| If you’ve been told that a root canal is necessary to save one of your teeth, it is important that you understand why this procedure is necessary and what happens during root canal treatment.
Root canal therapy treats disorders of the tooth’s pulp. Pulp is live dental tissue within the center chamber of your teeth. This pulp tissue is made up of blood vessels, connective tissues and nerve fibers that send pain signals to your brain. The pulp extends from the tooth chamber, down through the root canal to the tip of the root that lies in the bone of the jaws. Teeth have only on pulp chamber but may have more than one root in several root canals.
When your tooth has had extensive decay or injury, the pulp tissue becomes irritated and infected. Bacteria will grow within the tooth pulp, causing pressure and pain. If the pressure increase is great enough, blood circulation in the pulp chamber ceases and the bacteria destroys the pulp. The bone surrounding the tooth may also become infected and abscessed.
A root canal treatment allows your dentist get rid of all the pulp tissue gently and thoroughly, and fill the remaining empty pulp chamber with a biocompatible material that is cemented into the cleaned pulp chamber. This prevents infection from starting in the empty pulp space and makes the tooth comfortable for the rest of your life.
Root canal treatment cleans, shapes and fills the canal system inside your tooth. The root structure that held your tooth in place is still intact, we have just sealed the spaces within it.
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