Clears infection from inside the tooth so it can be kept rather than pulled out.
Overview
Inside every tooth is a soft core of nerve and blood vessels. When decay or a crack lets bacteria reach it, that tissue becomes infected — which is what causes the throbbing, the sensitivity to cold & heat, and eventually an abscess.
A root canal treatment removes the infected tissue, disinfects and shapes the canals, and seals them. The tooth stays in your jaw and keeps working. It is the alternative to extraction, and keeping your own tooth is nearly always the better outcome.
Suitability
If one of these suits you better than root canal, we will say so at your consultation — including when the right answer is to do nothing for now.
Step by step
X-ray and pulp testing to confirm the nerve is involved and identify which tooth is the source.
The tooth is fully numbed and isolated with a rubber dam, which keeps saliva and bacteria out of the canals.
Decayed portion of tooth is removed and cavity is modified to attain access to pulp chamber and root canals
The infected tissue is removed and the canals disinfected and shaped. This is the longest part.
The canals are filled with a rubber-like material and sealed to stop bacteria getting back in.
A root canal treated tooth becomes brittle and will eventually split without a crown. This step is not cosmetic — it is what makes the treatment last.
Benefits
Keeps your natural tooth and its root in the jaw
Ends the infection and the pain that came with it
Preserves normal chewing and stops neighbouring teeth drifting
A crowned root-treated tooth commonly serves for decades
After treatment
Who will treat you
MDS · MNDC (New Zealand) · MADC (Australia) · PGDAI (CIIOMFI, France) · Fellow ICOI (USA)
Dr. G. Vijay Srinivas is an Oral & Maxillofacial Pathologist and Implant Dentistry practitioner with more than 35 years of clinical experience, and the founder of AP Superspeciality Dental Hospitals.
Full profileWhere
Questions
The procedure itself is done under local anaesthetic and should feel like having a filling — pressure and vibration, not pain. The reputation comes from the state people arrive in: an infected tooth already hurts badly, and the treatment is what stops it. Expect tenderness on biting for a few days afterwards.
Often one, sometimes two. If there is an active abscess we place an antibacterial dressing and bring you back after a week or two, because sealing a heavily infected canal in one sitting risks a flare-up. Then a separate visit for the crown.
For a back tooth, yes. Removing the nerve and shaping the canals leaves the tooth brittle, and molars take the heaviest bite forces. Root-treated molars left without a crown split at a much higher rate, and a split tooth usually has to come out — which wastes the root canal entirely. Front teeth with small access holes are sometimes an exception.
You can, and it is simpler today. Keeping your own root is nearly always the better long-term outcome.
Commonly 10 to 20 years, and often much longer once properly crowned and kept clean. It behaves like a normal tooth for chewing. What shortens its life is new decay at the margin or fracture from a deferred crown.
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