Root Canal Therapy

Some people ask me, "What is a root canal? Are you taking the root out of my tooth? What are we doing?" No, that's not the case but what we're doing is we're really just removing the nerve within the tooth. And when the nerve is sick, we've got to remove that nerve and medicate sometimes and fill in where the nerve was, get it sealed off so no bacteria can get back in the area, and a person can be pain-free at that point because the nerve is now no longer in the tooth. So patients ask, you know, "Do I need a root canal? The tooth doesn't hurt." Well, the answer is, "Sometimes. Sometimes, a tooth needs a root canal and it doesn't hurt yet." So that's the reason why we use dental radiographs. We check to see how deep the cavity is. If a person does come in with pain, well, sometimes, or it's more likely that they may indeed need a root canal. But it is possible that a person could need a root canal even if the tooth doesn't currently hurt. That's the need for us to see a person regularly and we can keep checking their x-rays and making sure that there's no concern for cavity getting close to the nerve. So I think one of the advantages for a patient to come to Colorado Dental Arts is that in most cases, we can do all the treatment in one spot. What that means is you are dealing with the same team members, same assistants, same front desks, same dentists. And I believe that that can make your procedures more comfortable because you have that trust already established versus going to see someone else that, like a specialist or something like of that nature that you haven't met before.