Save your teeth and protect your smile

A root canal is an effective treatment to save your tooth when an infection sets in. At Opal Dental, our dentists in West Auckland provide root canals in a safe, calm, and relaxed clinical setting. Usually, we’ll recommend using a root canal when an infection sets deep into your tooth. In a number of cases, root canals are necessary when you encounter a large crack or deep decay.

Making your root canal as comfortable as possible

At Opal Dental, we know that the idea of a root canal makes some patients nervous. It’s for this reason that we make every effort to ensure your root canal is as comfortable as possible. Your treatment will start with your dentist administering a local anaesthetic that will numb the area they’re working on. During a root canal, your dentist will remove the infected pulp of the tooth, disinfect, dress and shape the space where your tooth pulp lives. This space is then filled with rubber filling. You will then receive a filling on the tooth. A root canal is usually carried out over 2-3 appointments. We recommend protecting the root canal tooth with a crown once you have had a root canal.  A few weeks after carrying out the root canal procedure, your dentist will place a permanent crown. The end result is that you get to save your tooth and protect your smile, despite having experienced an infection.

The benefits of choosing a root canal

When your tooth begins to twinge, it’s easy to ignore the problem and hope that it goes away. If it reaches the stage where it needs a root canal, you’re saving the surrounding tissues from a severe infection. Other benefits of this approach include:

• You’ll prevent a tooth extraction
• It costs less than moving onto extensive dental work when the infection worsens
• The painful toothache and infection will be addressed
• You maintain your sense of speech and ability to chew easily

Once your procedure is over, your dentist will provide you with aftercare advice. Maintaining excellent oral hygiene standards and keeping up with your routine appointments can prevent further incidents. If you’re experiencing tooth pain and you suspect a filling or root canal is necessary, make an appointment with us. You can either use our online booking system or you can call 09 834 6359.

Kerry Faulkner