Root Canal Treatments: Targeting an Abscess

Protecting your teeth may mean more than just preventative maintenance at times. If an injury or decay has gotten the better of you and infected the dental pulp inside your teeth, you might need a root canal to fix things up.

Root canals, despite having a bad reputation, are pretty common procedures that remove damaged tissue from the core and roots of a tooth.

When an infection runs deep within a tooth, it can cause an abscess at the roots. This abscess can put a lot of pressure on the surrounding tissue, making it painful.

If left untreated, the abscess could further spread problems, such as loosening teeth or causing gum disease.

Determining the Extent of Damage

More than likely, x-rays will be needed to see how much damage has been done to the dental pulp in the roots. They will also be used to locate an abscess if there is one.

The x-ray images will show multiple angles of the affected tooth and will be used to map the necessary treatments and filing.

They will also determine if any pulp can be saved.

The x-ray images are crucial to finding and removing all of the infected tissue, as leaving any could cause the infection to rise again, requiring a re-treatment.

Treating an Abscess

To get to the root of the problem, one needs to start at the top. Your Houston dentist will use a drill to open up the top of the tooth.

Once they reach the dental pulp in the core of the tooth, they use a special file to remove all the infected pulp.

At this point, most of the nerve cells in the dental pulp are dead, so there wouldn’t be much sensation. Even still, dentists use sedation and local anesthetics to keep the patient calm and free of discomfort.

After the pulp chamber is cleared, the dentist then focuses on the roots of the tooth.

The roots are small channels filled with dental pulp. They carry oxygen, nutrients, and nerve signals to and from the teeth.

It’s possible that not all of the root channels will contain infected dental pulp. Your Houston dentist will do everything they can to preserve any live pulp remaining.

The abscess, once clear of the bacteria, will be drained to rid the tissue of bacteria causing the infection.

Once the roots and underlying abscess have been cleared, they are filled with gutta percha.

After the gutta percha has been placed and fills the channels and the pulp chamber, a standard filling is used to seal the opening at the top and strengthen the tooth.

After a Root Canal Treatment in Houston

Once the root canal treatment is complete, you should be free of pain. As long as no infected tissue remains, the surrounding tissue will heal.

In a case where a badly decayed tooth required a root canal, it’s possible you may need to return to have a crown fitted atop the remaining tooth. This crown would strengthen the tooth, restoring the ability to eat and drink without pain.

Depending on certain circumstances, the dentist may also prescribe antibiotics to continue fighting against an infection. These will eliminate any lurking bacteria and prevent re-treatment being necessary.

Should a re-treatment be needed, you will undergo essentially the same procedure, but the dentist will take more x-rays looking for any infected root canals that missed the first treatment.

It is very unlikely you’ll need a re-treatment, and even less likely you’d need a second re-treatment if one is already conducted.