Endodontics

What is an endodontic treatment?

In some cases, a tooth is so damaged that it cannot be fixed with only a filling. However, this doesn´t mean that the tooth must be extracted, at Sermadent Dental Centres we believe there is nothing better than your own teeth and always strive to save a tooth wherever possible.

If a cavity is large that it has reached the tooth´s nerve or has an infection at the end of the root (apex), we can save it by performing an endodontic treatment, commonly known as a root canal. This process consists of removing the tooth pulp and filling the resulting space with a thermoplastic product. Thereby restoring the tooth and maintaining it in the mouth for as long as possible.

Types of endodontic treatments

Different types of endodontic treatments are possible. When a decayed or infected tooth has previously undergone a root canal, there exists the possibility of re-doing the root canal, known as a reendodontic treatment, to try to avoid extraction of the tooth.

A reendodontic treatment is performed in the same way as a root canal, but instead of cleaning the roots of pulp and dental tissue, the remains of the gutta-percha are cleaned out and replaced (the material used to fill the tooth after the initial root canal).

Advantages of endodontics

The main advantage of a root canal is that we can save the tooth, thereby preventing its extraction.

Using this outpatient procedure, we can get rid of dental infections and the consequences that they can have.

The treatment, step by step

Being a treatment that is performed under local anaesthetic, it is completely painless and typically done in just one sitting.

The procedure consists in removing the pulp from the tooth. To do this a dental drill is used to create an opening in the tooth´s crown (as per a standard filling). Once the pulp cavity is reached, tiny files are used to clean down the roots of the tooth as far as the root apex. In this way we also drain the tooth of any infection.

Once any residual pulp is cleaned from the tooth, the roots are sealed with very fine cones of gutta-percha, a flexible and isolating material. The smallest of these cones being the same thickness as the last file used to clean the roots.

We use the latest techniques in endodontics. After placing the cone, the rest of the product is sealed with hot gutta-percha, the same product in its more malleable state, so it can adapt perfectly to the width and length of the root, creating a perfect seal.

Finally, so that the tooth´s function is completely restored, it is necessary to reconstruct the parts of the tooth destroyed by the caries. In the majority of cases this restoration is achieved with the same material as a standard filling, however, if the tooth needs further repair, at Sermadent Dental Centres we have all types of solutions to reconstruct the tooth with fiberglass or metal pins, inlays, or crowns (metal / porcelain or zirconium).