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Root canal treatment

Root canal treatments belong to a category of dentistry known as endodontics. This treatment is somewhat more complicated, and you may need to book several visits before your tooth is fixed. If an infection in a tooth is deep enough to affect the roots of the tooth in question, and has affected the tooth pulp or dentine of a tooth, than it needs to undergo a root canal treatment in order to restore it to health.

If an infection occurs that can only be cured with this sort of treatment, the process can take several visits. An x-ray is always needed before beginning a root canal treatment, as this is how the dentist sees where to drill inside of the tooth.  During the first visit the root of the tooth will be drilled and all infected dentine and tooth matter will be removed. Once the tooth is drilled and all of the infection has been cleared (sometimes this may include getting stuff out from under the root), an antibiotic medicine will be inserted into the tooth. The tooth will then be sealed up with a temporary filling. After this phase, the tooth may be sensitive, even painful, and the patient’s mouth, face and gums may swell. This is normal, these are merely side effects of the antibiotic at work. If the patient experiences tightness, or constriction, the temporary filling may be removed easily, with a toothpick, and the tooth may need to be drained. You should contact the dentistry before doing this and explain what your problem is. After that a second visit needs to be booked, during which we clean out the remainder of the infected bits. If the infection persists and needs a second shot of antibiotics, a different temporary filling will be made, and the process will be repeated until the infection has been defeated. Once this has occurred, it is merely a question of fitting the now cleaned and disinfected tooth with a permanent root filling. This means the entire tooth, down to the roots, will be filled up with composite gradia, and then left to harden. After that, the tooth is done, and should not be painful again. Some soreness or tenderness can be expected after this dental treatment, but if it does not subside you should contact our dentistry in London. This is generally known as the last method of restorative or general dentistry. As root canal treatments can be quite rough for patients, it is wise to give yourself the day off, if you have the means to, to give yourself time to recover afterwards.