Root canal treatment

Root canal treatment, Endodontic treatment, Endo, WKB

Introduction

Root canal treatment belongs to the field of endodontics. This means everything concerning the dental nerve and the tooth chamber, i.e. the inner life of the tooth. This treatment serves to preserve the tooth in the oral cavity and ensures that the infection cannot spread and the neighbouring structures do not become inflamed.

Procedure

A root canal treatment describes the cleaning and disinfection of inflamed root canals and the subsequent filling of these by means of a sterile and rubber-like material (=Guttapercha). Finally, a prosthetic or restorative treatment of the tooth is performed. In general, a root canal treatment takes several appointments (usually two), which can sometimes last longer.

However, the duration varies greatly, as it depends on various factors such as the degree of difficulty, number of root canals, etc. For the final treatment of the tooth with a crown or filling, additional appointments are necessary. After taking an initial X-ray, the dentist first removes the caries and creates a clearly visible access to all root canals of the tooth.

Afterwards the root canals are prepared with manual or electric files, i.e. emptied and cleaned. Depending on the tooth and the curvature of the root canals, this can be difficult. The dentist gradually works his way further down into the canal and removes the inflamed or necrotic (= dead) tissue from the canals.

In doing so, he uses ever larger files in order to be able to clean the canal finally and well on each wall. Between its steps of tissue removal, the canal is repeatedly rinsed with special antibacterial and disinfectant rinsing solutions. The purpose of this is also to remove the small remnants of tissue that could block the root canal without rinsing.

Depending on which tooth is being treated and how many canals it has, several sessions may be necessary. The already treated canals are then provisionally filled until the next appointment. A temporary filling is also made if the inflammation is very severe and may have already spread to surrounding tissue.

The tooth is then treated with an anti-inflammatory drug and temporarily filled for about 14 days. When the root canals have been completely emptied, another x-ray is usually taken to make sure that all remaining tissue has been removed. The root canals are then filled with a rubber-like material (= gutta-percha).

This material is particularly well tolerated and durable. When the filling of the canals is completed, some dentists take another X-ray to check the quality of the filling. Finally, a root-treated tooth is usually provided with a crown prosthesis. Depending on the degree of destruction, a filling can also be made if only little of the tooth has been lost.