Root Canal Therapy
At Gungahlin Family Dental, we offer root canal therapy as a way to save your teeth. If your tooth has too much decay or trauma and becomes infected, you may need a root canal treatment on your tooth.
What is Root Canal Therapy?
Root canals sound scary, but as times have changed, so have local anaesthetics – they are very effective at making sure you don’t have pain during this procedure. It’s a great way to save teeth that otherwise may need to be extracted.
Root canal treatments tend to involve a couple of stages: an emergency stage if needed, where we remove some of the infected parts of the tooth to stabilise it and get you out of pain, a preparation stage to prepare the tooth for its root canal filling and to medicate it, and then a filling stage. Read more about the steps of root canal therapy below.
Tooth decay has gone too far into the tooth, causing an infection of the ‘pulp’ of the tooth and an abscess around the tooth root. Often, but not always, this can cause the tooth to be quite sore, so it’s time to see your friendly dentist at Gungahlin Family Dental.
With lots of anaesthetic, the tooth is opened up so we can remove the infected tissue. In an emergency root canal procedure, medication is placed in the tooth at this stage until the rest of the root canal procedure can be finished. This ‘calms down’ the tooth and gets you out of pain.
Special files are used to smooth out and prepare the tooth root, right to the end of the root so all infected pulp is removed. At this stage usually the tooth is washed out and medicated with an antibacterial dressing.
At the next visit, the prepared roots of the tooth are filled with “gutta percha”, a rubber-like root filling material.
Sometimes, if your tooth is very broken down, your dentist may talk to you about placing a ‘post’ into your tooth to help hold the filling. This is only sometimes necessary.
A filling is placed into the hole to cover up the root canal.
For broken down teeth, your dentist may recommend a crown to protect your investment in the root canal. The tooth is prepared and the crown is made outside your mouth in a laboratory.
The crown is cemented on to the tooth, helping to protect your tooth from breakage, hold it together, and sometimes also to mask any discolouration.
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Appointment
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Frequently Asked Questions
Are there alternatives to Root Canal Therapy?
When teeth are infected, they will tend to continue to flare up over time until they are treated. Have a chat with one of our dentists about options for your tooth – depending on how much tooth structure is left, a root canal may be a great option to save your tooth, or the tooth may need extraction.
If you would prefer the tooth be removed, there are a few options to replace the missing tooth, including a dental bridge, an implant or a removable denture or plate. If you need a tooth removed or have had a tooth removed, have a chat with one of our dentists to find out which option is right for you.
I’ve had a root canal started somewhere else, can I have it finished at Gungahlin Family Dental?
Sure you can – it’s best to book a consult first so we can assess what stage of treatment you’re in and what needs to be done from there. Or if you’re having pain from the tooth again, book an emergency appointment so we can get you out of pain and organise some root canal appointments for you.
Learn more about Root Canal Treatment:
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