Paterson NJ Root Canal Procedure
Sometimes a tooth is considered so threatened (because of internal cracking etc) that future infection is considered likely or inevitable, and a pulpectomy is advisable to prevent it. But usually some inflammation and/or infection is already present, within or below the tooth. To cure the infection and save the tooth, it is necessary for the dentist to drill into the pulp chamber, and remove the infected pulp by scraping it out of the root canals. Once that is done, the dentist fills the cavity with an inert material and seals up the opening. This procedure is known as root canal therapy. If enough of the tooth has been damaged, or removed as a result of the treatment, a crown may be required.
Here's how your tooth is saved through treatment:
- Placing a rubber dam around your tooth. After numbing your tooth but before beginning the actual process of performing the root canal treatment, your dentist will stretch a sheet of rubber around your tooth. Dentists call this sheet of rubber a "rubber dam." It is held in place by a small clamp that grasps your tooth. The purpose of a rubber dam is as follows. Since one of the fundamental goals of root canal therapy is to clean bacteria out of a tooth, and since saliva does have bacteria in it, the placement of a rubber dam allows the dentist to keep your tooth saliva free so it doesn't get recontaminated with bacteria while your root canal treatment is being performed.
- An opening is made through the crown of the tooth into the pulp chamber. As a starting point for the process of performing your root canal treatment your dentist must first gain access to that area inside the tooth where the nerve tissue resides. This is accomplished by using a dental drill and making an access hole that extends down to the pulp chamber of the tooth. On posterior teeth this hole is made on the chewing surface of the tooth. On front teeth the access hole is made on the tooth's backside.
- The pulp is removed, and the root canals are cleaned, enlarged and shaped.The next step of the root canal treatment process is for your dentist to clean out the interior of your tooth (the pulp chamber and all root canals). This cleaning process removes any bacteria, toxins, nerve tissue, and related debris that are harbored inside your tooth.
Cleaning out the inside of a tooth with a root canal file. For the most part the cleaning process is accomplished by way of using "root canal files." These objects look like straight pins but on closer inspection you would find that their surface is rough, not smooth. These instruments literally are files and are used as such. Your dentist will work a series of root canal files, each of increasing diameter, up and down in your tooth while simultaneously using a twisting motion. This action will scrape and scrub the sides of the tooth's root canal(s), thus cleaning it out. Additionally, as part of the cleaning process your dentist will wash your tooth out periodically so to help flush away any debris that is present.
Traditionally the filing action of root canal files has been created by way of the dentist manipulating them with their fingers. There are, however, special dental drills (dental drills are called "handpieces") which can hold and twist these files, and your dentist may choose to use one. As a variation on this same theme, there is yet another type of dental handpiece that produces a cleaning motion by way of holding a root canal file and vibrating it vigorously. - The hollow tooth is filledAfter the space is cleaned and shaped, the endodontist fills the root canals with a biocompatible material, usually a rubber-like material called “gutta-percha.” The gutta-percha is placed with an adhesive cement to ensure complete sealing of the root canals. In most cases, a temporary filling is placed to close the opening. The temporary filling will be removed by your dentist before the tooth is restored.
Brian P Trava DMD, SuJean Oh DDS and Alison Petix DMD: Endodontists - Providing services in endodontics and root canal dentistry to the areas of North Jersey (NJ).
Hawthorne Dentist
290 LaFayette Avenue Hawthorne, NJ 07506 | Ph. 973-423-0789
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