Root Canal Treatment (RCT)

What is Root canal treatment (RCT)?

Teeth are also a part of your body. Solid teeth and gums mean that your body is functioning properly and is sound. But many a times tooth caries can cause discomfort and people tend to neglect it by doing home remedies. But doing home remedies can cost your tooth. We suggest you to visit a dentist regularly as any other disease tooth problem once early detected can be very useful. If you have already got late, then you are on right page. Once tooth starts paining or started having severe sensitivity which can be excruciating and awkward. The two most regular treatments are tooth extraction or root canal treatment.

So today we will see what is Root Canal exactly?

Root canal in simple words is a process using which dentist fixes your natural tooth so that it remains in place.

To understand root canal treatment you have to understand from what tooth is made up of.

The outer most is hardest substance called ENAMEL. It is white in color and helps you to chew food.

Middle part is of DENTIN – it has some nerve in it and helps teeth to serve hot and cold.

Third and inner most part is PULP – it has nerve and blood vessels, and provides nutrition to tooth.

Now, this pulp sometimes gets infected by Caries, or gets traumatized by tooth fracture. And then this pulp starts sending signal to your brain as pain.

Now at this stage, pulp is in anger state it will be risky to just fill and leave. Risk is that root canal get infected which may lead to pus formation below causing swelling, severe, pain, fever.

So, root canal treatment (RCT) is performed to eliminate future complications.

In Root canal, we open the tooth with a drill, we search for the nerves in the tooth, we clean the roots of tooth and we fill the roots with inert material.

Upper part of tooth is filled with hard filling material.

And then capping is done to save tooth from any future damage.

To summarize, if root canal is advised to you, it’s better to go for it rather than waiting or get your tooth removed.

Root Canal Treatment Procedure

1. Clinical examination and X-ray evaluation.

2. Local anesthesia to ensure patient comfort.

3. Removal of infected pulp from the tooth.

4. Cleaning and disinfection of root canals.

5. Filling and sealing of the canals.

6. Placement of dental cap or crown for protection.

Root Canal treatment (RCT) Benefits/Advantages

Root canal treatment is totally painless procedure and you will have less discomfort after RCT than if you have your natural tooth removed. Thanks to Ganpati Dental Clinic modern techniques and effective anesthesia, patients who experience root canals are six times more likely to describe it as painless than patients who have a tooth removed!

To summarize benefits & Advantages of root canal treatment, they are as follows

Get Rid of Severe Pain

One of the biggest benefits of root canal treatment is that it helps you to get rid of pain. The root canal relieves pressure from inflammation in the pulp of the tooth and within a day or two after treatment, patients can get back to living their lives, without tooth pain.

Save Your Valuable Time & Money

Tooth extraction would be the most affordable choice and time saving, but in reality, tooth removal requires more follow-up appointments than root canal treatment and often, patients have to get a denture, bridge, or implant, which drives the cost higher as well as the time commitment for treatment.

Durable and Long-lasting
Retain Your Original Tooth
Protect Neighboring Teeth
Get the Teeth with Natural Chewing abilities

Root Canal treatment (RCT) disadvantages/Side-effects/ Drawbacks

While root canal treatment effectively saves a severely decayed tooth from extraction, certain considerations are crucial for prolonging its lifespan:

Reinfection Risk: Even with meticulous cleaning, there’s a slight possibility of reinfection.
Filling Failure: Inadequate filling can lead to infection, requiring antibiotics and pain relievers.
Brittleness and Fracture Susceptibility: The hollowed tooth becomes brittle and prone to fractures, necessitating reinforcement with a porcelain crown or post, or both.

To enhance the longevity of a root canal-treated tooth, prioritize regular dental checkups and promptly address any signs of infection or discomfort.

Alternatives of Root Canal treatment (RCT)

The most obvious alternative to a root canal is simply removing the tooth which seems to be time and money saving. But Ganpati dental clinic dentist will tell you that it is always best practice to save the tooth whenever possible.

Tooth Removal is a more problematic procedure, it also leaves you without a tooth and the consequences of tooth loss can occur and within 10 year 4 to5 teeth of affected side will start decaying.

Another alternative is known as pulp capping. Here, a medicine is used to close off the entry point to the pulp. This is not a guaranteed procedure , and you may eventually still be required to have the root canal treatment. It may just delay the inevitable.

A bridge denture This would be if you elect to remove the tooth and replace it with a dental bridge . Ganpati Dental Clinic dentist will explain the pros and cons of choosing this dental replacement over a root canal.

A dental implant can provide a similar alternative. Only after checking Ganpati dental clinic dentist can guide you to the right choice. Dental Implant depend on whether the nerves have not yet been infected and the severity of the infection or inflammation. Dental implants can replace teeth but remember an implant is a replacement for a tooth it is not a tooth so it also has some things to consider. It is also more expensive than a root canal treatment.

Precaution or Medicines During Root Canal Treatment

If you are advised for root canal or undergoing root canal. Then this article may be useful to you.

First of all let’s talk about, If root canal has not started.

To relieve pain, we will give you some painkillers like combiflame, vovran, ultracet, etc. Generally, you have to take three times a day but you can avoid if pain is not there or you can bear pain.
Second medication you will be getting some antibiotics, if we think there is infection, we will give you medicine like metrogyl 400, ziffi 200, angmentin 625. And this medication you have to take two times a day. Please do not take these medication without consultation.
One precaution you can take is avoid chewing from that side.

Second phase, is during root canal phase.

Generally, we ask you to stop medication once 3 days course is over. But you can take pain killers if your tooth pain still hurts.
You still do not have to chew from this side.
Although rare, if you see swelling on your face, you can apply ice pack and take painkillers and antibiotics after consulting us.
It’s better to do warm saline rinse for two-three days.
And do not forget to take all sitting on time otherwise infection will re-occur with more severity and you will have to pay extra, will have to come more number of times and sometime we might not even save your tooth. If your tooth do not hurt anymore, it doesn’t mean treatment is over.

After root canal phase

After root canal we will fill your teeth with temporary material and ask you to chew from that side.
We want to check if your tooth still hurts.
After root canal, it is possible you might feel dull pain. You can take pain killers to suppress it.
Although rare, you might feel severe pain and swelling. You don’t have to worry. Your body is accepting new materials just come and have checked up done and meanwhile you can take painkillers.

Lastly, don’t forget to get crown over it.

Dental Crown/Cap Bridge after Root Canal treatment (RCT)

Dental crowns are caps that fit over a tooth, offering strength and stability. A little bit of the outer tooth structure is removed to accommodate the crown, which fits snugly over the healthy tooth structure that remains. The crown is custom designed for an excellent appearance and fit.

For the most part, teeth in the back of the mouth (molars and premolars) will require a crown. These teeth bear the most bite force and usually, need a little extra support. Teeth in the front of the mouth tear rather than crunch, so they can generally get away without a crown after a root canal. Some other factors that determine whether a tooth needs a dental crown after a root canal is: patient oral health, bruxism and past tooth damage.

After going through root canal treatment process, your tooth becomes fragile, as it is disconnected from the roots and not getting any kind of nutrition naturally from your body which makes its brittle and makes prone to chipping.

Your treated tooth can easily breakdown or can crack when exposed to too much pressure and cracked tooth also invites bacteria and infection.

Extraction Vs Root Canal Treatment (RCT)

Since we are discussing topic, let’s see what could be possible reasons that we decide teeth to be extracted after RCT.

Sometimes patient delays or forgot to get crown on RCT treated tooth leading to fracture of tooth due to occlusal and biting force.
Neglecting food lodgment, sometimes food gets deposited around RCT treated tooth leading to bone loss and infection. And sometimes it becomes untreatable.
Recurrence of infection – sometime it is hard to treat infection with simple root canal due to severity of infection. In that case, either we need to have surgery or extraction of tooth.
Persistent pain – there are few and rare case that even after root canal pain do not subside and there could be a lot reason. And science has not developed yet to find and cure those problems. In that case also we need to remove.
Mobility of tooth – generally this is due to gums infection commonly known as pyorrhea.