If you don’t take care of teeth and tooth decay reaches up to the vital part of tooth sever pain and inflammation start inside the tooth. which is unbearable most of  the times.  Now you have two option available to get rid off this pain or inflammation. Either you get it extracted or save it by doing RCT. 

What Is A Root Canal ?

Dental decay is an irreversible process. Damage ones done can not be healed back to normal but have to be filled with artificial filling to prevent further decay. If you are unable to keep up with your regular dental checkup and fail to have dental minor procedures to prevent tooth decay, you end up with larger dental procedures to alleviate pain and save the tooth. If damage reaches to the tooth pulp and you will be in pain as a result. Most of the times it can be relieved with endodontic therapy, which is commonly known as a Root Canal Treatment. Many people try to avoid going to the dentist because they believe that they might need a root canal which is more painful procedure and expensive too.Or doctor will force them to do a Root Canal even they don’t need it, because they don’t feel any pain or have any problem in that tooth.  A root canal sounds far scarier than it really is. By educating yourself on what happens during a root canal procedure, many will find themselves far more comfortable with the procedure than they ever dreamed possible.

Why we do Root Canal ?

The soft tissue portion inside the tooth is known as the “pulp” and damage or infection to it is one of the most common causes of dental pain. Pulp consists of blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue. The pulp provides food and water necessary for the growth of the tooth and later constitutes the vital part of the tooth to keep it hydrated. When pulp get involved in infection or physical damage, the brain is signaled to feel pain or sensation( hot or cold), to get your attention.  Dentin and Enamel are the protective covering surrounding the pulp and protect it from infection or damage. When this protective layer is compromised in case of a cavity or broken tooth due to an injury.  Bacteria are able to enter the pulp chamber and infect the pulp and cause mild to severe pain and irreversible damage. If the infection if sever an abscess may develop. This abscess causes severe pain. In Root Canal Treatment dentist remove all the living, dead or infected pulp tissue. During cleaning the canals having pulp he also enlarges the size of canal to clear the abscess or pus present above the root tip inside the bone. He prepare the shape of canal to fit the preformed Gutta percha filling that are replaced inside the canal in place of pulp.

Thus by removing all the vital portion of tooth ( Pulp) which is also infected relives the pain and excludes the need of complete tooth removal. That,s how your tooth can be saved by root canal.

Which tooth can be saved by Root Canal

The root canal is one of the best alternative to save the tooth from removal. But we should keep in mind that only 80% tooth can be saved by root canal. Root canal increases the chances of tooth saving but still their are 20 % of teeth those can,t be saved by root canal. so careful examination is necessary to select the tooth that can be saved. The tooth that can be saved a root canal are teeth which have less then 1 cm in diameter periapical lesions or sound periodontal ligament attachment and have sound tooth structures. In order to make a determination if you could benefit from a root canal, see a dentist who will inspect the gum tissue surrounding the tooth, check for signs of infection, and take x-rays of the tooth. Then he can tell you either your tooth can be saved or needs to be removed.

How A Root Canal Is Done ?

A root canal generally consists of the following steps :

1. The dentist will numb the area surrounding the tooth with injecting a local anesthetic( lignocain).
2. The dentist will then open the crown to expose the chamber of pulp to work on.
3. If an abscess exists, the dentist may allow it to drain for a couple of days before performing the actual root canal. (The patient may be prescribed with antibiotics before the procedure to reduce any infection).
4. The dentist will examine the pulp and then will remove. If the pulp is simply infected, only cleaning of the infected pulp and shaping the canal may be necessary.
5. The dentist will then enlarge the canals that lead to the root of the pulp in order to remove any germs and bacteria, and then possibly reshape the canals.
6. At the next visit if there is no pain or inflammation. The dentist will then fill the canal of the tooth with gutta-percha cones or another filler. The crown or pulp chamber is filled with temporary filling.
7. At the next visit, the dentist will remove the temporary material, clean the tooth again, and fill the tooth with permanent filling material in crown portion only.
8. At the next visit, the dentist will put a new crown on the tooth.

Even though there are many benefits to a root canal, many people are afraid of the procedure, and avoid it due to these fears. These fears are probably based upon misconceptions about the treatment. One of the most common myths about a root canal is that there is a great deal of pain involved during the treatment, however this is not the case. A dentist performing a root canal procedure will administer a local anesthetic to help minimize discomfort and medication to numb the surrounding area. The dentist may also prescribe pain medication for soreness that could result after the procedure, thus making the treatment no more painful than a typical cavity fill.

Benefits of A Root Canal :

• It prevents the loss of the tooth.
• it eliminates the need of artificial tooth which is more expensive then the saving the infected tooth.
• It eliminates the pain caused by the infection, tooth damage, or sensitivity.
• It prevents the spread of infection to surrounding teeth or gums
• It keeps your chewing in proper conditions.

Another most common reason that people do not want the treatment of their infected tooth is the cost of dental treatment. When undertaking a root canal, even people with dental insurance can expect some out-of-pocket expense.