Root Canal Treatments

The dreaded root canal doesn’t have to be dreadful. 

At Cascadia Dental Specialists, our doctors make sure you’re comfortable and informed throughout your root canal treatment or endodontic procedure.

Root canal treatment, an endodontic treatment, involves two major steps:

• Removing infected and inflamed nerve tissue around a tooth 
• Eliminating bacteria and infection around the root canal to save your natural tooth and prevent reinfection 

Root canal procedures are common, and they definitively relieve pain and save your natural teeth. We perform root canal procedures to fix multiple issues:

• Cracked teeth
• Deep cavities
• Problems from previous fillings or dental work

During root canal treatment, we first give you anesthesia (sedation). Your endodontic specialist removes infected pulp, disinfects the inner chamber and reshapes the tooth canal. They then fill the canal with an elastic, medicated material to prevent infection until you receive a crown for sealing.

Learn more about how much a root canal may cost and the insurance providers we work with.

Book an appointment today, or contact us to learn more about our root canal treatment.

We perform root amputations to remove roots from a multirooted tooth.

Our specialists remove the infected root while preserving the healthy roots around it. As a result, we don’t need to extract part or all of your tooth. 

We generally do a root amputation before you need a root canal procedure. Root amputation prevents a broken or injured tooth from decaying, becoming infected and affecting the healthy teeth around it.

Contact us for more information about root amputation, or schedule an appointment.

An apicoectomy procedure, aka a root-end resection, is necessary when infection or inflammation appears after you have root canal treatment. 

First, we apply an anesthetic (sedation). Your endodontist opens the gum tissue to examine the underlying bone. Then, they remove any infected tissue and the end of the root. 

Finally, they place a small filling to seal your root canal and help the tissue heal. The bone heals around the root over time.

Book an appointment for an apicoectomy/root-end resection, or contact us to learn more.

With good maintenance, your root canal-treated tooth should last forever. However, a tooth sometimes heals improperly and needs retreatment so it doesn’t need extraction. 

Endodontic retreatment is an additional procedure that gives your tooth another chance and encourages proper healing.

During endodontic retreatment, your endodontist applies anesthesia and removes your current root canal’s filling materials. They then carefully examine and clean the tooth. Finally, they remove any infection, reshape the canal, replace it with new filling materials and seal it.

After you heal, we place a new crown on your tooth for protection.

We’re also ready to help with dental emergencies, including emergency root canal treatment.

Contact us for information about endodontic retreatment, or schedule an appointment today.

We try to retain your permanent teeth with endodontic surgery. 

Although endodontic surgery has a high success rate, we still may need to extract a tooth. This depends on how your body responds to the postsurgical healing process. We monitor you closely to check your postoperative healing progress.

Postoperative Care for Endodontic Surgery

Follow these instructions to heal best after endodontic surgery:

• Starting the next day, brush the rest of your teeth while staying away from the surgical site. 
• After every meal, use a warm saltwater rinse of 1 teaspoon of salt to 8 ounces of warm water. Don’t rinse too vigorously for the first few days after surgery. Continue this routine until we remove your sutures in one week. Keeping the surgical site clean is key to your healing process. 
• Keep your tongue and fingers away from the surgical site. 
• Don’t pull on the cheek or tissue around the surgical site. The tissue is regenerating, so leave it alone for ideal healing.
• Don’t consume hot, spicy or acidic foods and drinks for the first couple days. 
• Don’t eat foods with nuts, seeds and berries because they may get stuck in your sutures and tissue.
• Eat cooler foods for the first two days after surgery to reduce inflammation and bruising.
• Remember that bruising or swelling may occur. You’re most likely to see inflammation at 36 hours after surgery, which causes most of your discomfort. 
• Take 600 milligrams of ibuprofen every six hours for the next three days. Don’t take more than 2,400 milligrams in 24 hours. Ibuprofen helps control inflammation and the discomfort it causes.
• Intermittently place a cold compress on your face over the surgical site for the next 48 hours to minimize inflammation. Apply the compress 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off.
• Starting on day three, periodically place a warm compress on your face over the surgical site to help blood circulate and minimize bruising.

Further Guidelines

We may use dissolvable sutures during endodontic surgery. 

If a dissolvable suture comes out or becomes loose, don’t be alarmed. We’ll look at your healing progress during your one-week post-op visit and remove remaining sutures. 

We may prescribe you an antibiotic after endodontic surgery or root canal treatments. Please start taking your antibiotic as directed ASAP until you’ve finished the entire course. Don’t stop taking your antibiotics when you feel better — this leads to antibiotic resistance. 

We recommend eating before taking antibiotics because they may irritate your stomach.

Do you have questions about our root canal treatments and endodontic surgery? Contact us for answers, or schedule an appointment now.