Do the words “root canal” make your toes curl? You’re not alone, but there is good news: new dental pain management techniques have made root canals far less painful than they were in the past. If you’ve been told you need to get a root canal treatment procedure, you don’t have to panic.
Still, you want to know what will happen when you sit down in your dentist’s chair. If root canals are a mystery to you, keep reading. You’ll learn the root canal treatment steps and what the procedure will really be like.
Step 1: Pre-Treatment
Before your dentist starts your root canal treatment procedure, you’ll need to do some preparation. Make sure to ask the root canal treatment clinic what insurance documentation you should bring to your appointment.
Before starting the root canal, your dentist may need to take x-rays of your teeth. This shows exactly where the infection is located and helps guide your dentist’s work.
Step 2: Treatment Set-Up
Next, your dentist will prepare you for the root canal by applying a local anesthetic to your gums. This is usually done in two stages.
First, your dentist uses a q-tip to spread a numbing gel onto your gums. Then, they use a needle to inject a numbing medication into the gums, where it spreads to your tooth’s root. The topical gel helps minimize the pain of the needle, so this step does not hurt very much.
The next step is to apply a dental dam. This is a plastic sheet that covers the area around the tooth to keep it clean and dry during the procedure.
Step 3: Removing Infected Material
Now, the procedure can begin. Your dentist will drill an opening in the top of the infected tooth so that the infected soft tissue is exposed. Next, the dentist removes the infected soft tissue (also known as pulp).
Once the infected pulp is gone, the dentist widens the opening to prepare it for a filling. This may involve irrigating or washing away any debris that remains inside the tooth. Overall, the root canal treatment should take less than 90 minutes.
Step 4: Re-sealing the Tooth
Now that the tooth is empty of infection, the dentist can fill and re-seal it. You may be able to get the filling on the same day as your root canal treatment. If your dentist can’t do both procedures on the same day, you’ll get a temporary crown to protect your tooth until a permanent filling can be applied.
Root Canal Treatment Steps, Demystified
We get it: no one looks forward to getting a root canal treatment. At the same time, it’s always easier to sit down in the dentist’s chair when you know what to expect.
With this root canal treatment guide, you’ll know exactly what’s coming at every stage of the treatment process. From start to finish, you can understand all the root canal treatment steps.
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