2 Ways Root-Canal Therapy Can Save Your Oral Health

Root-canal therapy is a common dental treatment that primarily clears out inflamed pulp within a tooth's central canal. But there are some additional root canal benefits that can save your overall oral health.

Here are a few of the other ways that root-canal therapy can help your dental health and comfort. Ask your general dentist or endodontist for more information about your particular dental situation.

Ease the Pain of Dental Infection

Root-canal therapy is often used to remove pulp that has become inflamed due to infection. The inflamed pulp presses out on the sensitive dentin, and that can cause you pain during chewing or even when sitting still.

When the dentist removes the pulp, the pressure and its associated pain go away. The dentist will wash the canal with an antibiotic rinse and then fill the canal with an expanding bio-cement to keep new pulp from immediately entering back into the canal. This process ensures that your tooth will have an adequate amount of time to heal from the infection, and you won't have to worry about another round of dental infection pain.

Cover Up a Tooth Crack 

Pulp can also become inflamed due to dental trauma. If the trauma also caused a crack in the tooth, you will experience pain, increased sensitivity, and potentially lowered self-esteem if the crack is in the front of your mouth.

The root-canal procedure will clear out the inflamed pulp, but the end stage of the procedure can also help with your tooth's crack. The dentist needs to drill a hole into the tooth to access the pulp, even if there's already a crack. The hole and crack need to be sealed closed to prevent further damage and infection. The dentist can close the tooth with a dental crown.

A dental crown is a thin porcelain or porcelain and metal shell that is crafted to fit down over the exterior of the natural tooth. The crown will cover the crack and reinforce your tooth's natural dentin.

Strengthen Natural Dentin

The natural dentin-strengthening has more benefits than closing up a crack. A dental crown can protect your tooth from staining, trauma, and some bacteria that could otherwise cause harm to the tooth.

Dental crowns are available without a root-canal therapy, of course, but the two procedures pair particularly well together as a way to heal both the interior and exterior of the tooth at the same time.

Contact a dentist like Simmons Craig A D D S to make an appointment.


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