All You Need To Know About Root Canal Treatment in Raleigh, North Carolina

If you need compassionate and affordable root canal treatment, Raleigh Dental Loft is here to help. Call 919-859-4500 to make an appointment with a specialist. 

When the root of a tooth becomes infected, patients experience severe pain and discomfort. The good news is that root canal treatment quickly and painlessly solves the problem, leaving the patient’s mouth feeling as good as new.

Our endodontic treatment specialists at Raleigh Dental Loft are experienced and ready to help. Call our office today to learn how root canal therapy can help you.

What Is a Root Canal Infection?

A root canal infection normally occurs in conjunction with an untreated cavity, trauma to the tooth, or tooth restoration that goes too deep and damages the tooth’s pulp. In order to save the tooth, a dentist or endodontist must perform a root canal.

Signs of an Infected Tooth

If you have any of the following symptoms, you likely have a tooth infection:

• severe pain
• sensitivity to heat or cold
• change in tooth color
• swelling in gum around the tooth

Is There an Alternative to Root Canal Treatment?

Extracting the infected tooth is an alternative to root canal therapy. This is a much less expensive option, but you should avoid it if possible because many problems can emerge following tooth loss.

Problems Associated With Tooth Extraction

Deteriorating bones. When a patient loses a tooth or teeth, the bones that support them shrink. This can cause surrounding teeth to become loose. It can also badly affect the shape of the patient’s jaw and alter his or her appearance.

Gaps. If the infected tooth is in the front of the patient’s mouth, removing it can have a very obvious and negative effect on appearance.

Self-Confidence. These negative effects on appearance can also cause related problems with self-confidence and self-esteem.

Speech difficulties. Teeth are important to speech. The tongue works with the teeth to form sounds, and when teeth are missing, patients can develop lisps and other speech impediments.

Eating problems. Front teeth are essential for biting, and back teeth are necessary for chewing. Losing any of these makes eating more difficult.

Shifting tooth alignment. If removal of a tooth leaves a gap, the surrounding teeth are no longer fixed in place. They can shift towards the empty space, causing problems with the patient’s bite.

The Benefits of Root Canal Therapy

Getting a root canal can have the following benefits. It can:

• Quickly stop the pain
• Leave your appearance undamaged
• Help your jaw remain strong
• Protect your teeth

How Do Dentists Treat Root Canals?

At Raleigh Dental Loft in Raleigh, NC, here are the basic steps we use for a root canal procedure in which we treat infected teeth by removing the damaged pulp:

1. We protect your tooth from new infections by covering your mouth with a rubber dental dam.
2. We inject local anesthesia into your gums and wait for it to take effect.
3. Then our endodontic dentist will drill through the surface of the tooth and clean out the infected pulp.
4. After this, the dentist will clean the root’s canal(s), which formerly contained the pulp, to make sure its surface has no traces of infected pulp or bacteria remaining.
5. Finally, the dentist will pack the root’s hollow canal and seal it with sterile material that protects against repeat infection.

The tooth is now pain-free and safe from further internal damage, but as it no longer contains nerves and the blood vessels that feed them, it will gradually become brittle and vulnerable to breakage. For this reason, as soon as possible after a root canal procedure, it is important to protect the tooth by restoring it with a porcelain dental crown.

Tooth Restoration

During restoration, your dentist prepares the tooth by shaping it to receive the dental crown. Because the tooth no longer has any nerves, this is a pain-free procedure.

Next, the dentist makes an impression of your teeth and sends it to a laboratory, where the technicians create a porcelain crown that exactly matches the patient’s tooth color. Fabrication of dental crowns normally takes around three weeks. In the meantime, we protect your tooth with a temporary crown that we make in our office.

Contact A Root Canal Specialist

Our team members at Raleigh Dental Loft are experts in root canal treatments and the restoration of treated teeth. We care about our patients in Raleigh, NC, and the surrounding area, and do everything possible to ensure they have healthy and pain-free teeth. Call today at 919-859-4500 to learn about our services.