What is Root Canal Therapy?
What is a root canal?
A root canal is one of the most common dental procedures performed, well over 14 million every year. This simple treatment can save your natural teeth and prevent the need of dental implants or bridges.
At the center of your tooth is the tooth’s pulp. Pulp is a collection of blood vessels that helps to build the surrounding tooth. Infection of the pulp can be caused by trauma to the tooth, deep decay, cracks and chips, or repeated dental procedures. Symptoms of the infection can be identified as visible injury or swelling of the tooth, sensitivity to temperature or pain in the tooth and gums.
How is a root canal performed?
If you experience any of these symptoms, your dentist will most likely recommend non-surgical treatment to eliminate the diseased pulp. This injured pulp is removed and the root canal system is thoroughly cleaned and sealed. This therapy usually involves local anesthesia and may be completed in one or more visits depending on the treatment required. Success for this type of treatment occurs in over 90% of cases. Depending on the specifics of each case, the success rates maybe lower. If your tooth is not amenable to endodontic treatment or the chance of success is unfavorable, you will be informed at the time of consultation or when a complication becomes evident during or after treatment. Occasionally, despite all our efforts a root canal treated tooth fails after the treatment (anywhere from a few weeks to a few years later) resulting into tooth loss. You will be able to drive home after your treatment, and you probably will be comfortable that same day and the following days, returning to your normal routine.
What happens after rooth canal treatment?
When your root canal therapy has been completed, a record of your treatment will be sent to your restorative dentist. You should contact their office for a follow-up restoration within a few weeks of completion at our office. Your restorative dentist will decide on what type of restoration is necessary to protect your tooth. It is rare for endodontic patients to experience complications after routine endodontic treatment or microsurgery. If a problem does occur, however, we are available at all times to respond. To prevent further decay, continue to practice good dental hygiene.
How much will a root canal cost?
The cost associated with this procedure can vary depending on factors such as the severity of damage to the affected tooth and which tooth is affected. In general, endodontic treatment is much less expensive than tooth removal and replacement with an artificial tooth. The costs will be discussed with you during your consultation visit.
As a patient, what should I expect from Dr. Nasseh and his staff?
You should expect to be treated courteously and with respect. You should feel comfortable at all time with Dr. Nasseh and his staff’s competence and ability to handle your care professionally while being personable, friendly, and attentive. You have the right to a painless procedure and personal attention by Dr. Nasseh and his staff. The procedure is most often performed in a single visit, and is always painless while it is being performed. Depending on the kind of infection inside the tooth there may be anywhere from mild to moderate discomfort after the procedure or in between visits. This is due to the healing process at the end of the root. Taking an anti-inflammatory such as Advil or Motrin after the procedure for a couple of days will minimize this discomfort. Antibiotics maybe necessary depending on the case and will be prescribed if deemed necessary for your case.
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Root Canal Therapy in Boston, MA
If you think you may need root canal therapy in the Boston area, please call our office to schedule a consultation, (617) 236-7818.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Root Canals
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Who is an Endodontist?
An endodontist is a specialist in prevention, diagnosis, and the treatment of the diseases of pulpal origin. This field of study is called Endodontics and an Endodontist specializes in this area of dentistry. The pulp, which is the connective tissue inside the tooth, resides in the root canal space. Root canal therapy is cleaning the root canal spaces of diseased or infected teeth and filling that space with a plastic filling material to prevent its re-infection. Although the majority of root canals are done by general dentists across the nation, an endodontist is a formally trained specialist whose practice is limited to non-surgical and surgical root canal therapy and is experienced and equipped with treatment of the more complicated, challenging endodontic cases. He performs the procedure on daily basis and is highly trained for the best treatment outcome.
And Endodontist completes a two-three year postdoctoral fellowship and residency in the field of endodontics and gains further experience in this field. There currently are less than 4,000 practicing endodontists in the U.S. and even fewer worldwide.
Following Graduation from Northwestern University Dental School in Chicago, Dr. Nasseh completed a three year fellowship in Endodontics at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. He concurrently received a Masters in Medical Sciences in the area of Bone Physiology at Harvard. He has been on the faculty at Harvard Dental School for the past ten years and an adjunct professor at Tufts Dental School for the past two years.
What is endodontics?
Endodontics is a specialty of dentistry recognized by the American Dental Association involving treatment of the pulp (root canal) and surrounding tissues of the tooth. When you look at your tooth in the mirror, what you see is the tooth’s crown. The rest of the tooth, the portion hidden beneath the gum line, is called the root. The root is made of a hard tissue called dentin. In the middle of each root runs a hair-thin channel called "the root canal" which houses the pulp of the tooth. The pulp is made up of soft tissue, and nerves. The root canal space is normally sterile. When bacteria gets into this space as a result of tooth decay, gum disease, tooth fracture, or other problems, the sterile pulp gets infected and damaged. This infection is first confined to the root canal space. Inflammation here causes the severe pain associated with an infected tooth. If left untreated, the inflammation and infection which is confined to the root canal space spreads from the inside of the root into the surrounding bone and tissues causing a swelling and abscess. When the pulp is infected, there usually are only two options. Either the entire tooth has to be removed (extraction) or the infected root canal space must be cleaned and disinfected in order to save the tooth (root canal therapy). A root canal specialist (an Endodontist) has additional formal training after dental school (additional 2-3 years) and specializes in root canal therapy and root end surgery. The endodontist removes the diseased pulp and disinfects the root canal space in order to save the tooth and prevent further infection and inflammation from spreading. This is a fine and delicate procedure in a tiny space the size of a human hair. After successful endodontic treatment, the tooth continues to perform normally.
Techniques for root canal therapy procedures have changed drastically within the past 5-10 years. This intricate, delicate procedure is now completely painless. Advances in anesthesia and instrumentation techniques have rendered this procedure simpler than a filling. Dr. Nasseh is on the forefront of these technological advances and lectures extensively nationally and internationally on these topics to other dentists and endodontists. It is very important that your dentist/endodontist be up to date on these changes to render the highest quality care treatment. Dr. Nasseh recommends that you demand an absolutely painless procedure that is done efficiently and comfortably with a high success rate from any one performing these procedures on you.
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