As a comprehensive dental care provider, Bay View Dental also provides root canal therapy to residents of Antioch and surrounding communities. With high level training and equipment, Dr. Xie makes endodontic therapy a much more streamlined and enjoyable experience for patients.
What is a root canal procedure?
The white outside portion of a tooth is called the enamel. Inside the enamel is another hard layer, the dentin. There’s a small chamber at the center of the dentin called the pulp chamber. Inside the pulp chamber is the tooth pulp, a soft tissue made up of nerves, arteries, and veins. The pulp extends from the pulp chamber all the way to the tip of the root, through a narrow channel called the root canal. When the nerve of a tooth becomes infected, root canal treatment can save the tooth. Germs causes infection in root canal and that builds up pus at the root tip. This can create a hole in the bone. An infected tooth will never heal on its own, and as it gets worse, it will continue to be a source of infection that weakens your immune system. This can affect your entire body. This damage to the bone and the swelling inside the bone can also be excruciatingly painful, and even life-threatening. Years ago, an infected tooth would have to be extracted, but today, we can save your tooth with root canal treatment. The treatment has been practiced for over 70 years. Latest technology has made is easier to practice and less painful.
More than 95 percent of root canal treatments are successful. However, sometimes a case needs to be redone due to diseased canal offshoots that went unnoticed or the fracturing of a canal filing instrument used, both of which rarely occur.
What is an alternative to root canal treatment? Root canal is done to save the tooth. Alternatively the tooth must be extracted and the infected bone around the tooth thoroughly curetted. The missing tooth then can be replaced by removable dentures, fixed bridgework or implants.
