Getting to the Root of the Problem

The roots and pulp of your teeth contain nerve cells and blood vessels that connect your teeth to your central nervous system. When you drink a cold beverage and feel the coldness in your teeth, that’s the pulp detecting the feeling.

For the same reason, when the pulp and roots become infected, you can feel pain in your tooth. When this happens, it usually means you need a root canal treatment.

Houston root canal treatments remove the damaged and decayed pulp from the pulp chamber and roots of your teeth while preserving any healthy pulp still in there.

The pulp can become infected from decay or an accident, but in most cases it is due to decay.

Not taking care of your teeth allows bacteria to grow, and if it burrows through your teeth and reaches the pulp, it can become painful to chew, drink hot or cold beverages, or even do nothing.

X-ray Vision

One of the first things to be done before a root canal treatment is an x-ray imaging of the affected tooth and the underlying gums.

This imaging will show your Houston dentist how far the decay has progressed and how much needs to be removed.

Additionally, it will show what root pulp is still healthy and can be saved.

The dentist will use the x-ray imaging as a sort of roadmap to follow. They will use a fine tipped drill to remove all of the decayed material.

Of course, you will be under the effects of anesthesia for this. Local anesthetics and sedation dentistry will dull your senses and remove most sensation from your teeth, so you will feel little, if any, discomfort.

By the time a root canal is performed, much of the pulp is already dead, and therefore has very little feeling left in it.

However, an abscess at the root of a tooth can cause pressure on the gum tissue, causing pain.

Your dentist will remove this abscess and prescribe an antibiotic if necessary.

Once the Abscess and Pulp Have Been Cleared Out

After the procedure is complete, the tooth will need to be strengthened. A hollow tooth will not be able to withstand normal bite forces without breaking.

First a material called gutta percha is injected into the root canals. This will seal off the canals and prevent bacteria from burrowing into them again.

Then, a standard filling made from porcelain, gold, or silver amalgam will be used to seal and strengthen the tooth.

Root Canal Retreatment in Houston

It is not common, but sometimes an x-ray can miss a damaged root canal which flares up after an initial procedure.

If you notice the discomfort of a root canal pain again right after getting a root canal treatment, you may need a retreatment.

Your Houston dentist will opening up the tooth again from the same place as the previous treatment after x-ray imaging the tooth again.

They will then selectively target the damaged root canal pulp and remove the decayed pulp as well as any abscess that may have formed.

It is especially rare for a second retreatment to be needed after this is done.