Root Canal Treatments

When the tooth pulp – the soft tissue chamber in the centre part of the tooth containing blood and lymph capillaries and nerves – gets inflamed or infected, we need to get access to the pulp chamber by mechanical means, and remove the inflamed/infected pulp tissue that is causing tooth ache and/or an infection.

A root canal treatment is typically carried out in two or more sessions and once the tooth has been root filled it can be provided with an appropriate restoration, i.e. fillings, inlays or crowns. Following a root canal treatment, the dentist needs to check the tooth that has been root canal treated during the patient’s forthcoming examination/follow up appointments which will be scheduled accordingly.

Statistically, root canal treatments do not come with a 100% success rate and they can fail. This may happen during the treatment, days, months or even years after the treatment has been completed. Sometimes a root canal treatment is not suitable, if the tooth would not be able to be restored after the completion of the root canal treatment. In other cases where the root canal treatment is complex or if a previous treatment with your general dentist has failed, a referral to a root canal specialist – an endodontist – may be necessary. An alternative treatment option to a root canal treatment can be a tooth extraction, and the extracted tooth can be replaced with either a denture, a dental fibre reinforced restoration, a bridge or a dental implant.