Root canal treatment is pretty infamous in the world of dentistry—many dental patients consider this the most feared treatment available today. Our Orland Park root canal dental team is here to tell you that root canal therapy has a bad reputation! Root canal treatment can truly be smile-saving, so don’t discount it!
Root canal therapy is designed to treat severely damaged and infected teeth. What does this mean? Every one of your teeth has multiple layers—as you move inward through the tooth the layers become more porous and more susceptible to damage.
So once an infection has moved through your dental enamel and your dentin, it can then infect your dental pulp. At this point, you will probably be experiencing dental pain. You may also notice that there is a bad taste in your mouth, or that you’re dealing with hard-to-treat bad breath.
The root canal process allows our team to actually go into the damaged tooth and eliminate the infected tissues, nerves, and pulp. Once we have cleared away the problematic materials, we will clean the remaining (still healthy) tooth structure in order to minimize the risk of reinfection.
The final step in the process is to restore the tooth with gutta percha and a customized dental crown. Post-root canal you will have a previously damaged tooth that looks healthy and is strong enough to stand up to daily wear and tear.
Root canal therapy is important because it can save teeth that would otherwise fall out or need to be pulled. Additionally, timely root canal therapy is critical for preventing serious oral infections from spreading throughout the mouth.
So, if your dental team recommends root canal therapy, don’t panic! This treatment can actually help you achieve your dental goals! As always, our Tinley Park root canal dentists are happy to give you more information—just give us a call.