TYPICALLY A SAME DAY PROCEDURE.
COST IS BASED ON FOR A ROOT CANAL WITHOUT AN ABSCESS.
You may need a root canal if:
- Your tooth will be sensitive to biting pressure and may even appear to feel loose. This feeling is a result of the sensitivity of nerve endings in the tissue just outside of the end of the root.
- Occasionally, a small “bubble” or “pimple” will appear on the gum tissue within a few days after completion of a root canal. This represents the release of pressure and bacteria which no longer can be sustained around the tooth. This should disappear within a few days.
After the procedure
- Please ask dentist if you need to take an anti-biotic.
- We recommend you take something for pain-relief within one hour of leaving our office, to get the medication into your blood system before the anesthesia we administered begins to subside. Generally, only one dose is needed.
- Follow the recommended antibiotic treatment recommended by your dentist.
- Whenever possible, try to chew on the opposite side from the tooth we have just treated, until you have a crown placed, or until the access area is restored. Until that time, your tooth still is weakened and could fracture.
- Please avoid chewing gum, caramels, or other sticky, soft candy, which could dislodge the temporary material or fracture your tooth.
- It is not uncommon for a tooth to be uncomfortable or even exhibit a dull ache immediately after receiving root canal therapy. This should subside within one week.
- Your temporary tooth (if you are getting a crown) may dislodge. You can reapply the temporary by using denture glue.
Root canal through an existing crown: – if the dentist determines that the crown won’t come off (or at least not easily or predictably), then they’ll have to drill the hole (access cavity) right through it to perform the treatment.
There are several. types of crown construction, and the strength characteristics of each kind will be affected differently when it is drilled through.
All-metal crowns – drilling a hole through an all-metal (gold) crown probably won’t significantly affect its overall strength characteristics.
Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns – creating an access cavity through a PFM restoration likely won’t significantly affect its overall strength either.
But doing so may affect the integrity of it’s porcelain covering (outer shell), possibly resulting in chipping or fracture especially in the region immediately around the access cavity. (this chipping effect could compromise the integrity of a restoration placed later as a repair for the hole, see “filling placement” below.)
More extensive porcelain fracture is possible too. In some cases, this may only be of cosmetic concern. But if the loss is large enough it may present a functional problem too.
All-ceramic crowns.
In comparison to types of crowns that contain metal, the process of creating an access cavity through an all-ceramic (“porcelain”) one presents the least predictable outcome. Doing so can result in serious concern about restoration strength or damage (such as microcrack formation) that may ultimately lead to failure.
Just as with PFM crowns, ceramic chipping immediately around the access cavity itself is commonplace
Please call us if:
- You are experiencing symptoms more intense or of longer duration than those described above.
- You encounter significant post-operative swelling.
- The temporary material feels “high” when biting.
- Your tooth fractures.