What is there to Performing a Root Canal Procedure?
After all, the Root Canal has gotten a bad reputation over the years, primarily due to the fear of the unknown and all good Dentists understand that by spending a few minutes explaining the anatomy of the Root Canal Procedure; they can calm the patient’s fear of the unknown.
In preparation of a Root Canal, the patient is given one (1) or more shots of local anesthesia in the general region where the decayed tooth and the main nerve roots are located. There are typically between 2 to 5 nerves per each tooth’s root and depending upon whether the toot is a molar or an incisor, one shot or four shots of anesthesia may be required to completely numb the area, so that the patient has no feeling, other than pressure when the Dentist touches the tooth with a dental pick instrument.
After the general region is completely numbed; if there is enough of the decayed tooth’s crown (top of the tooth) left – a tiny clamp is placed around the tooth with a small piece of rubber sheeting, which has a small hole cut out in the center for the exposed tooth to be viewed by the Dentist. This marks the area for the drill to perform its job without causing any filings or particulates from the drill-in-operation, to get all over the other teeth.
A tiny hole is drilled into the top of the numbed tooth, down into the tooth’s inner pulpy chamber, where the individual tooth’s nerves and roots reside.
Once the drill has opened and completed accessed the inner chamber of the infected tooth, extra fine, thin wires, called “Files” are used to scrub the interior of the tooth, until all the infection is gone, the small individual nerves and roots are removed from the tooth and all the inner chambers of the previously infected tooth are now clean and smooth.
All throughout this entire procedure, the tooth is continually rinsed, and cleaned with a diluted bleach solution, which doesn’t harm the patient.
After all of the nerves have been removed from the tooth’s entire root canal system, wherever the empty root canals are, tiny rubber cones are placed inside to give better support to the remaining tooth’s structure.
Finally, a creamy white cement mixture is poured into the tooth’s chambers, until the sticky adhesive begins to dry and harden inside the tooth, making the root canal treatment strong and completely sealed from any further bacteria or particulates getting inside the tooth’s enamel, creating more decay.
Approximately 95% to 99% of all root canal procedures performed in the U.S. are a permanent total success; however, rarely a tooth is simply too infected for the tooth to survive the drilling and cleaning operation. When this happens, though it is rare, it is called a Root Canal Failure. See this and other articles to read further about how Root Canal Treatments are performed.