Root Canal Therapy is an excellent and common treatment if a nerve in your tooth is damaged for any reason. Contrary to common perception, Root Canal Therapy does not have to be an uncomfortable experience. Causes of nerve damage include tooth decay, broken teeth, large filling, crown prep towards the nerve, or trauma. Once the nerve can no longer heal itself, Root Canal therapy may be the only treatment option available to save the tooth from extraction.
Once the nerve dies bacteria may infect the canals inside the tooth that the nerve occupies.

Multiplying bacteria can overflow the canals. Your body fights off the invasion. This tiny battle may cause many self casualties that can result into an abscess. The nerve depth and buildup of pressure in the abscess can result in pain and can push the tooth lightly out of the socket. The body cannot clean the bacteria out of the canals by itself. Root Canal Therapy thoroughly cleans the canals of irritating bacteria using a cleaning instrument. The canals are filled with a sealing material and a temporary filling is placed on top and the cleaning and filling have now been done. The infected area usually heals quickly. There may be some discomfort for a few days before the area feels normal again.

The next step is to permanently fix the tooth by replacing the temporary with a permanent filling called the core. In finalizing this procedure it may be necessary to install posts into the canals to support and strengthen the core. Finally, a crown covers the entire area to provide a protective shell for the tooth. The final steps must be completed otherwise the tooth treated with the root canal may need to be extracted because of tooth decay or a fracture. Root canal therapy could save a tooth that would otherwise have to be extracted. Though costly, root canal therapy could be much less expensive in the future than other treatment options available to replace a lost tooth. Provided that the root canal therapy is successful and follow-up repairs are completed a root canal treated tooth can provide many years of service.