Each year in the United States, 15 million root canal procedures are performed, allowing millions of people to find pain relief and preserve their teeth.
If you need a root canal procedure and you’re nervous, the team of dental experts here at Willow Glen Dental Specialists wants to put your mind at ease. In this month’s blog post, we’re going to focus on why you have everything to gain from a root canal procedure and why it shouldn’t make you nervous.
Tooth pain has a way of hijacking your life, and this is certainly true of the pain that can come with an infection inside your root canal. The root canal is located inside your tooth, and it houses a soft substance called pulp, which contains blood vessels, nerves, and connective tissues.
If harmful bacteria make their way into the pulp, they can create an infection that not only causes a good deal of pain, but it can also threaten your entire tooth if left untreated.
Through a root canal procedure, we can relieve the pain and preserve your tooth — which is the ultimate win-win solution.
As we mentioned, millions of root canal procedures are performed each year in the US, and they’re fairly routine.
To get started, we first supply you with a local anesthetic that numbs the treatment area so you should feel no discomfort during the procedure.
Next, we make an opening in the crown of your tooth so we can gain access to your pulp. We remove the infected pulp and thoroughly clean and disinfect the hard walls. (Rest assured, your tooth will still function without the pulp, as its primary role was in the original development of your tooth.)
Next, we use a rubber-like material called gutta-percha to fill in and seal your root canal to prevent further infections.
Lastly, we plug the hole that we made in the crown of your tooth with a temporary filling.
In most cases, we take an impression of your tooth so that we can have a restoration crown made that will further protect your tooth.
Once we’ve completed your root canal procedure, you’re free to go. We assure you that, once the local anesthesia wears off, you’ll be thrilled to find that your tooth is no longer infected and painful.
As you can see, a root canal procedure can be extremely beneficial for your dental health, and it shouldn’t be a source of worry.
If you have any questions about a root canal procedure that we haven’t answered here, please contact our office in San Jose, California, by calling 408-478-9081, or you can book an appointment with us online.
