Endodontics (Root Canal Therapy)

When is a Root Canal Therapy needed?

Sleep disruption caused by toothache or a tooth, which is very sensitive to temperature stimuli and aches radiatingly, are often a sign of tooth damage due to bacteria and caries. The tooth pulp inflames and thus tries to get rid of the intruders, mostly without success: a root canal therapy is required.

What is being done in modern Root Canal Therapy?

It is not an easy way: the process can only be successful with a love for (root) details and the consequential expenditure of time, combined with high-tech instruments. Supported by magnifying glasses and electrometric longimetry, as well as digital x-raying, it is possible to "get on the track" to the bacteria.
After establishing an access to the tooth, the canal systems are being inspected by using a system of magnifying glasses, since “one can only treat what one can see”. Some of the entrances are just the size of the tip of a pin. Without magnifying glasses, the dentist often has to solely rely on his tactile sensations.
Failure is then inevitable.
The length of the canals is being determined in accordance with the modern method both electrometrically, as well as by digital x-ray photographs. Previously, x-ray photographs were the only possibility of a dentist for conducting root longimetry.
Today, it is possible to determine the tooth length more precisely with so called endometric devices, which determine the root end location through a resistance measurement. This approach increases the probability for success considerably. After the root canal length has been determined, the canal systems are being processed (cleansed and enlarged) and disinfected by means of long and intensive rinsing.
In modern endodontics, this processing is done by torque restricted micro engines and very flexible special files, instead of by hand with inflexible steel files. The risk of fractures due to the use of instruments and root perforation can thus be considerably reduced.

The end of a complex root canal therapy is always marked by a so called root canal filling. It closes the cleansed root canals so that bacteria cannot enter and thus protects them from being intruded by new, harmful germs. The actual filling material is called gutta-percha, which is a natural rubber derivative.

<< back