When we do dental treatement, we are working with very tiny objects. An average tooth is 7-15mm wide. The root canals in the tooth are about 0.1-0.4mm wide, comparable to the size of a pin head.

For such precision work, instead of using our normal vision, we use a specialised dental microscope that goes up to 15 times magnification. This allows us to work with more accuracy on the tiny root canals in the tooth.

After numbing the area, we access the pulp chamber and canals. The infected pulp is removed and the internal area is disinfected, including the canal(s) all the way to the root end(s). Each tooth can have different shapes and numbers of canals, and it takes time to locate and clean each canal individually. Medication is placed into the root canal system to target the infection within the root system. At the next appointment, we will fill those canals and the pulp chamber with an inert, biocompatible material, and seal it permanently with adhesive cement. The access hole will have a temporary filling to seal off the area after each visit, until the completion of the root canal procedure, where a permanent restoration such as a crown is normally required.

A root canal treatment allows you to keep your original tooth and avoid extraction, so we will always try our best to help you to keep the tooth whenever possible.

In some cases, if the tooth is severely weakened, the tooth may not be able to withstand further treatment or has a poor chance of lasting many years even with treatment. In such cases, you may want to choose tooth extraction. You can replace the tooth with a dental prostheses which is permanently fixed and appears just like a natural tooth, such as bridges, implants. You can also choose a removable option like dentures.

A tooth may be infected but not causing any pain. This is because the body’s immune system has localised the infection. However, in many cases, the infection eventually worsens and starts to cause severe pain. This happens without any warning, and it is impossible to predict when the infection will cause pain. Therefore, if an infection is detected on your x-ray or by examining the tooth, it is always best to have the root canal treatment done before the situation gets worse.