Know All about Root Canal Treatment: Procedure, Concerns, and FAQs

Know All about Root Canal Treatment: Procedure, Concerns, and FAQs

Mar 06, 2023

Root canal treatment is a standard procedure performed on millions of teeth annually to save them from extraction. The treatment helps eliminate bacteria from an infected root canal to prevent reinfection and preserve the natural tooth.

There is no need to express concern if the dentist near you prescribes a root canal to treat an infected or damaged tooth. The treatment helps relieve pain to make a tooth healthy. However, when you receive the prescription from the dentist, you will likely express fear to wonder what you must endure when receiving a supposedly painful treatment that you think will cause many complications. This article describes everything you want to know about root canal treatment, including the procedure to dispel any concerns while answering helpful questions for your needs.

The Root Canal Procedure

Specialists called Endodontists generally perform root canals in one or two visits to your office in the following steps.

  • You undergo an examination by the specialist taking x-rays and a radiograph to determine the severity of damage in your tooth. The specialist administers local anesthesia or provides sedation depending on your dental anxiety level. After numbing, your tooth specialist places a protective dental dam over the area to isolate and keep the affected tooth clean during the treatment.
  • The specialist makes a tiny access hole in the crown of your tooth before using small flexible instruments to clean the pulp from its chamber with the root canals before shaping the space for a filling.
  • After cleaning and shaping the root canals, the specialist fills them with gutta-percha, a rubber-like biocompatible material with adhesives to ensure proper sealing of the canals. They also place a temporary filling in the access hole for your dentist to remove when restoring your tooth with a dental crown.

Root Canal Concerns

When you first hear about a root canal, you start worrying, do canals hurt? As we mentioned earlier, root canals help relieve the pain you experience from an infected tooth. However, the surgical procedure will likely not cause any discomfort because you receive adequate anesthesia from the specialist to numb your mouth. You might experience mild discomfort after the numbing medication wears off for a couple of days. However, the specialist prescribes or suggests over-the-counter painkillers to help manage the pain. As long as you restore the tooth with a reliable dental crown, you can expect the pain from the infected to disappear. Therefore, any discomfort you feel after completing root canal treatment in Fanwood, NJ, results from the surgical procedure and not the infection. Therefore root canals do not cause pain during the process and will cause mild discomfort from the surgery by helping you to eradicate a severe disease in your tooth and save it.

Root Canal FAQs

  • Who Performs Root Canals?: Dentists and Endodontists perform root canals. However, Endodontists are specialists dealing in dental pulp infections, and you might receive a referral to a specialist if you have a complex situation that needs attention from them because they receive additional training after completing dental school with qualifications in pain management, diagnosing tooth pain, and alternative procedures to save natural teeth.
  • Root Canal Effectiveness: root canals have evolved over the decades and have an incredibly high success rate. Root canal treatments performed by the dentist in Fanwood last for a lifetime without needing additional dental work.
  • How Beneficial Are Root Canals?: Root canals are crucial to rescue and restore infected or abscessed teeth. If left untreated, the dental pulp inside the tooth can result in widespread infection affecting the entire body. Root canals also help protect the remaining teeth from excessive wear, reducing the chances of needing restorative dental work.
  • What Is Alternative for a Root Canal?: If you have an infected or inflamed tooth with infection to the dental pulp, the optimal way to preserve your tooth is to receive root canal therapy from the Fanwood specialist. The only alternative to having a root canal is to get the tooth removed for replacement with dental implants or bridges. Unfortunately, you lose a natural tooth and must indulge in considerable expenditure when replacing the tooth with alternative solutions. Therefore if you want to save money with your natural tooth, the only option is to have a root canal to preserve your dental health and smile.

Root canal treatments are suggested to help save a severely damaged tooth. If you have a fractured or decayed tooth, discuss your situation with your dentist to determine whether a root canal can help preserve it.

Fanwood Family and Cosmetic Dentistry perform many root canals on patients to eliminate dental pulp infections and save their natural teeth. If you experience symptoms that indicate you will benefit from this treatment, kindly arrange an appointment with them for a consultation and receive a root canal to preserve your dental health.

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