Root Canal Treatment

What is a root canal treatment?

Put very simply, a root canal treatment is designed to remove any infection in the dental pulp found at root of the tooth. In some cases the pulp or nerve of the tooth may have already been killed by the bacteria and will need cleaning before restoring the tooth with a crown or filling.

How do I know if I need a root canal treatment?

Hopefully, you will be diagnosed with needing a root canal treatment before experiencing the symptoms associated with it.

However, if you’ve been experiencing increased or sudden pain when biting or chewing, pain when drinking or eating something hot or you have developed a tooth abscess, then you may need a root canal.

We will determine whether you need a root canal treatment or not by a thorough assessment and an X-ray of the roots here at the practice.

What happens during the treatment?

We will first put you under local anaesthetic, so you won’t experience any pain or discomfort while the treatment is going on. We’ll then place a dental dam over your mouth so that only the tooth being treated is exposed.

We’ll then create a small hole in the tooth, after which we will irrigate and disinfect it before removing the infected dental pulp. We’ll then fill the hole using a temporary filling.

Once you’ve returned to the practice to make sure the infection is completely gone, we would normally recommend a crown or onlay to protect the tooth from fracture or breaking in future.