Restore Your Health and Comfort with Root Canal Therapy

Root canal therapy can restore health to an infected tooth, avoiding the need for extraction. Additionally, modern root canal treatment is precise, efficient, and with our advanced in-office CEREC® milling system, root canal and all-ceramic crown can often be completed in just one visit. We are advocates of root canal therapy at our Corpus Christi, TX, dental practice, as our dentists, Drs. Nicholas Perry Orchard and Alejandro Vilamil, believe in conservative treatment. Contact our practice to learn more and schedule an appointment today.

How Teeth Become Infected

A cavity or crack in a tooth may be treatable with a filling or crown. However, if the damage has penetrated the tooth’s enamel and dentin, and extends into the canal that contains the tooth’s nerve and pulp, root canal therapy may be the best treatment option.

A healthy tooth’s root canal contains soft tissue, including the tooth’s nerve. When exposed to bacteria, the tissues in the canal become infected. Over time, the bacteria reproduce and cause significant pressure inside the tooth, so an acute toothache is a common symptom of internal tooth infection. If left untreated, the bacteria in the tooth’s root canal can kill the nerve and living tissues inside the tooth. Additionally, if the tooth is not treated or extracted, the patient risks infection being introduced into the bloodstream. This can cause a host of health problems. If a dentist identifies internal infection before it spreads, the tooth may benefit from root canal therapy. This treatment option can restore your oral health and prevent the need for extraction.

What to Expect at Your Appointment

You will attend a checkup for diagnosis before we schedule your root canal. If Drs. Orchard and Vilamil determine that root canal treatment is right for you, you will have an opportunity to ask questions, review your X-ray images with the dentist, and discuss all treatment options prior to scheduling the procedure.

At your root canal appointment, rest assured that we will keep you comfortable throughout your visit. Often, the entire procedure is completed in one appointment that lasts only a few hours. If you are especially anxious, we can also perform treatment while you are under mild sedation. During treatment, Drs. Orchard and Vilamil will drill a small hole in the tooth to access the root canal. Your dentist will remove infected tissue, insert a substance into the cleaned canal to prevent further infection, and seal the tooth with a crown.

In some cases, root canal treatment can be quite complicated. We refer complex root canal treatment to an endodontist who has advanced training in these types of procedures.

Contact Our Practice Today

Just like medical doctors, dentists apply their training, experience, and professional opinion when diagnosing and planning treatment for any dental condition. If you have been informed that you need to have an infected tooth extracted, or you are suffering from symptoms that indicate infection, we are happy to evaluate your oral health, explain our findings, and recommend treatment. Schedule an appointment today to learn more.