Root Canals

A severe toothache is often a sign that something is very wrong with your tooth. It can be as simple as inflammation of your gums, due to gum disease, or it can be an infection of the tooth itself. When the tooth becomes infected, we use a root canal to try to save it.

Why Save a Tooth?

Whenever possible, we want to save a tooth. Once you lose a tooth, there are several things that can happen, such as bone loss and shifting that can lead to further damage to otherwise healthy teeth. Saving your tooth can prevent both bone loss and shifting/crowding.

Benefits

  • Keep Your Natural Tooth | Saving your natural tooth is the top priority of a root canal.
  • Alleviate Your Toothache | Although you may associate toothaches with root canals, it isn’t the root canal itself that is the main reason behind a toothache. In fact, your discomfort is often caused by the infection. A root canal removes the infection and can take care of the discomfort.
  • Cost Effective | It is much more cost effective to have a root canal than it is to replace missing teeth.
  • Chew With Comfort | Once your tooth heals, you’ll be able to return to chewing as normal.

Root Canal Procedure

You may be curious about what actually happens in a root canal. Please be aware that a root canal can take more than one appointment. Here’s a short summary of the process:

  1. X-Ray: In most cases, our first step is to x-ray your mouth to get a good picture of what is happening.
  2. Local Anesthesia: It is usually recommended that we use a local anesthetic to numb the area before we begin a root canal procedure.
  3. Drilling: An access hole needs to be drilled to reach the infected pulp of your tooth.
  4. Cleaning: The infected pulp is removed and the tooth is cleaned of debris.
  5. Replace Pulp: We use a sanitary material to replace the pulp. It’s possible we will add medication to your tooth at this time to clear up an infection.
  6. Seal the Tooth: A filling is placed over the material, and it is sealed.
  7. Prepare for a Crown: In many cases, a crown is needed to properly protect the tooth. This can take a few more appointments to complete.

Don’t Fear a Root Canal!

This simple procedure can help save your tooth and alleviate your overall dental discomfort. At Bloomfield Dental Group, we have experience performing root canals and look forward to helping you through this process. Call for your appointment today!

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