The hollow space inside of your tooth contains a soft tissue-like substance. This substance is called pulp. Tooth decay, cracks in your teeth, or any variety of dental trauma can cause this pulp to become inflamed or infected! When this pulp becomes irritated it can cause pain and sensitivity. When this happens, root canal therapy is required. Without a root canal, the pulp will continue to become more and more inflamed, which can cause more and more pain.

It can be difficult to tell, even with x-rays, the extent of certain tooth damage. Unfortunately, this might mean that your root canal therapy was not successful. What this means is that there was too much-infected pulp or too much of your tooth was damaged and there isn’t enough left of it to save. In this case, the only option remaining is tooth extraction. However, root canal therapy has a 75% success rate! If your tooth has decent bone support and healthy gums, there is a very good chance that it can be saved with root canal treatment.

You might find yourself thinking, why go through the process of getting a root canal treatment if I can just pull the tooth instead? You might feel like the root canal treatment might not work. Well, a root canal can save the tooth which means that you’ll still be able to eat and talk with ease. Having a tooth extracted can oftentimes make it more difficult to chew food and even talk. Not to mention, an extraction will take much longer to heal as well. It is always better to try to save your natural tooth. It will make your healing process much easier and better.

An Endodontic dentist can treat a root canal a little differently, depending on the patient and their personal health and risk factors. No two people’s bodies are the same and no two immune systems are the same. A general dentist will treat the infected tooth, which is a good thing, but an Endodontist will be able to work with your immune system and needs to determine if there may be a different approach that you can take. Because everybody is different, this means that no two patients will have the same answers. So, if you’re interested in approaching this in a more integrated way, you might find a few different avenues than standard root canal therapy.

You might try to convince yourself that you’re not in that much pain. Maybe you’re nervous about getting the procedure. The truth is, the longer you wait to repair that damage, the worse it can get. Your infected tooth can become more and more painful over time! Not to mention, it can lead to some pretty serious infections which can lead to you becoming very ill. The damage could be irreparable and you might end up needing to have it pulled. The infection might even spread to other teeth too, causing only more pain and infection. In order to keep your oral health at its best, you should get the root canal therapy done as quickly as possible.

Despite how scary the procedure might sound, you will be given anesthetic throughout the entire process and you won’t feel a thing. Once the anesthetic wears off, you will probably feel some discomfort, but nothing extreme. Usually what follows is a dull ache, possibly some sensitivity, and soreness of the surrounding teeth. Because your mouth will be open during the procedure, for an extensive period of time, you might also notice some jaw soreness. It’s nothing an over-the-counter pain med won’t combat though. The pain and soreness should go away after a few days.

There are very few risks that come with root canal therapy. The biggest risk is simply infection. There might be a chance that the infected tooth was extremely infected. Working on that tooth might mean your body’s immune response begins to work overtime. This can lead to getting sick. Thankfully, a simple antibiotic can take care of this issue, if it ever arises. There also might be a risk of developing thick scar tissue. This can cause some discomfort and irritation.

After a root canal, dentists suggest you wait until all of the anesthetics wear off. This may take a few hours. Trying to eat while you are still numb can lead to you accidentally biting yourself and not knowing it. Once you have feeling in your mouth again, then you can go ahead and eat soft foods; oatmeal, yogurt, eggs, bananas, rice, etc. Dentists recommend avoiding eating anything crunchy, hard, or even sticky. YES, you can eat a root canal! So, you must be careful to avoid eating anything that might damage your dental work. For at least 3 days, eat softer foods and avoid brushing the tooth that was worked on. You can brush around it, but be careful to not damage the worked-on tooth. After 3 days, your root canal should be good and you should be able to eat solid foods again.

Despite feeling sleepy, you will be completely awake during the treatment. Patients who do fall asleep can be easily roused by giving them a mild shake. You won’t feel any discomfort or worry thanks to oral sedation, which also makes it possible for you to follow the doctor’s instructions.