Underneath your tooth’s outer
enamel and within the dentine is an area of soft tissue
called the pulp. This contains the tooth’s nerves,
lymph and blood vessels. Root canals are very small,
thin divisions that branch off from the top pulp chamber
down to the tip of the root. A tooth has at least one
but no more than 4 root canals.
Deep tooth decay, or an injury, can
cause serious damage and infection to the pulp’s
nerves and vessels. If this is left untreated an abscess
could spread to the area outside of the tooth, bone
around the tooth may degenerate, causing tooth loss.
Once the pulp in infected, the options
for treatment are either: Root Canal Treatment or extraction.
Root canal, or endodontic treatment,
cleans out the infected pulp chamber and repairs the
damage so the tooth can be saved. Early indication that
root canal treatment may be necessary include:
- Increased sensitivity to hot and cool foods
- Severe decay or an injury that creates an abscess
(infection) in the bone
- Spontaneous pain or throbbing while biting
Root canal procedure
We take every care ensuring a comfortable procedure.
The majority of people who have undergone root canal
treatment typically report that the process itself
is no more involved than having a filling placed.
Root canal treatment eliminates
nerve problems and abscesses and avoids tooth extraction,
and is far more cost effective in the long term.
We have an Endodontist based at our
Cambridge practice, and our practitioners can refer
for more complex root canal treatments.
