Root canals are important dental procedures because they save teeth. If you have an infected tooth, your dentist may give two options: an extraction or a root canal. Choosing a root canal is usually the best choice since you'll be able to save your tooth. Here's why saving your tooth is important and how a root canal can help do that.
Why Saving A Bad Tooth Is Worth It
A missing tooth can affect your appearance, but even if the tooth is in the back of your mouth and out of sight, you should still consider saving it rather than pulling it. When a tooth is pulled, the roots and all come out, so there is nothing left in the bone to keep the bone stimulated. This might cause bone loss in your jaw. Also, with a tooth missing, your other teeth can shift out of place, and that could affect your ability to chew or make you embarrassed about your smile.
How A Root Canal Can Save Your Tooth
The purpose of the procedure is to clean out an infection in the pulp of your tooth. When you have an abscess, an infection is in the tooth below the gum, and the best way to deal with the inflamed and infected tissue is to remove it. The dentist uses small tools to scrape away the infection, and once the tooth is cleaned out, your tooth can start to heal and your pain will go away. The canals are left in place after the tissue is removed so your bone will continue to have stimulation when you chew. The canals are filled with material to seal them off and a post may also be inserted if you need it for attaching a crown. A root canal saves the hidden part of your tooth while a filling or crown restores the visible part above the gum.
This isn't a painful procedure since your tooth area will be numbed before work begins. If you have a toothache, you shouldn't put off going to your dentist because you fear pain from the procedure because your toothache is probably much more painful. Getting a root canal often takes two visits. The root canal procedure is done on the first visit and the crown is applied on the second. When finished, your restored tooth will function just like your old tooth when it was healthy, and even if you get a crown, the crown will be color matched to your other teeth so it appears natural when you smile.
Share4 January 2019
