Root Canal Treatment

Root Canal Treatment

When decay reaches the nerve area inside the tooth, bacteria which caused the decay will infect the nerve and blood vessels and the infection will cause pain. If this happen the only way to save the tooth and ease the pain is to remove the nerve and blood vessels from inside the tooth. The combination of nerve and blood vessels is called “Pulp Tissue”. The space that pulp sits in is called pulp chamber inside the crown of tooth and as it goes down into the roots, it is called “Root Canal”. So when we do root canal treatment we actually remove all the pulp tissue from pulp chamber and root canals all the way to the tip of the root.

Above picture shows some stages of a root canal treatment. When pulp tissue is infected, it will be removed and canals will be cleaned with filing the canal walls, widening then, shaping them and then will be filled and sealed with “Gutta Percha” and sealer. If we don’t fill the canals and leave them empty, even if they are cleaned, they will get infected again later. Any empty space in body with no blood supply is a good place for bacteria to hide, reproduce and cause infection.

After finishing RCT (root canal treatment) the crown of tooth will be filled and it is the best to protect the tooth and RCT with a crown over that as it keeps all the parts together and provides a better seal than simple filling for the RCT from the crown side of tooth.

Here are some pictures to give you some information about root canal system.