Root Canals

What are Root Canals?

Root canals are a very small, thin divisions that branch off from the top dental pulp chamber of a tooth down to the tip of the root. A tooth can have between one and four root canals.

What is the Dental Pulp?

The pulp is the soft tissue that contains nerves, blood vessels and connective tissue. Pulp lies within the tooth and extends from the crown of the tooth to the tip of the root in the bone of the jaws.

Injury to Dental Pulp

Disease or injury to the dental pulp can be caused by an infected tooth or tooth decay. Injury to the dental pulp can also be caused by a cracked tooth or a deep cavity. When the pulp is diseased or injured and can't repair itself, it dies.

What is Root Canal treatment?

A root canal treatment is used to find the cause and treat problems of the tooth's dental pulp.

After the dentist removes the pulp, the root canal is cleaned and sealed off to protect it. The dentist then places a crown over the tooth to help make it stronger.

Before root canal treatments were performed, the tooth would be extracted or 'taken out' when there were problems with the root canal. Root canal treatments allow root canal problems to be treated without having to extract the tooth.

Why is Root Canal treatment important?

Root canal treatment is important because the tooth will not heal by itself. Without treatment, the infection will spread, bone around the tooth will begin to degenerate, and the tooth may fallout.

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