Root canal therapy might be what you need if you find yourself dealing with a severely decayed, damaged, or infected tooth. It is often the last line of defense when it comes to saving damaged teeth.
Root canal treatments are used to clean out the contents of a tooth’s pulp chamber. This is the innermost part of a tooth’s crown that houses nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissues. These soft tissues are called the “pulp.” The chamber that they are stored in is sealed off from the rest of a tooth to protect the pulp from bacteria and acids in the mouth.
How root canal therapy improves your oral health
Root canal therapy has a reputation as one of the most painful treatments that dentists perform, but that is undeserved. Local anesthetics are administered during the procedure, so the patient does not experience significant pain while the dentist works on their tooth. All they feel is the dentist working and the vibration created by some of the tools used.
During the treatment, a dental drill is used to make a hole that reaches the pulp chamber, so the dentist can extract the pulp. The pulp chamber is cleaned, and medication is stuffed into the tooth to prevent and treat any infection. A rubbery material known as gutta-percha is then used to seal up the tooth. The tooth is repaired with composite bonding or a crown to restore its appearance or function. Ways that getting a root canal improves your oral health include the following.
1. Prevents infection
Root canal treatment serves as an effective way to prevent a tooth infection. Issues like tooth decay and trauma to a tooth can leave its pulp chamber compromised, making it vulnerable to infection. A tooth infection is one of the most painful dental issues that a person can deal with, and it can have life-threatening consequences if it is allowed to spread to other parts of the body. A root canal saves a severely damaged tooth and prevents it from becoming infected.
2. Saves damaged teeth
If root canal therapy did not exist, dentists would have to extract infected teeth to treat their patients. Extractions are often cheaper than root canals, but the extracted tooth will need to be replaced with oral prosthetics like implants. The cost of extracting a tooth and replacing it with an oral prosthetic is typically more than simply saving the tooth with a root canal.
Extracting an infected tooth and not having it replaced at all can lead to various issues. For starters, the patient’s remaining teeth will start shifting toward the space created by the missing tooth in an attempt to close it up. They can become misaligned as a result of this movement, which makes it harder to clean them. This increases the person’s risk of developing tooth decay and gum disease.
We can save your tooth
A root canal might be what you need to save your severely damaged tooth. Call or visit our Tempe clinic to set up an appointment with our dentist.
Request an appointment or call Desert Breeze Dentistry at (480) 864-4118 for an appointment in our Tempe office.
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