Root Canal Treatment
We all deserve to have healthy teeth; however, at times, deep decay and trauma in a tooth introduce bacteria, affecting or killing the tooth nerves. If left unchecked, the infection could progress, affecting the bone and could enter the bloodstream to invade other body areas.
Furthermore, tiny fractures can occur within the invisible part of the tooth root due to injury or trauma, exposing the tooth’s interior to decay or infection. At Carson City Endodontics, our qualified and dedicated endodontist in Carson City, NV offers comprehensive and tailored treatments to address issues that affect the tooth’s interior and gum tissue underneath the gumline, including root canal treatment.
What Is Root Canal Therapy?
Root canal therapy is an endodontic treatment designed to eradicate destructive bacteria that have invaded the root canal. The treatment helps prevent reinfection. Our endodontist specializes in saving teeth that have become inflamed, infected, or damaged from trauma. Root canals may be considered when tooth fillings cannot restore a tooth.
Root Canal Procedure
We can perform your endodontic treatment in one or two dental visits. First, our endodontist inspects your mouth, taking a radiograph of the diseased or affected tooth using X-rays. We then numb the area with a local anesthetic.
Our endodontist makes an incision to create a small access hole within the crown to allow the infected nerve tissue to be removed. We then clean and reshape the nerve chamber and tooth canals before drying them. We will then fill and seal the tooth’s interior to protect it against bacterial invasion in the future.
Our endodontist uses a biocompatible dental material called gutta-percha to seal the tooth. A fluid-tight adhesive cement is utilized in the sealing process. In a majority of the cases, we place a provisional filling that our root canal specialist removes when you come back for the placement of a crown. A tooth crown allows proper protection and full function of the tooth.
If you have received a root canal prior, but it failed, or reinfection happened, we can do a root canal retreatment. In other incidents, we may suggest apicoectomy, a type of endodontic surgery that allows our endodontist to access the tooth root canal or even the adjacent areas in order to provide treatment.