Root Canal treatment

Root canal treatment begins with the standard drill to access the inside of the tooth. Slower speed round drills can then be used to remove decay and to expose the canals. Tiny files are then used to remove the contents of these canals. The manual method of root canal treatment involves using increasing file sizes that gently clean and shape these canals. A tooth may have one or more canals. Using the manual treatment method of filling the canals involves checking the cone size then placing rubber cones covered with a liquid sealer into the canals.

Once enough cones have been placed, spreading instruments can then be used to compact the cones even further. After the canal is tightly sealed, the excess rubber cones can be removed with a heated instrument. The heated instrument can also be used to heat and compact the cones to better fill the canal space. For optimum treatment, one or more posts may be placed to strengthen the tooth and retain the filling. In this case, a light cured resin is used to fill the space. It's soft when placed in the tooth and hardened with a bright light.

At this point, the tooth is still in a weakened state and can break with heavy biting. The best treatment usually involves preparing the tooth and covering it with a full crown, sometimes called a cap. Any pathology at the tip of the root should disappear with time and the tooth will be saved.