Can someone explain exactly what a root canal is and why it has to be done?

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Answers:
Well at least the previous three. adress the need to clean out the roots of the tooth. But what they don't say is that the quality of a root canal has to do with the dentist, his equipment, and his specialty. Since your'e getting a root canal youwill need a crown. BAM thats expensive your talking at least minimum $1000.00 in treatment. That's if you shop around for the cheapest whore in town, (so to speak). I say if your treating your teeth don't discount them. Would you put in the cheapest heart valve in your heart. Why would you do that to your teeth

If it's a front tooth then your'e pretty safe.

If you're dealing with a back tooth and you have decayed tooth. Your'e probably not the most reliable dental patient. I say pay the extra $200 - 300 dollars and have a specialist do the root canal. Why risk having an early failure and having to redo the root canal in five years because your'e pinching pennies now, You can end up spending it all over again in 5 years. It's not cost effective. Do it right the first time, it will get done faster and have better odds. Plus some specialist in root canals charge you once and will rework the root canal if you have pain in the following weeks, until it heals.

Good luck

Other Answers:
Root canal therapy refers to the process by which a dentist treats the inner aspects of a tooth, specifically that area inside a tooth that is occupied by its "pulp tissue." Most people would probably refer to a tooth's pulp tissue as its "nerve." While a tooth's pulp tissue does contain nerve fibers it is also composed of arteries, veins, lymph vessels, and connective tissue..

A root canal, coupled with internal tooth bleaching, is also used to fix teeth that have blackened due to infiltration of decayed soft tissue into the dentin in the teeth, most often seen in frontal incisors that have been injured through a sudden impact.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_canal
http://www.animated-teeth.com/root_canal/t1_root_canal.htm

A root canal is a procedure to remove the nerve endings that lay within the tooth itself. Don't worry, the procedure is completely harmless, and you probably won't even feel the lidocaine needle being put into your gums -- I didn't.

Anyway, when the decay from a cavity eats away too much of the dentin inside your tooth and breaks through into the nerve area (pulp) it causes a lot of pain and cannot be fixed with just a filling. The decay has to be drilled out and the nerve removed from the tooth.

They will then fill this in and place a permanent cap on your tooth.

Again, it's a completely painless procedure. I nearly fell asleep while they were working on my tooth!

I was told its where they 'clean' out the roots in your teeth or something along that line. I'm not sure why it has to be done though. Sorry. :(
Source(s):
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Root canals, from what I understand, are the result of decay within a given tooth that effect the nerve. In my case, I had a cavity that was really deep and even after I had a filling put in it continued to decay almost all the way to the jaw bone.

The explanation that I got from the dentist is that the nerve of my tooth had died and it needed to be removed as well as the decay and infection inside of my tooth.

Basically what he did was go inside my tooth, take all of the decay out, clean the four canals of my tooth, made a mold of my real tooth and then put a temporary cap back in my tooth. After a couple of weeks the permanent cap arrived in his office and he simply took off the temporary and replaced it with the permanent cap.

As far as the operation itself, I was given a local anestetic and I was awake through the whole thing. I felt no pain at all and I even drove home from the dentist's office.

I've had two root canal operations, one without dental insurance and one with it, and it can be very expensive. When I had it done without insurance the whole procedure, including the permanent cap, cost about $1,300. Believe me it was not fun to have to pay that but you need to have this operation done.

If you wait too long the tooth can become infected, like mine did, and it can spread to other parts of your body and cause serious complications. I waited about two and a half years before I finally had my second root canal done.

Good luck.
Source(s):
Personal Experience.

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Can someone explain exactly what a root canal is and why it has to be done?

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