You love chewing crunchy things – peanuts or popcorn kernels, for example – but your teeth don’t necessarily love it and a tooth ends up cracking in the process. Your dentist tells you that you need a root canal – two words that automatically spark a negative image in your mind. Despite its reputation for being an unpleasant procedure, root canal treatment can actually be quite comfortable and very effective.
A root canal treatment has more than a 95 percent success rate, as teeth that are treated with root canal therapy can last your entire lifetime. A root canal is necessary if the pulp of a tooth – the soft tissue inside the tooth that contains nerves and blood vessels – becomes inflamed due to a chip or crack in the tooth or even because of tooth decay. Your dentist will perform the procedure to remove the infected, inflamed pulp and will clean out the inside of the tooth. Then, the tooth will be filled with a rubber-like material and finally sealed.
A root canal procedure is an ideal method for restoring teeth…
A root canal procedure is an ideal method for restoring teeth because it is unnoticeable. The placement of a restoration such as a crown, or a tooth-like cap, over the treated tooth is often the final step, so no one will ever realize that the tooth has undergone treatment.
Root canals are also no more uncomfortable than having a filling placed in your tooth, so the procedure is not as unpleasant as most imagine. During the first few days following treatment, you can expect your treated tooth to feel sensitive as a result of tissue inflammation, which is natural; this is especially true if your tooth was infected or was causing you discomfort prior to your root canal procedure. Over-the-counter medicine such as ibuprofen can easily be used to relieve the sensitivity, and you should be able to return to your regular activities the next day.
If your tooth is cracked or has experienced trauma, it most likely can be saved. To find out more about whether you need root canal treatment and how we can make the process comfortable for you, contact Richardson Dentistry at (972) 218-0078 today.
