Root Canals

Some of the signs that you may need a root canal: pain when eating or drinking or brushing your teeth, pain when your teeth are exposed to hot or cold foods or beverages, swelling of your gums, sudden discoloration of your teeth, or a persistent pimple on your gums. Any of these symptoms indicate that you need to see a dentist right away. If untreated, a damaged tooth can lead to an abscess and even damage to neighboring teeth.

What is a Root Canal

A root canal, also called endodontic therapy, is a procedure where a damaged or infected tooth’s pulp, which runs through the center of each of your teeth and contains nerves and blood vessels, is removed. This soft material can become infected if a tooth is damaged, cracked, or struck by a hard object. The root canal itself is drained and cleaned after making a small hole in the appropriate side of the infected tooth. Then, the root canal chamber is disinfected and filled with a soft material that will prevent leakage and reinfection. A small temporary filling is placed in the access hole until all symptoms subside and tooth is healed.

Root canals offer a great way to save a severely damaged tooth and are the procedure of choice when extractions are not an option. Although it costs more to do root canals, the trade off is that you will get to save and use your teeth for years to come. The success rate of a root canal therapy is more than 90% but there are cases where additional treatments are needed to save the tooth.

Afterwards, a crown or filling will be placed over the tooth to protect it from further infection for years to come. Typically, the root canal procedure will occur during 1 visit to our office, and the crown will be placed on a follow-up visits. You may have heard that root canals are painful, but root canals hurt no more than getting an ordinary filling and will save you from further pain or discomfort.

Emergency Dental Root Canals

Our Wheaton Dental Office is open 7 days a week, from 9am to 5:30pm.  Don’t be in pain: contact us now! We’ll take x-rays and decide what procedures you need to get your teeth back to optimal function. As a full-service dental provider, our services range from emergency fillings to root canals and extractions.