Comfortable Treatment for Internal Tooth Decay
Tooth decay is often treated when it’s still in its mild to moderate phases. This means the decay only affects the main portion of your tooth’s crown – known as the dentin – and can be treated with a custom tooth filling. However, when decay reaches the pulp at the center of the tooth, it can directly infect the tooth’s nerves and blood vessels. Root canal treatment is the restorative process of removing tooth decay from inside of the pulp and the root canal that connects to it. This stops the infection and helps you preserve what remains of your healthy, natural tooth structure.
What is root canal treatment?
Root canal treatment has the same goal as a tooth filling procedure – to remove decay from your tooth and restore its health and integrity. The difference is that root canal treatment involves cleaning the tooth’s interior structures, rather than just its main dentin. This makes treating a root canal more complex than filling a cavity, though with advanced technology and treatment techniques, it is still typically a conservative and convenient process. After the bacteria and infected tooth tissues are removed, we can seal the pulp and root canal with biocompatible material, then cap the tooth with a dental crown to protect and restore it.
When is root canal treatment necessary?
The progression of tooth decay is the most common reason for root canal treatment, but ignoring a cavity isn’t the only reason why you might need it. For example, if your tooth fractures, the pulp may be immediately exposed to harmful oral bacteria and become directly infected by them. If this occurs, we can recommend performing root canal treatment, to ensure no decay is present, before placing a dental crown over the tooth. If you’ve had a dental crown or other restoration placed over a tooth already and it fails, then the failure could also expose the tooth to severe infection and the need for root canal treatment.
Call us to learn if you need root canal treatment
When tooth decay reaches the pulp and root canal of your tooth, addressing it with root canal treatment may be your last chance at saving it. To schedule a consultation with us, call Dreem Dentistry in Leawood, KS, today at 913-681-5500. We also serve patients who live in Overland Park, South KC, South OP, Martin City, MO, and all surrounding communities.
