When a tooth becomes infected, treatment is crucial to avoid the loss of the tooth and the spread of infection to other teeth or even into your jaw. To treat the issue and preserve the tooth, while also safeguarding your smile as a whole, your Woodland Hills, CA, dentist can provide an endodontic treatment known as a root canal.

The Risks of an Infected Tooth

At the center of each tooth is a collection of living tissues known as the pulp. This keeps your tooth healthy and functional. A dental infection means that harmful oral bacteria has made contact with the pulp, usually through an untreated cavity or as a result of a cracked or chipped tooth. Without treatment, the infection could grow more severe until the pulp essentially dies, which kills the tooth. The tooth then needs to be extracted to prevent the spread of infection to other parts of the smile. That’s why a root canal is so necessary once you start to experience symptoms, such as sensitive teeth, toothaches, headaches, migraines, and swelling near the tooth or a discharge from it.

Ensuring Your Comfort

We always strive to keep our patients calm and comfortable during treatment, which is why we always administer a local anesthetic. Instead of using needles, we opt for Single Tooth Anesthesia, which is controlled and administered via computer to offer a comfortable means of numbing the tooth. We can then control and adjust the anesthesia as necessary to keep you comfortable throughout the procedure. When you’re comfortable, we move forward with the endodontic treatment.

The Endodontic Procedure

Once you’re ready, we will open the tooth to remove the tissues from within. Once we do, we thoroughly clean the interior of the tooth and the root canals. The next step involves adding a special restorative material to the interior of the tooth. Finally, we will cap the tooth with a custom-made dental crown, one that protects the tooth and also blends with the smile seamlessly. This helps to discomfort and prevents the spread of infection to other parts of the smile

To protect your smile moving forward, be sure you brush and floss daily, cut back on sugary foods and drinks, and make time to see our team for a checkup and cleaning visit every six months too. This helps fight cavities and infection, so you continue to enjoy a whole, healthy, and beautiful smile for years to come.

Your Woodland Hills, CA Dentist Provides Endodontic Care

We would like to help you enjoy good oral health, and that sometimes means removing a tooth. If you would like to learn more about our endodontic treatments and anesthesia delivery systems, then contact your Woodland Hills, CA dentist, Dr. Naminik, by calling 818-347-5124.