Root Canal Treatment CANADIAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION DENTAL INFORMATION SYSTEM The Dental Information To learn even more about your System (D.I.S.) is a series of dental health, talk to your booklets by the Canadian dentist. To learn more about Dental Association (CDA). the CDA, visit our web site at The CDA is the national www.cda-adc.ca. organization of the dental The CDA would like to thank profession. The CDA’s goal is the following people for their that you have the best dental contribution to this edition of health possible. The D.I.S. Root Canal Treatment: can help you reach this goal. on behalf of the Canadian The booklets in the D.I.S. are: Academy of Endodontics, •Bleaching, Bonding and Veneers Dr. Howard Fogel. •Care After Minor Oral Surgery The CDA would also like •Dental Care for Seniors to thank: •Growing Up...What It Means Dr. Tom Breneman for Your Child’s Dental Health Dr. Chantal Fortier •Gum Disease Dr. Patricia Main •Orthodontics Dr. Elizabeth Van Heyst. •Personal Dental Care The CDA is grateful to •Restoring and Replacing Colgate-Palmolive for its Your Teeth generous support of the •Root Canal Treatment D.I.S. Colgate-Palmolive’s •Taking Care of Cavities sponsorship has made this • The ABCs of Caring for Your program possible. The D.I.S. Child’s Teeth booklets are produced and • The Check-up distributed by Canadian • TMD (Temporomandibular Dental Service Plans Inc. Disorders) •You and Your Dentist — Oral Health Care Partners © 1999 Canadian Dental Association Root Canal Treatment Dentists today believe that This booklet is about root the best teeth are your canal treatment. own, and they try their Here’s what you will best to make sure you do learn about in this not lose any of them. booklet: Successful root canal treat- ▼ What is root ment lets you keep your canal treatment? page 2 tooth. The only other ▼ When root canal option is to have your treatment is tooth removed. needed page 3 Keeping your tooth helps ▼ Dentists and root to prevent your other canal treatment page 4 teeth from drifting out ▼ How it is done page 5 of line and causing jaw ▼ Things to problems or gum disease. consider page 7 Saving a natural tooth ▼ Root canal retreatment avoids having to replace and root canal it with either a bridge or surgery page 9 an implant. What is root canal treatment? Teeth are made up of three nerves and blood vessels that hard layers: help the tooth grow and • enamel develop. Once a tooth is fully • dentin, and grown, it can survive without • cementum a pulp. If the pulp of a There is a space inside the tooth becomes infected, then hard layers of each tooth. It is a root canal (or endodontic called the root canal system treatment) is needed. When and it is filled with soft dental this is done, the pulp is pulp. This pulp is made up of removed. Enamel Dentin Crown Gum Pulp Chamber Root Canal Containing Pulp Tissue Root Supporting Ligament Accessory Canal Root End Opening Bone A healthy tooth 2 When root canal treatment is needed The pulp inside a tooth can be • changes in your gums or damaged by cracks in the tooth, • changes picked up by a deep cavities or accidents. dental x-ray. Germs (or bacteria) can get into Sometimes, if a great deal of the tooth and can lead to infect- dental work is needed, your ed tooth pulp. This may cause dentist can tell from your exam pain and/or swelling. Some- and x-rays that the pulp of a times, a pulp becomes infected tooth is not likely to survive. or dies, but does not cause any In all these cases, root canal pain. Your dentist may notice: treatment can ease or prevent • changes in the colour of symptoms, and save the tooth. the tooth, Decay Damaged Pulp Abscess An abscessed tooth 3.