Root canal treatment
Root canal therapy i.e. endodontic therapy
When can endodontic therapy be necessary?
The most common indication for endodontic therapy is a deep carious defect that has already spread into the dental pulp (the nerve of the tooth). In consequence, the dental pulp becomes inflamed and the pulp tissue eventually dies. If endodontic therapy is not performed, the inflammation can spread along the root of the tooth to the periraducular area in the jaw. In more severe cases it can spread even further and produce dangerous infectios conditions of the entire organism.
Endodontic therapy can also be deemed necessary in the course of pre-proshtetic tooth preaparation, traumatic occlusion, infections originating from the gingival sulci, etc.
The course of endodontic therapy
The puropose of endodontic therapy is to disinfect, clean and shape the pulp chamber and root canals which is later followed by tigthly sealing the root canals to eliminate the possibility of concurrent microbial contamination.
The cleaning and shaping is carried out using special root canal instruments (we prefer rotating Nickel-Titanium instruments that are resistant to fracture and extremely flexible) and chemical irrigation solutions aimed at the disinfection of the pulp space and root canals and also the removal of organic and inorganic debris.
Once the sypmtoms and clinical features of the disease have subsided, it is necessary to hermetically fill the root canals. For filling the root canals we use guttapercha and resin-based sealers (to guarantee a tight seal).
Sometimes it is possible to carry out the entire treatment (disinfecting, shaping and cleaning of the root canals, filling the root canals) in just one visit.