A root canal treatment is necessary at an ongoing stimulus. For example, the nerve of the tooth can become inflamed due to an untreated deep decay or to high filling and cause toothache. The symptoms of inflammation are an initially increased sensitivity on cold stimuli, and later also on hot stimuli, biting pain, increasingly diffuse pain at night. This tooth pain comes and goes through a change between acute (painful) and chronic (pain-free) stages of inflammation. In some cases, however, the patient notices nothing. Due to a clear diagnosis (x-rays, cold and percussion tests) the dentist may detect the necessity for treatment of this infection first .
If the tooth nerve is inflamed or opened after a dental trauma, root canal treatment is necessary.
Picture: Formation of a tooth nerve inflammation
After successful placement of local anesthesia, the tooth is isolated from the rest of the oral cavity by applying a rubber dam and drilled into to access the root canals.
Maximum flexible and delicate instruments that adapt to the root curvature are used to remove decayed pulp tissue from the tooth and root canals.
After preparation, cleaning, disinfection and drying of the root canals, they are filled with an antibacterial drug and the tooth is sealed with a temporary filling which is impermeable to bacteria. Once the tooth is symptom-free again, the resulting root canal cavities are filled by your dentist.
The root canal treatment usually takes 2-3 appointments.
Due to the lack of nutrition through the nerve of the tooth, the tooth gets fragile and brittle. Therefore, we recommend stabilizing your tooth with a crown afterwards, if necessary through a core build-up, to strengthen the tooth and restore your smile aesthetics.
At the root canal treatment, the principle of utmost care and use of the latest technical procedures is applied. At ZZL – your Dental Health Center Lucerne we use the latest technologies. Automated systems provide a painless, quick andgentle treatment.
It is this combination of the latest technology, years of experience and permanent dental training that leads to success in the root canal treatment and prevents tooth loss.
If the infectioned tooth’s nerve is not treated, it dies. Thus, the toothache does no longer exist, however the metabolic products (toxins) of bacteria spread out through the root canal into the jawbone and further cause a chronic jaw bone inflammation, which leads to a local jawbone resolution. If this condition is still left unnoticed, the infection spreads into the soft tissue, causing a dangerous and painful swelling (abscess = encapsulated collection of pus in a newly formed tissue cavity). Ultimately, it can lead to loss of teeth.
“Do not wait if you have toothache to preferably keep your own teeth for a lifetime!”
“Tooth pain is always a warning sign and must be treated quickly.”
A root canal treatment is an attempt to obtain your tooth.
Depending on the degree of inflammation and jaw bone involvement, the prospects of success of root canal treatment are different:
- Teeth in the early stage of an acute tooth nerve inflammation without bone resolution in the X-ray: 80-95%
- Teeth in the late stage of a chronic dental pulp inflammation associated with bone resolution in the X-ray: 65-85%
- Repeated root canal treatment (revision) in infected periodontal ligaments and bone resolution in the x-ray: 50-70%
