Root Canal Therapy (RCT)

At the center of your tooth is the dental pulp where your tooth’s nerves and blood supply are housed.  Infection of the pulp can be caused by trauma to the tooth, deep decay, cracks or fractures, or repeated dental treatment.  Symptoms of infection can be identified as discoloration, visible injury or swelling, sensitivity to temperatures, or a pain/ache in the gums/jaw area.  If you experience any of these symptoms, it may be necessary to have RCT (root canal therapy) to eliminate the diseased pulp.  An access is made through the biting surface of the tooth and the injured pulp is removed from the “canals” of the root and tooth.  The remaining canals are then sterilized and filled.  It will still be necessary to place a “core” in this tooth to fill the access.  Most teeth that have RCT will need a crown as the final restoration to prevent fracture in the future.

Alternatives to RCT are no treatment or extraction of the tooth.  Of course no treatment is not recommended because the infection can spread to other teeth or to your body as a whole.  It contributes to localized destruction of bone, systemic illness and in worst case scenarios, fatal infection.

After careful case selection, we will decide to either treat your tooth with root canal therapy, refer you to an Endodontist or a “root canal specialist”.  This criteria includes the position of the tooth, number of canals present in the roots, whether the roots are straight or curvy and whether the canal is constricted or not.