Root canal treatment is a treatment applied at the stage before tooth loss. It is used to repair and save a severely decayed or infected tooth. It is very important to start the treatment early in terms of saving the tooth. For this reason, you should not neglect an aching tooth for a long time and go to the dentist as soon as possible.
What is Root Canal Treatment?
If tooth decay is not treated in a timely manner, the decay goes deep and causes inflammation of the nerves in the tooth. This causes severe pain in the tooth. In such cases, root canal treatment is used to save infected or deeply decayed teeth.
It is a treatment that takes place by removing the dental nerves from the tooth. No pain is felt during or after the treatment. It's a pretty easy process. However, it is recommended that you visit the dentist regularly to prevent your teeth from decaying enough to need root canal treatment.
How is Root Canal Treatment Performed?
Root canal treatment is a treatment performed by a dentist or endodontist. A suitable dentist is selected according to the condition of the tooth and the extent of the procedure to be performed.
The treatment steps are as follows:
- The first step is to take an X-ray to see the shape of the root canals. In this way, it is determined whether there are any signs of infection in the surrounding bones.
- The dentist uses local anesthetic near the tooth. In this way, you will not feel any pain during the treatment. In cases where the dental nerve is dead, anesthesia may not be necessary. However, the area is usually anesthetized for the patient to relax and the procedure to be performed more smoothly.
- A layer of rubber is placed around the tooth to keep the area dry and saliva-free during treatment.
- The dentist drills an access hole into the root canal. Through this hole, harmful bacteria, decayed nerve tissue and pulp are extracted from the tooth.
- Water or sodium hypochlorite is regularly used to clean the micro-residues from here.
- After the inner part of the tooth is thoroughly cleaned, the opened hole is closed.
How Long Does Root Canal Treatment Take?
The duration of root canal treatment varies depending on the number of roots in the person's tooth, infection in the root canals, cleaning of the nerves. In some cases, additional procedures may be required.
Treatment may take up to a week depending on the infection status of the tooth. The duration of the treatment varies between 30 and 90 minutes. If there is an infection, the dentist puts medicine inside to clean the tooth. For this reason, he waits for a week before closing the tooth and completes the treatment at the end of 1 week.
If the treatment is not completed on the same day, a temporary filling is placed in the hole in order to prevent the canal from being infected again and to keep it clean.
Further processing may be needed to fully restore the tooth. The procedures to be applied are notified to you in advance by the dentist.
For the reasons mentioned above, it is wrong to give clear information about the duration of root canal treatment. Because as you can see it is quite variable.
What are the factors to be considered after the treatment?
Things to consider after root canal treatment are as follows:
- You should stay away from extremely hot and cold drinks as there may be sensitivity for a day or two.
- If root canal treatment is not finished in the first session, you should avoid using the related tooth until the treatment is finished.
- Even if the root canal treatment is completely finished, you should not eat or drink anything for at least two hours after the procedure.
The factors that you should pay attention to after your treatment may vary according to the procedures applied. For this reason, your dentist gives the clearest and most accurate information.
