Root Canal Treatment
Root Canal Treatment is required when a tooth is badly decayed or cracked and the nerve tissue within the tooth is affected.
The treatment involves removing the infected pulp tissue within the tooth and filling up the space left behind by the pulp (root canal) with a root canal filling material. This way, the original tooth can be kept, avoiding extraction. Often, a crown will be required to protect the tooth after root canal treatment has been done.
Contrary to popular belief, root canal treatment does not need to be painful and the procedure can be comfortably completed with proper anaesthesia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I need Root Canal Treatment?
Root Canal Treatment is required when a tooth is badly decayed, cracked, traumatised due to repeated dental procedures on the tooth or repeated trauma caused by biting on hard food and the nerve tissue within the tooth has been affected. This commonly leads to severe pain and infection which greatly affects your daily routines and sleep. Root Canal Treatment is then done to relief pain, remove the infection which will allow the tooth to be retained in the mouth as opposed to removing the tooth via extraction.
Is Root Canal Treatment painful?
Root Canal Treatment done with proper anaesthesia would help you to relief the pain that you have been experiencing due to an infected tooth. In fact, most patients report that it is not much more uncomfortable compared to doing a normal filling. Advances and modern techniques have enabled root canal treatment to be relatively pain-free.
Would extracting the tooth be a better alternative?
Extraction of a tooth is a viable and cheaper alternative to relieving the pain, although procedures like Dental implants, Dental bridges or Dentures might need to be done to replace the missing tooth for aesthetics and functional purpose although none of these would be able to completely replicate a natural tooth in both aesthetics and function. Retaining and saving your natural tooth, where possible, should, therefore, be the best option. In some cases where the tooth has been damaged beyond repair, an extraction would be recommended instead.
