Root Canal

Root canals have a bad reputation, but really, they’re just misunderstood. A root canal actually alleviates you of a great deal of pain and enables you to avoid an extraction to save your infected or damaged tooth. Farah Ahmad, DDS, Sumra Ahmad, DDS, and Saira Ahmad, DDS, provide safe, effective, and gentle root canals for their patients at Smile Dental Clinic in Falls Church and Herndon, Virginia. To learn more about how Smile Dental Clinic can improve your smile with a root canal, call the office or book a visit online today.

What is a root canal?

A root canal is a procedure that the Smile Dental Clinic dentists perform to treat a damaged or infected tooth without having to extract it from your smile.

Root canals involve removing the damaged, decayed, or infected pulp from within your tooth. Your pulp is soft tissue inside your tooth that contains blood vessels and nerve fibers. When your pulp is damaged or infected, it swells, which pinches the nerves within and causes a ton of pain. 

By removing your troublesome pulp, your dentist alleviates your pain and saves your tooth from further damage. 

Do I need a root canal?

If you have damaged or infected tooth pulp, you probably need a root canal. Some of the symptoms of the damaged or infected pulp include:

• Intense toothache
• Increased sensitivity to hot and cold in your tooth
• Darkened or discolored tooth
• A chronic bad taste in your mouth
• Tenderness or swelling in your gums
• A small pimple on your gums

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, schedule a visit with Smile Dental Clinic immediately. 

Do I really need a root canal?

A damaged or infected tooth doesn’t clear up on its own, and delaying treatment is only going to make things worse. Your damaged or infected tooth can even lead to:

• Swelling in your face, neck, or head
• Tooth loss
• Infection of nearby teeth, gums, or jawbone

In some rare cases, the infection in your tooth can even spread to your bloodstream, causing sepsis.

What should I expect from my root canal?

Unlike what you’ve seen in movies and TV shows, root canals are actually a quick and easy procedure that is not only painless but will actually alleviate a great deal of pain.

First, your Smile Dental Clinic dentist numbs your tooth with a local anesthetic and protects the rest of your mouth with a rubber sheet called a dental dam. Next, they drill a small access hole in the top of your tooth and use a series of tiny files to remove the diseased pulp from within. Even if you weren’t anesthetized, this part of the procedure wouldn’t cause you any pain because the pulp tissue that they remove is already dead!

Your dentist then cleans and sterilizes your pulpal chamber and canals, and sometimes places a metal or plastic rod inside your tooth to retain its structure. They fill the inside of your tooth with a rubbery compound called gutta-percha, then seal the access hole in the top of your tooth with a dental filling.

They finish off the whole procedure by fitting you with a dental crown in order to restore the strength and function of your tooth.

Don’t let your tooth get any worse than it needs to. Schedule your root canal today by calling the office or booking a visit online.