tooth with the necessary strength and durability to go the distance.
• Root canal-treated teeth last longer with crowns. Pratt (2016) found that endodontically treated teeth with amalgam or composite build-up restorations were 2.29 times more likely to be extracted than endodontically treated teeth with crowns. The study also said, ‘Teeth that received a crown 4 months after root canal treatment were 3 times more likely to be extracted than those that received a crown within 4 months of root canal treatment.’

Root Canal Treatment in Seven Hills

We hope this article has been helpful for all our patients. We want to provide you with the best dental and oral health education so that you know why and how these teeth, gums, mouth, and oral health problems can occur.

We also want to help you understand what we can do to prevent and treat them so that you and your family can achieve the best results.

My Local Dentists Seven Hills firmly believe in educating our patients to help them understand how to achieve good oral health.

Contact your Seven Hills dentist at (02) 8605 1696 or schedule an appointment online.

We are at Shop 55, (Ground Floor) Seven Hills Plaza, 224 Prospect Hwy, in Seven Hills.