Reproduced with permission from the
American Association of Endodontists

Nerves and blood vessels in the centre of your tooth form a soft tissue called the dental pulp.  During tooth development, this soft pulp tissue creates the hard tissues of the tooth— the dentin and enamel.  After a tooth is completely formed, the pulp remains in tunnels or canals located in the very centre of the tooth and root.

Throughout your life, dental pulp serves two important functions:

1. It enables you to feel stimulus to the tooth caused by heat, cold, decay, or cracks;

2. It senses when bacteria from your mouth invade the tooth and it coordinates a defensive response against those invaders.

Reproduced with permission from the
American Association of Endodontists

Normally, the pulp defends itself against bacteria to prevent them from reaching the center of the tooth where the pulp lives.  If the pulp is damaged by trauma or if too many bacteria penetrate into the center of your tooth (usually from a deep cavity, repeated dental procedures, or a crack), the pulp becomes inflamed and eventually dies as bacteria infect the canals in the center of your tooth.  Your body then creates an abscess— a hole in the bone around the tooth root where cells from your immune system kill bacteria as they exit the root.

Root canal treatment removes the inflamed or infected tissues from the center of your tooth, allowing you to keep a tooth that would otherwise need to be removed from your jaw. If root canal treatment or removal of the tooth is not performed, the infected tooth presents a significant risk to your health caused by spreading infection. Although you may experience pain, swelling, or other signs of infection at any point during this disease process, it is more common that a person does not know this chronic disease is occurring until a problem is found during a checkup by a dentist.

Once bacteria cause extensive inflammation or infection of pulp tissue, this diseased tissue must be removed and the canals in the center of the tooth must be disinfected. Taking antibiotics or other medications cannot remove this diseased tissue nor can these medications disinfect root canals because the blood vessels that would deliver those medications to the site of infection are destroyed when bacteria infect the root canal.

• After numbing the tooth, the problem that allowed bacteria to enter the center of the tooth is corrected by removing tooth decay or cracks. If enough healthy tooth remains after this process to allow your dentist to rebuild the missing tooth structure, root canal treatment begins. An opening is made through the chewing surface of your tooth to enter the pulp chamber— the center portion of the tooth where pulp tissues from different root canals merge together. The pulp chamber and root canals are then shaped with small instruments to allow disinfectants to reach to the very tip of your root.

Once the canals and chamber are cleaned and dried, the root canals are filled with a rubber-like material and adhesive cement.  The pulp chamber and opening in the chewing surface of your tooth are then filled with a temporary filling material to protect the root canal treatment until your dentist can rebuild your tooth.

Properly performed root canal treatment decreases the number of bacteria in infected roots by more than 99% and promotes healing of infected tissues surrounding teeth that could cause serious health problems if left untreated.

Reproduced with permission from the
American Association of Endodontists

Bacterial contamination usually occurs because of a problem that developed after the initial root canal treatment:  new tooth decay, a cracked tooth, delay in properly restoring the tooth, or a broken filling.

Reproduced with permission from the
American Association of Endodontists

Bacteria can also contaminate root canals that have very complex anatomy or calcifications that were inadequately treated during the previous root canal treatment.  Due to scientific advances, an endodontist can often give your tooth a second chance by using technology and techniques that may not have been available when you had your first root canal treatment.

Reproduced with permission from the
American Association of Endodontists

After numbing the tooth, the problem that allowed bacteria to enter the center of the tooth is corrected by removing tooth decay or cracks.  If enough healthy tooth remains after this process to allow your dentist to rebuild the missing tooth structure, root canal treatment begins.  An opening is made through the chewing surface of your tooth to enter the pulp chamber— the center portion of the tooth where pulp tissues from different root canals merge together.

Reproduced with permission from the
American Association of Endodontists

Once the canals and chamber are cleaned and dried, the root canals are filled with a rubber-like material and adhesive cement.  The pulp chamber and opening in the chewing surface of your tooth are then filled with a temporary filling material to protect the root canal treatment until your dentist can rebuild your tooth.

Reproduced with permission from the
American Association of Endodontists

Properly performed root canal treatment decreases the number of bacteria in infected roots by more than 99% and promotes healing of infected tissues surrounding teeth that could cause serious health problems if left untreated