Patient Services

Root Canal Treatment in Wakad Pune

Root Canal Treatment (RCT) is a dental treatment for removing infection from inside a tooth and also protect it from future infections. It is usually done when the patient experience moderate to severe pain, sensitivity and/or swelling due to dental caries or decay. It is needed when the pulp (blood vessels and nerve) of tooth is affected  by decay, infection or trauma. We need to give local anesthesia to the affected area, which lasts for 1 to 2 hrs. It needs 2 to 3 visits and each visit lasts around 30 to 45 mins. Tooth is drilled to remove all the decayed, infected and carious part. Space created is shaped well and filled with special sealer in the roots and permanent filling is done in the crown portion of tooth. Crown is recommended in RC treated tooth, which can be fixed after a week.

What necessitates Pulp Removal?

Pulp is a vital structure of tooth, which when damaged, breaks down, and bacteria begin to multiply within the pulp chamber. The bacteria and other dying pulp remnants can cause an infection or abscessed tooth. An abscess is a pus-filled pocket that forms at the end of a tooth’s root. An infection in the root canal of a tooth can cause:

  1. Swelling that may spread to other areas of the face, neck, or head
  2. Bone loss around the tip of the root
  3. Drainage problems extending outward from the root. A hole can occur through the side of the tooth, with drainage into the gums or through the cheek into the skin.
A tooth’s pulp can become irritated, inflamed, and infected due to deep decay, repeated dental procedures, large fillings, a crack or chip in the tooth, trauma to the face etc.

Signs for Root Canal Treatment?

  1. Severe tooth pain upon chewing or application of pressure
  2. Prolonged sensitivity (pain) to hot or cold temperatures (after the heat or cold has been removed)
  3. Discoloration (darkening) of the tooth
  4. Swelling and tenderness in nearby gums
  5. A persistent or recurring pimple on the gums

Sometimes no symptoms are present.

Root canal therapy requires one or more clinic visits and can be performed by a dentist or endodontist. An endodontist is a dentist who specializes in the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and injuries of the teeth’s dental pulp. The choice of which type of dentist to use depends to some degree on the difficulty of the root canal procedure needed in your particular tooth and the general dentist’s comfort level in working on your tooth. Your dentist will discuss who might be best suited to perform the work in your particular case.
rootcanalThe first step in the procedure is to take an X-ray to see the shape of the root canals and determine if there are any signs of infection in the surrounding bone. Your dentist or endodontist will then use local anesthesia to numb the area near the tooth. Actually, anesthesia may not be necessary, since the nerve is dead, but most dentists still anesthetize the area to make the patient more relaxed and at ease. Next, to keep the area dry and free of saliva during treatment, your dentist will place a rubber dam (a sheet of rubber) around the tooth.An access hole will then be drilled into the tooth. The pulp, along with bacteria and related debris, is removed from the tooth. The cleaning-out process is accomplished using root canal files. A series of these files of increasing diameter are each subsequently placed into the access hole and worked down the full length of the tooth to scrape and scrub the sides of the root canals.
Saline or sodium hypochlorite, chlorhexidine is used periodically to flush away the debris.Once the tooth is thoroughly cleaned, it needs to be sealed. Your dentists would like to wait for a week before sealing the tooth. For instance, if there is an infection, you may be put on medication inside the tooth to clear it up. Others may choose to seal the tooth the same day it is cleaned out.
If root canal therapy is not completed on the same day, a temporary filling is placed in the exterior hole in the tooth to keep contaminants out between appointments. At the next appointment, to fill the interior of the tooth, a sealer paste and a rubber compound called gutta-percha are placed into the tooth’s root canal. To fill the exterior access hole created at the beginning of treatment, a filling is placed.
The final step may involve further restoration of the tooth. Because a tooth that needs root canal therapy often is one that has a large filling or extensive decay or other weakness, a crown, crown and post, or other restoration often needs to be placed on the tooth to protect it, prevent it from breaking, and restore it to full function. Your dentist will discuss the need for any additional dental work with you.