RCT!! I have seen a huge range of responses to this most commonly done dental treatment at my practice. Most common one is “oh no!! I can’t take up that pain.”
Whereas few others jump from their chair and say “doctor please take out my tooth. I cannot take an injection”
Some have a sigh; others show anxiety but are ready for the procedure.
But there are many who feel happy as they know pain will be relieved and they can still save their ailing tooth.
Yes, believe me. The current technology assures people of painless Root canal treatment commonly known as RCT. The only pain you would have to bear is that of anaesthesia and that lasts for just 2-3 seconds. Does that sound good?
Okay, coming back to the point, as a dentist with more than a decade of experience after treating thousands of patients, I would say, RCT can definitely save that pearl in your mouth. A well done Root canal treatment procedure ensures that tooth functions just like any other natural tooth and restores your chewing capacity. Not only that. It also helps in retaining that healthy bone architecture around the tooth which is quite crucial in providing proper shape to your face.
Now tell me, would you love to save your tooth or ready to lose it and thus handicap yourselves for ever and affect rest of the teeth??
When is Root Canal Treatment indicated?
Root canal treatment is the dental treatment procedure done for teeth which have infected, injured or exposed pulp tissue.
The tooth can get infected because of deep cavities or an injury to the tooth might expose pulp tissue. Many a times during an accident the injured tooth might have not shown any surface distortion but the pulp would be dead. This becomes obvious as the affected tooth shows discoloration over a period.
Root canal treatment is also done for healthy teeth during some cosmetic dental procedures when they are not in the proper arch form or do not have proper shape.
Root canal treatment Procedure
To begin with, the tooth which requires the procedure will be anaesthetied.
This ensures a painless procedure. In case of an acute infection when patient is suffering from severe pain, antibiotics are administered and the treatment is done once the infection is under control.
• RCT is done either with hand instruments called files or with motor driven rotary instruments once the dentist gains access into the pulp chamber of the affected tooth.
• Advanced system of Rotary Endodontics or Rotary RCT is done with motor driven instruments which ensure minimal treatment time and better comfort for the patient.
• Fine instruments are used to reach root canals and to clear the root canals of infected tissue. These are called reamers, files and are available in various dimensions. Files of suitable sizes are used for mechanical cleaning and shaping of the canals. The files used can vary from 0.06 mm to 2 mm in diameter. To give you an idea, the thickness of human hair varies from 0.02 mm to 0.2 mm, so a dental file is finer than a thick strand of human hair.
• This mechanical cleaning of the canal is always coupled with irrigation from saline and other antibacterial solutions which help in flushing out debris, infected tissue and organisms from the canal.
• This mechanical preparation with irrigation from antibacterial solutions drains the pus out from the root tips and makes the tooth infection free and relieves pain.
• Once the tooth is made infection free, it is filled with root canal filling materials called gutta percha along with root canal cements which are predominantly zinc oxide based.
• With rotary RCT the treatment is usually completed in 1-2 appointments and is back in action.
• Further this tooth needs to be covered with dental crowns commonly called tooth cap. The root canal treated tooth loses its water content and becomes brittle. It can fracture under chewing forces. Hence protecting it with dental cap is very much required.
Do you see the point now? Anyways you still have not got the complete picture of the procedure. Let’s play a video which explains the procedure. We will also listen to an expert in this domain. I am sure now you are ready for saving your tooth.
Cheer up and happy Root Canal Treatment…
