Root Fillings
Root filling or endodontic therapy is generally needed to “save” a tooth when the nerve in the middle of the tooth is causing a great deal of pain or has become infected by bacteria causing pus to escape the tooth into the bone at the tip of the root.
Root filling is a sequence of treatments for the pulp of a tooth which results in the elimination of infection and protection of the decontaminated tooth from future bacterial invasion. Root canals and their associated pulp chamber are the physical hollows (or tubes) within a tooth that are naturally inhabited by nerve tissue, blood vessels and other cellular entities.
Endodontic therapy involves the removal of these structures, the subsequent cleaning, shaping, and decontamination of the hollows within the root canal, with tiny files and irrigating solutions, and the filling of the decontaminated canals with an inert filling such as gutta percha and typically a eugenol-based cement. Below the root canal filled teeth you can see the difference between a root filled tooth and an infected unfilled tooth.
After successful root filling, the tooth is often very brittle & liable to fracturing. Often a dental crown is indicated to strengthen the brittle cusps left on the tooth. Please note that root fillings have a 75-90% success rate.
All our Dentists provide root fillings & crowns. If you are interested in same day crowns please book in with Andrea
Is it possible to lighten a ‘dead’ discoloured tooth?
Yes. This process involves placing a lightening agent into the body of the “dead” root filled tooth for 7 days. This process is often very successful making further cosmetic work unnecessary. The photo below shows a slightly yellow chipped central incisor. If you hover your mouse over the image you will see that this tooth started life a lot darker after discolouring when it became non vital. Our plan here was to place a on the tooth after internal tooth lightening but the patient was so happy with the improved appearance she opted to not proceed with the veneer.
