Saving the natural tooth should always be the first choice in the case of a dental treatment. When your doctor recommends the extraction of a tooth, ask him if it can be saved using endodontic procedures, known as “canal treatments.” The pulp of the tooth can be affected and infected for various reasons; therefore, it must be removed. Nerve removal does not mean the “death” of the tooth, as is generally perceived. The pulp has a decisive role both in the growth and maturation of that tooth and in maintaining its functionality in the oral cavity. Following the canal treatment, the tooth remains “alive”, continuing to function and fulfill its biological-mechanical roles, being fed by the surrounding tissues. The purpose of a canal treatment (endodontic treatment) is to keep the tooth in the oral cavity – because, as it is known, the best implant is the root itself. The ultimate goal is to save from extraction a tooth whose pulp is inflamed or necrotic, as well as treating and preventing infection and inflammation in the nearby tissues (jaw bones, soft tissues). In short, during endodontic treatment, the entire system of channels located inside the tooth root is cleaned of bacteria and organic debris and sealed with biocompatible materials that do not allow reinfection.
What is endodontics?
The term “endodontics” comes from the Greek and means “inside the tooth.” In the last 50 years, endodontics has been identified as a specialty of dentistry, endodontic treatment consisting in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases due to the pulp of the tooth (“nerve”), in fact the soft tissue inside the tooth.
Every year, millions of teeth need root canal treatment. If you have not experienced such treatment, you probably have many questions about its justification, the results obtained and its effectiveness in maintaining a tooth in the oral cavity. As I said above, the purpose of a canal treatment is to keep the affected tooth in the cavity. mouth. It is known that the loss of a tooth is a trauma that over time, without feeling or realizing it, affects other teeth with repercussions on the health of the body (affects the efficiency of chewing food and the efficiency of the digestive system). Of course, a missing tooth can be replaced by an implant, but “the best implant is its own root” is one of the golden rules of dentistry. What is the canal treatment and what are the stages: Usually, the treatment ends in the same session (which can take about 2 hours). However, there are situations in which the completion is done after 2-3 sessions, depending on the complexity of the case. Remember: the canal treatment does not hurt, everything is done under anesthesia and microscopic control, as follows:
with the help of dental digai the tooth is isolated from the rest of the oral cavity to prevent the access of saliva and the contamination of the tooth during the treatment;
it creates access to the channels in the roots of that tooth. Some teeth may have a root, a canal; however, there are situations in which a tooth can have several channels in the same root or in multiple roots, such as molars. This is explained to each patient before treatment;
the pulp of the tooth, infected or or partially affected, is extracted from the tooth canal;
the channel is then carefully instrumented creating a conical shape, regular and beautifully contoured to allow cleaning of the channel. Everything under the control of the operating microscope.
canal cleaning is the decisive step in obtaining a good result; special cleaning solutions ensuring its disinfection.
follows the stage of sealing and sealing the channel with special biocompatible materials.
very often, a tooth that needs root canal treatment has a destroyed crown. The crown recovers as soon as possible after the completion of the canal treatment: by direct physiognomic methods: a fiberglass pivot (or other nature) that strengthens the obturation (“filling”). The tooth is then wrapped in a ceramic crown to ensure the presence of the tooth and the fulfillment of its functions for as long as possible.
The canal treatment also involves performing dental radiographs so that the doctor can have control and guidelines during the treatment. Modern radiological equipment has nothing to do with what patients generally know about the radiation dose received in the case of dental radiography. Today, the dose of radiation received for a dental x-ray is less than the solar radiation we each receive in one day.