We treat the root and save the tooth
Endodontics deals with the inside of the tooth: the pulp, the tissue containing its vessels and nerve endings. When deep decay, a fracture or trauma reaches the pulp and damages it irreversibly, the infection can spread around the root and form a bone lesion called a granuloma, which over time leads to the loss of the tooth. Root canal therapy removes the damaged tissue and allows us to keep the natural tooth, avoiding extraction.
A well-executed root canal restores the tooth’s full function: it can keep chewing and bearing load for many years.
When root canal therapy is needed
- spontaneous or throbbing pain, especially at night;
- prolonged sensitivity to heat or cold;
- pain on chewing or recurring abscesses;
- deep decay or trauma that has exposed the pulp.
Sometimes the pulp is damaged silently, without symptoms — one more reason why routine X-rays play an essential role in diagnosis.
How the treatment works
Root canal therapy involves removing the damaged pulp, cleaning and shaping the root canals, and sealing them three-dimensionally so bacteria cannot recolonise them. It is high-precision work on structures a fraction of a millimetre wide: we work with an operating microscope and high-performance magnification and lighting systems, modern instruments and rubber dam isolation, an essential condition for a reliable result. In canals often thinner than a millimetre, seeing better means treating more completely.
During the treatment there is no pain thanks to local anaesthesia; mild tenderness in the following days is normal and easily managed with a common painkiller.
At COBE Dental, endodontics is led by Dr. Sherry Bloomfield, who specialised in Endodontics at Boston University under Professor Herbert Schilder, one of the fathers of modern endodontics.
Retreatments and after the therapy
Even a tooth that has already had a root canal can fall ill again if the original seal is no longer adequate: in many cases endodontic retreatment resolves the infection and saves the tooth once more. After root canal therapy the tooth must be protected with an appropriate restoration, often an inlay or a crown, because a root-treated tooth is more fragile than a vital one. We choose between an inlay and a crown according to the extent of the damage: when the remaining structure allows it, an inlay preserves more healthy tooth tissue.