Root canal treatment: What's it purpose? What does it do?
You might find yourself in this situation. You know your tooth needs root canal treatment. You do understand that it offers a way of saving your tooth. But you don't really understand how it does that.
Well, that's the purpose of this page. It explains the purpose of root canal treatment, its goals and objectives.
What does having root canal treatment accomplish?
In a nutshell, root canal therapy (endodontic therapy) ...
- Removes as many contaminates as possible from within a tooth's nerve space.
- Involves filling in and sealing off this space so contaminates can't continue to leak in, or out.
1) About the cleaning aspect of endodontic therapy.
Root canal treatment can be used to resolve many different types of nerve-related tooth problems. For example, this same fix is used when a tooth's nerve tissue is acutely inflamed, dying or even dead.
And although each of these conditions seem to be different, what they all have in common is that they involve (or will involve) a situation where the tooth's nerve space contains contaminates that will ultimately leak out of the tooth's root tip and persistently irritate (inflame) the tissues that surround it.
So, the purpose of the cleaning aspect of root canal therapy, is to remove as many of these irritants (or items that will degrade into irritants) as possible. These items include bacteria, nerve tissue, the organic debris left over from the breakdown of nerve tissue, and bacterial toxins.
About the sealing goals of endodontic therapy.
The filling process associated with root canal treatment has to do with filling in and sealing off the, now empty, nerve space inside the tooth. Related to this goal, there are two objectives.
One of them is for the filling material to create a seal (down at the root's tip) that prevents contaminates from seeping back into the tooth. Certainly, once a tooth has been cleansed, you don't want it to become recontaminated.
The other goal is just the opposite. You also don't want any irritants still contained in the tooth to seep out.
Root canal anatomy can be quite complex.
Root canals don't have a precise shape like we show them in our illustrations. Portions of a canal can be more like what you see with a river, where there is a main channel but also little side branches that leave and return to the main stream.
Our point here is, even after the most diligent of efforts, it is likely that some debris remains left behind. So, the sealing process must help to insure that these contaminates remain entombed within the tooth and don't seep out to inflame the tissues that surround the root.
[ A different but similar tooth-seal consideration involves the process of coronal leakage. It is prevent by the placement of a proper dental restoration after root canal treatment and not so much by the treatment itself. ]
Why are contaminates inside a tooth such a big issue?
Here's the purpose of going to all of the trouble to clean and seal the interior of a tooth.
Imagine that your finger is infected, like from a cut. If it is, your body's immune system will immediately kick into gear. It will transport white blood cells, by way of your blood and lymphatic vessels, to and from the infected area to combat the invading bacteria. And, in most cases, these cells will win. They will kill off the offending bacteria.
Infections in teeth are a different situation.
Now, consider a similar scenario with a tooth. Once a tooth's nerve tissue has started to degenerate (die), and bacteria have taken up residence inside the tooth's nerve area, there is no effective way for white blood cells to get at the bacteria to combat them. The blood and lymphatic vessels that are needed to transport the white blood cells either no longer exist, or at least have been severely compromised.
This means that the nerve space inside a tooth can provide a nice cozy cave-like location for bacteria to live because it's a place where your body's defense mechanisms can't effectively get at them.
With this scenario, at best your body will only be able to cordon off the infection caused by the bacteria living inside your tooth. At worst, this bacterial infection will overwhelm your body's defense mechanisms and pain and swelling will ensue (an acute tooth abscess).
So, here's the purpose of root canal treatment.
Endodontic therapy provides for a third outcome, one where the infection is not just controlled but cleared up. It assists and helps to complete the infection-fighting process started by your body by removing the bacteria and tissue irritants that it can't reach.
