The most important thing to understand about a root canal is that it is almost 80% of the times preventable! Did you know that it takes weeks, months sometimes even years for a small cavity to develop into something so big that a root canal needs to be done.

Understanding what a root canal entails

It usually happens when you ignore small pains or sensitivity here and there. Or when you skip brushing at night because sleep is just powerful enough to not make you get up from bed, of course never powerful enough to stop you from doom scrolling though! Either way, if it does come to it- root canals are never as scary as you conjure them up to be in your mind. Your dentist will always numb your teeth, most dentists now even numb the area they will put an injection in so that you don’t feel the pain of the needle. No dentist ever proceeds unless they make sure you are absolutely comfortable first.

Another reason for fear is the sound of drills, but again its always more noise and vibrations from the drill than it is the pain. Is it always painless? No. You may feel a little more pain while drilling in which case you always get more anaesthesia, because every human body is different. And everyone’s threshold for pain is different. And so is their need for anaesthesia. In an extremely rare scenario occurs a ‘hot tooth’ in which no amount of anaesthesia eases the pain in which case, we put some medicine inside and seal it temporarily while it takes effect. It’s left for 5-7 days. Does that mean you’ll be in pain for that duration? No. It is always managed by medications – antibiotics and pain killers.

Another point to know is once you are completely numbed, the only thing you have to focus on is keep your mouth open so that the dentist can do their job, and almost more than half of the patients feel little to no pain after the first sitting, while the second sitting is usually so pain free you may not even require anaesthesia.

The procedure itself, is very straightforward (theoretically). We removed the decayed portion, and the infected pulp, clean the canals of your tooth, and fill them with a material called gutta percha. It can look like white lines in your tooth on an xray. The patient’s are usually advised to not eat from the affected side until the procedure is over, following which they are advised a crown sometimes. So there you have it- I tried my level best to articulate it in a way that is easy to understand and you should know if it has come to a point that you need a root canal, don’t worry its not AI that it could possibly be the end of the world!

Doctor's Advice & Takeaway

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Doctor's Oral Health Journal

ROOT CANALS