Root canal is one of those dental procedures that a lot of people have heard of, but not many people understand. Thanks to sitcoms and films, root canal treatment has a bad reputation, as it is nearly always used to comic effect when a character has to have something really nasty done at the dentist. In truth, root canal treatment isn’t very painful, either during or before the procedure, and it can actually prevent discomfort.

If your dentist tells you that you need root canal, or endodontic therapy, it means that the pulp of a tooth has become damaged and infected. The pulp makes up the inner part of each tooth and can be damaged when the outer layers are weakened by plaque and tooth decay. If you try and avoid the dreaded root canal, this minor infection can soon become an abscess, which will be incredibly painful and can often cause the patient to lose the affected tooth or teeth completely.

Root canal is one of the many treatments offered by Harley Street Dental Studio. We understand that it is never good news hearing that you need such an extensive procedure, but all our dentists will be happy to answer any questions you may have, whether at the initial appointment or subsequent consultations.

Once it has been decided that root canal is the best way to treat your dental problem, the treatment itself is very routine and straightforward. During the first appointment the area is numbed with a local anaesthetic so you feel no pain and the dentist will drill a tiny hole into the outer layers of the tooth in order to access the infected pulp. X-Rays will often be taken to check the extent of the damage and the interior of the tooth will be cleaned out in order to remove the damaged tissue.

Patients undergoing root canal will then need to come back for a second visit when, again, the affected tooth is numbed and the dentist uses the same hole drilled before to insert a man-made filling. The hole will be sealed over using either a crown or a permanent external filling. Once the anaesthetic wears off you may feel some discomfort, but this is nothing compared to the pain you would feel if you ignore the signs of an infected tooth!