When do I need a root canal treatment?
When the nerves of a tooth are infected a patient will complain of pain from the tooth in question. The pain will be worse on biting and more intense whilst sleeping and the pain will stay on for a while.
The treatment options for an infected nerve are:
– root canal treatment
– take out the tooth
A root canal treatment therefore consists in making a hole in the tooth to take out the infected nerves and to put some medication in the canal where the nerves used to be in order to kill the bacteria. Once the pain and infection have gone away, typically after 2-3 weeks, the canals will be sealed with a rubber filling and the tooth will be closed off with a normal filling. In many cases, a crown will be needed after the root canal treatment to strengthen the tooth.
