3 Facts Regarding Root Canal Treatment

If you have a tooth infection, your doctor has likely suggested root canal treatment, which many people associate with severe pain. However, root canal treatment is designed to treat the infection for good. If you are getting root canal therapy, check out these three facts.

1. Root Canal Therapy Saves the Tooth

With most infections, you simply take some antibiotics and let them heal you. However, when your tooth becomes infected, it can't be fully treated with antibiotics. Your dentist may recommend a dose to ease the pain and reduce the pus, but the only methods to treat a tooth infection are root canal treatment and extraction. Root canal therapy saves the tooth by removing the need to extract the tooth. Unfortunately, the cost of root canal therapy is much higher than an extraction. However, if you do have your tooth extracted, you either have a missing tooth or need to get a partial denture, bridge, or dental implant, which can be expensive and require replacement.

2. Your Dentist Will Also Recommend a Dental Crown

While you won't need a partial denture, bridge, or dental implant after root canal therapy, you will need a dental crown. This is recommended because after root canal treatment your tooth is extremely fragile. Any tooth with a large filling is more vulnerable to breakage, but a tooth that has been treated with root canal therapy is even more likely to shatter because the pulp and nerve have been removed. Dental crowns come in many materials, but you can request porcelain dental crowns, which come in all-porcelain and porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns. Both look almost like natural teeth.

3. Treatment Relieves Pain and Pressure

Many people fear root canal treatment because of the pain, but treatment is designed to remove the infection, thus relieving pain and pressure. An infected tooth has pus inside, putting pressure on the nerves of the tooth. This can (but not always) cause severe pain, but treatment removes the infection and the pain. Treating a tooth with root canal therapy requires moving every bit of tooth pulp and root. Therefore, you may feel some mild discomfort as your dentist reaches the bottom of each tooth root. Luckily, more Novocain can be administered to numb the area further. After treatment, you will likely feel some discomfort, but in most cases, with the infection gone, most of the pain is also gone. 

Even if your tooth infection isn't causing pain, you need to seek treatment before it becomes a dental emergency. Root canal treatment has a bad reputation, but it saves the tooth and stops the pain. For more information, contact a dentist in your area today, such as Family 1st Dental.