Endodontic (Root Canal) Treatment
Tooth infection, or tooth decay, is progressive. The longer it remains, the more serious the infection becomes. Therefore, how we treat a cavity depends on the stage of the tooth decay behind it. For instance, mild to moderate decay can often be effectively treated with a tooth-colored filling. For more severe cases, however, a filling might not suffice, in which case you could require root canal treatment (also known as endodontic treatment). As a more involved restorative procedure, root canal treatment, or RCT, describes cleaning out bacteria and infected tooth structure from inside of the tooth – particularly the pulp and root canals.
What is Endodontic Treatment?
The term “endodontic” means inside of your tooth. Appropriately, endodontic treatment describes cleaning and restoring the internal structures of a damaged and/or infected tooth. The pulp is the small chamber at the center of your tooth’s main structure and contains the nerves, blood vessels, and other soft tissues that sustain the tooth.
When the infection reaches the center of a tooth, it may spread along the root canals, which are connected to the pulp and extend into the jawbone underneath your gums. Root canal treatment allows your dentist to thoroughly clean and restore the tooth from the inside before the infection becomes too severe and spreads.
What Modern Root Canal Treatment Means
Using advanced dental technology, like STA (Single Tooth Anesthesia) and electro-surgery, we can perform most root canal treatments in less time and with significantly less discomfort. In many cases, the procedure can be performed during a single visit. For increased durability, your dentist may cap the tooth with a durable, realistic dental crown after the RCT is completed.
If you have had root canal treatment before, but the restoration fails, then we may be able to save your healthy tooth structure by retreating the root canal. Our endodontic specialist is highly-skilled and experienced in treating complex cases, and is able to improve your chances of saving the tooth even when it is severely infected.
