If you have an injury to the mouth or develop a deep cavity, root canal therapy can stop the pain, prevent the infection from spreading, and preserve your permanent tooth. At Calm Spring Dental, our highly skilled Dentist Obinna Ejike, DDS, and the team boast years of experience performing root canal therapy. The procedure is quick, effective, and virtually pain-free. To make an appointment, call the office in San Antonio, Texas, or book online today.
Root canal therapy is an outpatient procedure designed to save your natural tooth. During treatment, we carefully remove the soft center of your tooth called the pulp. Then, we fill it with a material called gutta-percha and cap it with a dental crown.
At Calm Spring Dental, we perform root canal therapy to treat injured, infected, or inflamed tooth pulp. Common causes of pulp damage include:
If you experience symptoms like tooth pain, swelling, or sensitivity to hot or cold, contact Calm Spring Dental immediately.
At Calm Spring Dental, undergoing root canal therapy takes one or two visits.
Before recommending root canal therapy, we review your dental records, ask about your symptoms, and conduct an oral exam. We also take X-rays to assess the pulp in your affected tooth.
If we confirm that you have infected, damaged, or inflamed tooth pulp, we numb your mouth with an anesthetic. Then, we use special tools to carefully remove the pulp.
After removing the pulp, we clean and sterilize the center of your tooth and fill it with a material called gutta-percha. When the gutta-percha dries, we take impressions of your tooth and cover it with a temporary crown.
Lastly, we send your impressions to a nearby dental lab. Technicians at the lab use your impressions to manufacture a custom crown.
A week later, when the lab finishes your crown, you return to Calm Spring Dental, we remove the temporary crown, and replace it with the permanent one.
After root canal therapy, you may experience swelling, tooth pain, and increased sensitivity. We recommend taking it easy for at least 24 hours and drinking lots of water. You can also take over-the-counter pain medication or apply a bag of ice to your cheek.
We recommend eating only soft foods for the first 48 hours. Continue to brush and floss as normal, but be very gentle around your treated tooth.
To see if you are a candidate for root canal therapy, make an appointment at Calm Spring Dental by calling the office or booking online today.