Root Canals

Teeth are made of extremely hard tissue, however in the center of the tooth there is a space. In this space resides the pulp tissue which is made up vascular (blood) tissue, immune tissue, and nervous tissue. The pulp can described as the tooth’s alarm system and can fire pain when the tooth becomes irritated or injured from decay, fracture, or past trauma. Many times bacteria are responsible for invading the pulp space, resulting in infection or abscess.

Patients are left with an option to remove the tooth or perform non-surgical root canal therapy. By performing root canal therapy the damages and infected pulp tissue are removed from the tooth and the tooth is saved.

The procedure involves making an opening into the pulp area. Next, the pulp tissue and remaining diseased tissue in the space is removed mechanically and chemically. Once the canals are clean and sterilized they are filled with permanent material. By performing this procedure our patients are able to keep a natural tooth instead of removal.

Tell me more….
Simply put; when the nerves inside the tooth (the “pulp”) gets irreversibly inflamed or infected, you need a root canal. Below is an explanation of the procedure.

This is a picture of your tooth. The pulp is the soft tissue inside the tooth. It provides the tooth its ability to feel hot and cold, and allows the tooth the essential blood supply and nutrients necessary during the tooth’s development.

When a cavity (decay) gets real close to or into the pulp, the tissue becomes very inflamed and sometimes infected. This inflammation and infection inside the tooth can be very painful.

The inflammation and infection  can also spread to the surrounding  bone and be sometimes more  painful and cause swelling.