Root Canals

A root canal is usually needed either after trauma to the tooth, if decay reaches the nerve of a tooth, or the tooth becomes infected.  The nerve of the tooth is located under two other layer of the tooth.  It is protected, but if something disturbs this nerve it may cause pain to the patient.  Sometimes the nerve slowly dies and the patient may not have any symptoms.  The dentist can find this out with an x-ray and other tests.  If the nerve is involved with any of these situations the tooth is in need of a root canal.  The process of a root canal takes one to two appointments.  The first one consists of the doctor drilling through the tooth to the nerve.  They will remove the nerve and place a medicine in its place. They let that medicine clean out the canal for a week.  The second appointment the doctor will fill the canal permanently with a substance called gutta percha.  They will then place a temporary filling over just to make sure the root canal was successful.  Once they know the root canal took, they will either fill the tooth permanently or begin a crown.  If the tooth is all filling it will need a crown after the root canal in order to ensure the weak tooth won’t crack or break.  The doctor will be the one to tell the patient which one is necessary depending on how much of the tooth structure is left after the procedure.