Root Canal Therapy
What is a root canal?
In order to explain what happens during root canal therapy, let’s go over the anatomy of the tooth. Every tooth is made up of 2 basic components, the crown and the root. The crown is covered by a white outer layer called enamel. The root is covered with a substance called cementum. Underneath the enamel and cementum is a hard substance called dentin. At the center of the crown and root, underneath the dentin, is a soft tissue called the dental pulp. The pulp is composed of various connective tissues including blood vessels and nerves and it lies within a space called the “root canal system”. It is the pulpal tissues that is the primary concern during root canal therapy.
When there is a break down in the outer covering of the tooth, the underlying pulpal tissue becomes traumatized or diseased. This damage can lead to inflammation and subsequent infection of the tooth and surrounding tissues. The tooth has a very limited ability to repair itself due to its unique environment and often will require root canal therapy once damaged.
The goal of root canal therapy is to eliminate this inflammation and/or infection while maintaining your natural tooth. During root canal therapy, the diseased pulpal tissue is removed and the root canal system is thoroughly disinfected and sealed to eliminate the inflammation and/or infection.
After root canal therapy is performed, the tooth will then need to be restored with a permanent restoration. This is usually performed by your general dentist.
Your general dentist may have prescribed root canal therapy for your tooth. This can be intimidating for many patients because they associate root canal procedures with pain. However, done properly by an experienced professional, this does not have to be the case. Here at Compassion Endodontics, we utilize modern techniques and state of the art technology to perform root canal therapy relatively painlessly with high effectiveness. Root canal therapy is a safe and cost-effective way to maintain your natural tooth.
