The Root Canal Procedure

What is a Root Canal Procedure? Is a dental root canal painful? Is there pain after the root canal? Is there an alternative to root canal treatment?

These are all common questions we get at the dental office.

We want to give you the answers.

What Is A Root Canal?

Like a filling, you are frozen with anesthetic for maximum comfort. We then go into the tooth, just as we would for a filling, only a little further into the nerve. Many people have described their root canals as a longer filling appointment.

The root canal procedure, in the past, have had a reputation of being painful. This was usually due to infection that was not completely cleared up with antibiotics, prior to the procedure. Tooth infection neutralizes our freezing, so we always recommend antibiotics for major tooth infections.

In our root canal picture, you can compare a healthy nerve, down the middle of the tooth, with the tooth that has been treated with a root canal. The healthy nerve is gray on an x-ray, while the treated tooth has a white streak down the middle.

2 Root Canal Alternatives:

1. Leave it. The down side of this could be dangerous for the health of your body, especially if swelling occurs and the infection spreads throughout your body. It can be very painful.

2. Pull the tooth. This removes the source of the infection. We still may recommend antibiotics to reduce the infection so that the freezing can work. The down side here is that it is permanent.

A chain of events happen in the mouth when a tooth is removed. Teeth can shift and tip into the open space, causing TMJ problems and chewing difficulty. If the tooth is near the front of your mouth, you may want to replace it to keep your smile.

We will likely recommend replacing the missing tooth with either a Dental Implant, that can be done in our office, or a dental bridge in the future.

The Root Canal Procedure. This will save the tooth for chewing and your smile. Once a tooth has a canal treatment, we will likely recommend a Dental Crown. This will protect the tooth from breaking, since root canal treated teeth can become brittle and more fragile.

Pain After A Root Canal

"Why? Hasn't the nerve been removed?"

Well, a few reasons actually.

1. The infection is still clearing up.

2. Whenever a tooth is worked on, it affects the ligaments that surround the tooth and support it in the bone. These can be tender, especially after a root canal procedure.

3. The site that the freezing went in can be sore.

4. The jaw can be tender from being open for the procedure.

5. Often we use a rubber dam, a type of shield. This rubber dam helps to prevent saliva contamination where we are working and to keep anything from entering the throat. It is held in with a clamp, that sometimes can pinch the tissue surrounding the tooth. Once the freezing comes out, some clients feel pain.