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Root Canal Treatment in Annapolis MD

Root Canal Treatment in Annapolis MD

Root Canal Treatment in Annapolis MD

  • Root Canal Pain: A Thing of the Past

    What you’ve heard about root canals was, at one time, very true. They hurt. A lot. Whenever you’re drilling into an area occupied by a nerve and connected to more nerves, pain is a very real possibility. But root canals have come a long way over 2,000 years. That’s right. 2,000. In 1985, archaeologists found the skull of an ancient soldier, dating to the 2nd or 3rd century BC, that showed signs of having been treated for a problem inside a tooth (probably by a Roman doctor). There was a piece of wire running through the inside of the root. 

     

    Odds are very good that placing that wire was a very unpleasant experience. Fast-forward 17 or 18 centuries and you’d find dentists using specialized tools and techniques that probably made for faster inner-tooth treatment but probably left a lot to be desired in terms of comfort. All throughout those many centuries, there also weren’t many safeguards against infection, which made root canals risky, as well as painful.

     

    Once the 20th century rolled around with anesthetics to numb pain and x-rays to help dentists better see the areas being treated, root canals went on a major upswing in terms of both safety and comfort. In fact, there is an entire specialty in endodontics being practice today that whomever put that wire in that ancient soldier’s tooth probably couldn’t have imagined!

What is a root canal, anyway? It’s what we call an “endodontic” (inside the tooth) procedure. Think of it as internal medicine for teeth.


Most dental treatments (repairing the effects of tooth decay with a filling, for example) deal with the surface of teeth (the enamel) and the layer just below that (the dentin). But there is a third layer to every tooth—an inner core, called the “pulp” where you’ll find blood vessels and nerve tissue that run down through the roots of the tooth.


When that inner core is opened up and exposed (by advanced tooth decay or a broken tooth, for instance) pulp tissue can become infected. When those infections occur, a root canal is usually the best way of dealing with them.


During a root canal, the tooth is drilled until the inner core of the tooth is reached. The infected tissue inside the tooth is removed, the inside of the tooth is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and then filled with a material that fills the empty space, reinforcing the inner tooth. 


The point of entry for the root canal is then sealed, to protect the area until a dental cap can be prepared and placed over the sealed opening.


If you’re looking for information on root canals in Annapolis, look no further than Aria Dental. We’ll be happy to evaluate your need for a root canal and discuss the entire procedure with you in detail.

Root canals are very common procedures that can produce an uncommon amount of angst among people. One big reason for that, in our opinion, is that a lot of people still think of dentistry the way it was thought of many, many years ago. With contemporary pain management methods, even the amount of drilling involved in a root canal can be handled with a minimum of discomfort.

Suffering Tooth Pain? Contact Us Today

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Contact Us Today!

We love to hear from you, we are now open on weekends!

(By appointment only)

We will get back to you

 as soon as possible

Office Hours

Mon - Thu
-
Friday
-
Sat - Sun
Closed

Request An Appointment

Root Canal Treatment

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