Your oral health is the overall wellness of everything connected to chewing food. This includes your teeth, gums, and jawbone, because infections and diseases that affect them can damage your smile.
When you eat, your teeth grind the food along with a microbiome in your mouth that’s filled with bacteria that help break it down as it enters your throat. However, without proper dental hygiene, harmful bacteria collect in your mouth, leading to diseases that cause many problems that damage teeth.
When an infection develops inside a tooth, treatments like root canals can save your tooth. Residents of the East Village in Manhattan, New York, who have dental problems that require root canals or other medical solutions can seek help from Dr. Adam Nusblatt and his experienced staff at Nusblatt Dental.
Here, let’s explore what this procedure does to help maintain your smile and what you can expect from the experience.
The term root canal refers to the inside of the root of your tooth, located beneath the enamel and dentin layers most people see. The canal is filled with tissue and nerves easily affected by bacteria and disease if they get inside.
Poor dental hygiene, an untreated cavity, and injury from an impact can lead to damage that affects the inside of your teeth. When this part of the tooth gets infected or inflamed — also known as pulpitis — it leads to several other problems, like tooth decay, cracks, breaks, discoloration, swelling, a warm sensation, and pain in your tooth and gums.
Removing the diseased pulp tissue — and leaving the dentin and enamel intact — eliminates the tooth infection, relieving tooth pain and other symptoms as it heals. Dr. Nusblatt cleans away the infection, seals the tooth and roots, and repairs any cracks and breaks with a crown. This restores full function to the tooth and protects it from further damage.
Without treatment, a severe tooth infection can cause problems with the surrounding tissue and even the jawbone. Once the tooth is beyond repair, the only treatment option is extraction. Root canals save the tooth structure so you avoid tooth loss.
The treatment begins with an anesthetic to numb the tooth and surrounding gum tissue. After that, we apply a dental dam — a small flexible piece of rubber placed over the area to protect the rest of your mouth and teeth throughout the process.
Dr. Nusblatt drills a tiny hole into the tooth to access the infected pulp, and he removes all of the nerves, blood vessels, and tissue. He disinfects the area once finished. The empty chamber that held the pulp gets filled with gutta percha, a flexible rubbery material, and he seals the tooth.
Root canals are vital for eliminating infection and preserving teeth. If you need a root canal for an infected tooth, make an appointment with the expert team at Nusblatt Dental today. Patient comfort and satisfaction are top priorities.
