Root Canal Therapy

Aspen's view is to save every tooth possible, since removing a tooth and leaving a space will cause problems for the remaining teeth. To understand root canal therapy, one needs to understand the construction of a tooth. A tooth is composed of the outer hard calcified part, which is the visible part of the tooth. Underlying that is the tooth's pulp tissue, which most people think of as the "nerve". This pulp tissue is not only composed of nerve fibers, but also of arteries, veins, lymph vessels, and connective tissue. The pulp tissue enters the calcified part of the tooth more or less at the tip of its root. From this point the pulp tissue runs through the center of the root in small root canals which subsequently join up with the tooth's pulp chamber which is located more or less in the center of the tooth.

Although the pulp tissue plays an important role during the growth and development of a tooth, once a tooth has finished maturing the pulp tissue's only function is to sense temperature. So on a practical level, it does not much matter if a mature tooth has live pulp tissue or not.

When an infection occurs in the pulp tissue, usually due to a cavity in the hard outer part, bacteria causes the pulp tissue to degenerate, including the blood vessels. Without blood vessels, the body's main mechanism for fighting infection, the white blood cells, have no way of being delivered. The bacteria have a nice isolated spot in which to multiply, causing inflammation and pain in the surrounding tissue. At worst, an acute abscess can occur which may require surgery.

Root canal therapy treats the infection by removing the infected pulp tissue and the resulting organic debris. The resulting space is then filled and sealed off. This seems extreme, but at Aspen Dental Group we believe in profound anesthesia, so it's not a big deal anymore.  Root canal therapy is highly effective at saving teeth.

Aspen recommends regular checkups as the best way to prevent the need for root canal therapy.