Saving Your Tooth with a Root Canal

In last week’s blog, we learned how harmful oral bacteria can affect our grins in a variety of ways, including causing decay, infection, and even poor hygiene. While nobody wants to lose a tooth, that could be only viable option if it means preserving your oral health. Fortunately, your dentist will attempt to preserve your natural structure as best as it can be before resulting to such measures, and most circumstances indicate the tooth is salvageable if acted upon in a timely manner. When an infection is left unmanaged, however, it can spread deep down into the inner canals of your tooth root, affecting the inner dental pulp. In this week’s blog, your Northwest, IN dentist looks at the benefits of a root canal treatment and how it can save your smile.

Removing Infection

When decay begins to affect a tooth, you will experience discomfort, aching, and even sensitivity or pain, prompting you to seek help to alleviate the problem. If your oral structure contains a cavity or weakened depression, your dentist may attempt to remedy it with a lifelike composite filling. The problem is, however, that if the infection has spread to the inner roots of your teeth, your restoration will fail as the decay/infection has progressed significantly. In response to this, your provider may suggest a canal treatment to remove the infection.

During your root canal procedure, your dentist will carefully but thoroughly remove signs of decay, infection, or harmful oral bacteria from the inner dental pulp contained in the roots. Once all of the threat is removed, we will then fill the open canals with a dental material so as to prevent further bacteria from infecting the tooth. Once this step has been completed, you will be good to go!

Preserving Your Teeth

Developing adult teeth only occurs once in your lifetime, which means it is even more crucial to keep them healthy and taken care of. There are some circumstances that warrant extraction to preserve your oral health, but your dentist’s top goal is to do everything that can be done to preserve your natural tooth. If a structure is experiencing significant decay but can be otherwise saved with a root canal treatment, then that will be the route sought. Your dentist will go through the process with you, taking care to highlight all of your options and what would be best for preserving your smile. For more information about the root canal process or to learn more about our other restorative treatments, contact our team today.

Protecting Your Grin

Before resulting to extraction, your dentist will seek an alternative procedure first to your natural tooth’s structure, if possible. To learn more or to schedule your appointment with our office, contact Healthy Smiles in Northwest, IN by calling 219-938-2637 today.