Root canal

What is root canal?

When teeth suffer from caries – Figure No. 1 – which develops from one stage to another and the decayed hole becomes bigger, the injury reaches an advanced stage – Figure No. 2 – and the patient suffers from severe pain, especially at night.

Figure 1	Figure 2	Figure 3

This may lead to an abscess and edema or tumor in the afflicted region – Figure No. 3 If the nerve is not treated and removed and if the nerve canal is not thoroughly cleaned, we may have to resort to other treatments, such as surgery or extraction to save the patient from pain and inflammation.

Why is there pain?

Inside the tooth, after the layer of enamel and dentin, there is a soft tissue which is the pulp or what is called the dental nerve. This layer houses the dental nerve, vein and artery in addition to a lymph vessel. When decay reaches this layer that contains the nerve, it means that a great number of bacteria has reached the nerve, which leads to its inflammation and severe pain. After a while an abscess develops.

How is the nerve treated?

We remove the pulp or the nerve from the tooth crown and the root canal. And we clean this canal thoroughly using special implements and equipment. Then we fill the canal with substances intended for filling the root canal. Lately, we have been cleaning the nerve with modern electronic apparatuses, and we resort to digital x-ray during treatment to ensure the success of the treatment. All this, of course, saves time and effort both for the patient and the dentist without pain to the patient. It is preferable to crown the tooth whose nerve was treated, as it becomes weak and fragile after the nerve is pulled out.

You can see in gallery page some illustration figures.of course , they are mostly x-ray pictures because root canal or root defects are not seen except through x-rays.