The Most Unfairly Feared Procedure in Dentistry

Here is the truth about root canals: the pain people associate with them is the toothache before treatment, not the treatment itself. A modern root canal is performed under profound local anesthesia and feels much like getting a filling. It is also the procedure that ends the pain and saves the tooth.

When a Root Canal Is Needed

Deep decay, a crack, or trauma can let bacteria reach the nerve inside a tooth. The signs: lingering pain to hot or cold, throbbing that wakes you at night, pain on biting, swelling, or a pimple-like bump on the gum. Sometimes the nerve dies quietly with no symptoms at all, discovered only on an X-ray, which is one more argument for regular check-ups.

How Treatment Works

1. Precise diagnosis. Where anatomy is complex, our cone beam 3D imaging reveals canals and infections that flat X-rays miss.
2. Complete anesthesia. We do not start until the tooth is fully numb, and we verify, not assume.
3. Cleaning and sealing. The infected tissue is removed, canals are disinfected and shaped, and the interior is sealed against reinfection.
4. Protection. Back teeth typically need a crown afterward, often placed the same day with CEREC, so one office and as few visits as possible handle the whole job.

Root Canal or Extraction?

Pulling a painful tooth can seem simpler and cheaper, until you price replacing it. A root canal plus crown usually costs less than an extraction plus implant, and nothing we can make is quite as good as the tooth you were born with. When extraction genuinely is the wiser path, we will say so plainly. Extractions

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