Despite teeth being extremely strong, they are prone to infection due to becoming damaged or severely decayed. Should this happen, it’s always our philosophy to save your natural teeth whenever we can, with a procedure called root canal treatment.
What is root canal treatment?
Root canal treatment endeavours to save a tooth from warranting an extraction – it’s a fantastic procedure that allows patients to keep their natural tooth, despite it having sustained an infection.
The living tissues inside a tooth (the pulp) can become infected when decay reaches a severe stage and when it sustains trauma through being knocked or hit.
Root canal treatment has come a long way in recent years, having evolved to become a straightforward procedure to undergo. You won’t experience discomfort throughout and our practitioners are extremely skilled and experienced at carrying it out, so you’re in the best of hands.
You might need root canal treatment if you’re experiencing the following symptoms:
- Increased or lasting sensitivity in a tooth.
- A bad taste in your mouth.
- Toothache.
- Changes to the shade of a specific tooth (infected teeth can appear darkened).
It’s worth remembering that in some cases, an infected tooth doesn’t display any symptoms, making routine hygienist and dentist check-ups a must. During these check-ups, we can look for any indications that you’re suffering from decay and in many cases, this enables us to restore the tooth with a filling, as opposed to root canal treatment.
The procedure
Root canal treatment is typically performed over one or two visits. The time taken to treat you will depend on where the affected tooth is in the mouth.