Root Canal Treatment

Written by the Shield Dental Care team, Burke VA

Root canal treatment has the worst reputation in dentistry and deserves almost none of it. The pain people associate with it belongs to the infected tooth beforehand. The treatment is what ends it.

What is actually wrong

Inside every tooth is a soft core of nerve and blood vessels — the pulp. When decay reaches it, or a crack lets bacteria in, it becomes infected. Because the pulp is sealed inside a rigid tooth, the infection cannot drain, and the pressure is what makes the pain so distinctive: severe, often worse lying down, and not resolving on its own.

Root canal treatment removes the infected pulp, disinfects the space, and seals it. The tooth stays. Once the pulp is infected the only alternative is removing the tooth.

How you know

An examination and an x-ray settle it, but some patterns point that way: pain that lingers after something cold has gone rather than settling in seconds, pain that wakes you, a tooth that feels raised when you bite, a pimple-like bump on the gum near a root, or a single tooth that has darkened.

One sign is regularly misread as good news — severe toothache that disappears over a day or two. That can mean the nerve has died rather than recovered. The infection continues without the pain to announce it.

What happens on the day

The tooth is fully numbed first. A dental dam isolates it, a small opening is made to reach the pulp chamber, the infected tissue is removed, and the canals are cleaned along their length and disinfected. They are then filled with a material that seals them against bacteria, and the opening closed.

How long it takes depends on the tooth: a front tooth usually has one canal, a molar three or four. Some teeth are finished in one visit, others in two. Sedation is available and commonly used.

The crown is part of the treatment

Reaching the pulp means removing structure that cannot be put back, so a treated tooth — a back tooth in particular — is more brittle than it was and usually needs a crown. This is the step most likely to be postponed and the one least worth postponing: an unprotected treated tooth can fracture badly enough to be lost, which undoes the whole point.

Afterwards

Most people carry on with their day. Tenderness when biting for a few days is normal while the tissue around the root tip settles, and it should improve day on day. Pain that worsens instead, new swelling, or a bite that feels high are worth a call rather than a wait.

Treatments at Shield Dental Care

What we do for this, and what each appointment involves.

• Root Canal in Burke VA

  Shield Dental Care provides a root canal in Burke VA. Our dentists are ready to carefully treat your dental needs. Call now.

Articles

4 articles from the Shield Dental Care team.

• Root Canal or Extraction?

  When a tooth can be saved with root canal treatment and when removing it is the better option — how dentists in Burke, VA weigh it up.

• Signs You Might Need a Root Canal

  The symptoms that suggest a tooth's nerve is infected — and the ones that do not. When to be seen at Shield Dental Care in Burke, VA.

• What Happens During a Root Canal

  A step-by-step account of root canal treatment in Burke, VA — what the dentist does at each stage, how long it takes, and what happens afterwards.

• What to Expect After a Root Canal

  Recovery after root canal treatment — what is normal, what is not, and when to call the practice in Burke, VA.