Root Canal Treatment Specialists in Gisborne
Dental pain can be relentless and debilitating and a lot of the time it can be solved with a root canal treatment. Have you ever experienced the throbbing ache that keeps you awake at night? Maybe you have been unable to eat or drink anything regardless of whether it’s hard or soft, hot or cold? Life isn’t much fun when you are experiencing these symptoms. If you’re experiencing dental pain your tooth’s nerve may be damaged, and you may need root canal treatment. The good news is our root canal therapy is pain-free.
When the internal tissues inside your tooth get damaged or infected, the pressure and pain signals spread along the jaw bone and can affect other parts of your body. Being encased in a hard structure that is the tooth and the surrounding bone, the pressure of your infection builds up and can cause very severe discomfort.
What are the common causes of a dental infection?
If there is a cavity on a tooth, the decay of tooth structure and bacterial infection can lead to infection of the nerve and blood vessels inside a tooth.
Trauma or accidents (such as falling off a scooter or getting a knock on your tooth during football) can also lead to injury of the internal structures of a tooth, and lead to a dental infection. This is why we always recommend protective gear such as helmets and mouthguards for sports and recreational activities.
When teeth have been repaired in the past, and the repair materials are degrading after a long time, it can also allow bacteria to enter the tooth’s internal structure, and subsequently lead to a dental infection.
What is a root canal treatment and how does it get rid of a dental infection?
When your tooth’s nerve space is infected, the diseased tissue occupies the nerve chamber and canal that runs the entire length of your tooth root. This nerve space can be as narrow as a full stop on a page, however when infected it can cause you relentless pain!
The aim of root canal treatment is to disinfect the nerve chamber and canal space, by a series of controlled scraping, as well as flushing with disinfectant liquid. A medication is also placed into the space to allow for further killing of bacteria. The rest of it is actually allowing time for the wonderful human body’s immune system to do its magic.
Typically a complete root canal treatment will take two to three visits, mainly to allow for the medication and immune response to have their full effect.
What am I going to feel while having root canal therapy?
All root canal therapy is done with good local anaesthesia, so what you’ll most likely feel is a good amount of numbness and no pain.
We find that your confidence and comfort will lie in not feeling any surprise discomfort during a procedure, therefore we allow ample time to ensure you’re properly anaesthetised, and this also allows us to perform the root canal therapy to our best abilities.
It is important to prepare for a visit by having a light meal about an hour beforehand. After your visit, we often recommend a soft diet for the rest of the day.
On top of that, our team ensures that you’re comfortable and well looked after, including putting on an episode of your favourite Netflix series so that you’re pleasantly distracted.
