Root canal

Root canal is the most often procedure in the area of teeth endodontics – a branch of dentistry which deals with teeth canals. Every tooth has one or more roots, and from each root one or more canals start through which blood vessels, nerves and lymph from the jaw bone arrive into to actual tooth. Because of the pain that patient sometimes feel during dental procedures or when a tooth is carious, the most attention is paid to the actual nerve, which is also a part of the root’s system and that is why only the nerve is mentioned while informing the patient, even though an endodontic procedure of a root canal is a essentially a lot more than just removal of the nerve.

The need for a root canal treatment is caused by a nerve infection (most commonly because of advanced caries), because of a broken tooth or a sudden pain in the nerve caused by another reason. If the infection is milder, the procedure can be done pretty quickly, with a few sessions, but if the infection is advanced, meaning there is purulent matter, swelling and stench present, than that’s a tooth gangrene, which means a longer treatment is needed, and it’s not sure that a tooth can be saved, especially if a tooth has multiple roots like with the first and second molars.

At our dental clinic we apply special machine expanders Protaper DentSplay, which speed up the process of root canal treatment to the maximum, and the quantity of a removed matter of a canal is incomparably larger with this procedure than by using classical hand needles. Thanks to the use of machine expanders and a special Apex locator apparatus it’s possible to treat tooth canals with top notch precision. Apex locator is a device that enables establishing of the exact length of each individual canal for the sake of removing all the matter from it. Precise removal of matter from the tooth canal is very important because every leftover of organic matter in the canal can with time lead to the occurrence of gangrene.

If the infections are severe, meaning there is an occurrence of gangrene, then we at dental practice Cvejanović use a special laser, with which the root canals are entered and all the present bacteria is killed. In this way gangrene is treated pretty successfully, whereby the precondition for this type of intervention is that the tooth canal is reachable. If the canal is not reachable enough or there is an extension present, treating gangrene is not possible in this manner, then it is necessary to approach the tip of root through the bone itself with an operation that is called apicoectomy.

Whether there was a need for apicoectomy, if the laser was used, or if the canal’s matter was cleansed by a machine, the empty canal is filled with a special filling and a machine-crafted endo-crown, which the process is completed. Devitalized tooth will no longer cause pain, and a tooth treated like this can maintain his function for 10 years without the need for extraction, and won’t even change the colour in most cases. If the tooth has two canals from which only one is treated, teeth can remain functional for life.