Endodontic treatment of tooth roots

Root canal treatment is a procedure that we use to try to avoid tooth extraction and thus save it. It is called endodontics or endodontic therapy, which treats the inside of the tooth, the dental pulp. A healed tooth can serve us for years, but it should be known that the treated tooth is weakened and that in as many as 20% of cases, the root breaks or the tooth is lost.

Toothache

Inside the root of the tooth is the pulp, which consists of blood vessels, connective and nerve fibers that nourish the tooth and through which the sensation of pain is transmitted. The most common cause of pulp inflammation is caries. Untreated enamel caries penetrates deep into the tooth and affects the pulp.

This leads to the death of the pulp tissue. Then, through an endodontic procedure, it is necessary to remove the dental pulp and clean and fill its space with adequate biomaterial.

Spread of tooth inflammation

The inflammation can spread to the surrounding bone tissue, resulting in the development of an abscess or granuloma. A granuloma is chronically inflamed tissue at the tip of the tooth root.

The most common symptoms of tooth inflammation are:

• Tooth sensitivity to hot and cold.
• Toothache, especially throbbing.
• Sensitivity or pain when biting.
• Swelling around the teeth and face.

Pulpitis can also be the result of trauma and damage to the tooth that we are not aware of, for example, that occurred in childhood. In this case, the inflammation will develop slowly, even painlessly. However, a pathological process is still occurring that we must resolve and protect the tooth from decay.

If these conditions occur, it is necessary to perform endodontic therapy, or treatment of the tooth and its roots. By treating the tooth, we prevent the spread of infection and save the tooth from extraction.

Tooth root treatment

Root canal treatment or endodontic therapy consists of:

• mechanical and chemical cleaning of teeth from bacteria and decayed pulp,
• disinfection of the inside of the tooth,
• filling the empty interior with bioinert material,
• tooth crown reconstruction.

Since this method removes the tissues that kept the tooth alive and nourished, the tooth is devitalized. This means that the treated tooth stops being supplied with nutrients, regenerates, and loses sensitivity.

Although a devitalized tooth becomes fragile and may eventually fracture due to all of the above, it can still retain some function. As a rule, an endodontically treated tooth should be protected with a dental crown.