Root Canal Treatment

When a tooth has a very large decay that has caused irreversible damage to the nerve in the tooth, or when a tooth is fractured due to trauma and the nerve in the tooth is exposed or affected, the tooth may be saved by a root canal treatment. 

The nerve supplies sensation to a tooth and it travels in a canal in the roots of a tooth terminating in a part of the tooth somewhat at the center of the crown of the tooth (the part of the tooth visible in the mouth).  Front teeth have one root and the teeth in the back of the mouth have 2 or 3 roots.  Some teeth have a single canal in each root, while some teeth have 2 or more canals traveling in the same root.

The root canal treatment involves removing all of the nerve tissue out of the tooth and filling the now empty canals in the roots with a special filling material. 

After a root canal treatment is successfully performed, the tooth may be returned to full function by placement of crown.

The alternative to this procedure is removing the tooth.  At that point a gap is created in the mouth.  That gap may be filled with a bridge, or an implant.