Here at Bayport Dental Care, our team strives to provide the best dental care in Bayport and the surrounding area.
Your teeth were designed to last you your entire life. In the past, injured or diseased teeth were pulled. Today, however, a tooth can usually be saved by having a root canal.
The pulp of your tooth is the soft part on the inside of your tooth which holds the nerves and blood vessels. When the pulp gets infected or inflamed, treatment is definitely needed.
You will find that pulp inflammation or infection will most often happen if you have:
- A deep filling or cavity
- A chipped or cracked tooth
- Another serious type of injury to your tooth
All the above can cause bacteria to get into the pulp and cause inflammation or infection.
Inflammation or infection inside the pulp can spread to tissue around the root of the tooth. It can bring on swelling and pain, but if there is no pain, the bacteria from this infection can damage the bone that is holding your tooth to your jaw.
If you do not have a root canal, the damage and infection can continue, and your tooth will probably need to be extracted.
If you remove a tooth and do not replace it, the teeth that are around it might shift. It can cause you to have trouble chewing, biting, and cleaning your teeth. There are areas inside your mouth that are unable to be fully reached and cleaned, and therefore are more likely to develop gum disease and decay.
A root canal can prevent or stop these issues because it will save your natural tooth. Additionally, root canal therapy is less expensive than replacing a tooth.
Getting a root canal might involve one or more dental visits to complete. Your Bayport Dental Care dentist will perform all the steps it takes to save your tooth:
- Bayport Dental Care will numb your tooth for your comfort. A thin, but flexible sheet of non-latex or latex material called “rubber dam” will be placed over the tooth so it will stay dry. An opening is created through the crown of your tooth down into your pulp chamber.
- The tooth’s pulp or nerve is taken out of the pulp chamber, then each root canal of the tooth. The area of each of the root canals are shaped, cleaned, and disinfected before it can be filled.
- The dentist might place some medicine down in the pulp chamber and the root canals for treating the infection.
- The root canals that have been treated are filled with a rubber type material so they will be sealed.
- A temporary filling will be placed in your tooth to prevent any more infection in the root canals. You might be given some antibiotics if the infection has gone beyond the end of the tooth’s roots.
- The dentist will remove your temporary filling and then restore your tooth with your new crown or even a permanent filling so it will be strengthened and improve the way it looks.
When all is properly restored, and you keep the tooth maintained, this tooth with its root canal filling will last you for many years. But (and there is always a but), like any tooth, it can get fractured or decayed, and the tissue around that tooth can develop gum disease. You will still require professional but regular dental exams and cleanings to keep your teeth and mouth healthy.
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