Root Canal Treatment
Root canal therapy is a dental treatment that can be used to treat and save teeth that are very painful, infected or abscessed. This is most commonly caused by a tooth having a dead or dying nerve.
The nerve or “pulp” of a tooth can become damaged, infected and die due to the following common causes:
– Deep decay
– Internal cracks
– Trauma to the tooth
– Deep fillings that sit close to the nerve
Depending on the amount of infection present, root canal treatment normally takes between 2 to 3 visits to complete. It involves removal of the dead/dying nerve under Local Anaesthetic, followed by disinfection and placement of an antibiotic medicine inside the tooth to heal any infection.
Once the pain and infection have resolved, the nerve chamber inside the tooth is sealed to prevent infection returning. The tooth is then often crowned to prevent it from splitting, as root canaled teeth become quite brittle over time.