TOOTH IRRIGATION

During the entire process of root canal the dentist will regularly keep injecting the canals and the pulp chambers with irrigating solutions that disinfect the canal and the pulp chamber by killing the microbes and removing the debris produced during widening of the canal.

STEP.6-SEALING THE TOOTH

The final step in the root canal procedure is sealing the canals and the pulp chamber with inert, non allergic disinfectant material. After the cleaning and shaping there are two options for the dentist

1. To immediately placing the filling material in to the root canal
2. Few cases they might prefer to wait at least a week to see the response of the tooth and then placing the filling in the canal & pulp chamber.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF THE SEALING MATERIALS ?

With dentistry improving with time many sealing materials have been developed. The most commonly used and time tested sealing material is Gutta Percha . It comes in preformed cones whose sizes exactly match the dimensions (diameter, taper) of root canal files. After the complete cleaning of the pulp chamber and the root canals the sealing materials are compacted by using manual pressure and heat. The idea is to completely seal the pulp chamber and the canal leaving no space and void.

Advantages of sealing the Canals

The area becomes completely sealed off from external irritants and microbes. Gutta Percha is inert in nature and does not promote the growth of microbes on it.

The pain in tooth is always because of the infected pulp ( pulp is rich in nerves ). Now by the end of the root canal treatment the infected and the residual pulp tissues have been removed completely. That means all the nerve fibers, that were causing the pain are now removed. The empty pulp chamber and the root canals are now completely filled with sealing materials that fill the space and stops any chance of future infection.

One thing for you to know as a consumer is

The Root Canal Treatment is meant to be restricted only in your teeth. That’s why the dentist measures the tooth using instruments as we have explained before in the article. The gutta percha cones that dentist uses to seal the canals and the pulp chamber must not extrude out of the canal as shown in this Post RCT X-Ray .

You can see in the x-ray that in RCT of one tooth the gutta percha cones have projected outside the tooth. So, once the dentist says that RCT is over, you must check for this fact in the post RCT x-ray.

It MUST NOT happen as it can cause future complications.

CONCLUSION

In this post we tried to explain you, all the steps about root canal procedure without being too technical. Now you know what happens during the root canal treatment. So, the next time you visit your dentist for treatment, you now know what to expect.