Dr. Wooddell and Dr. Passaro are dedicated to helping patients maintain their oral health for a lifetime, and that includes making every effort to preserve the natural teeth and tooth structure when treating a dental problem or restoring your smile. From tooth bonding to dental crowns, we will use all possible tools to save a natural tooth if an extraction can be avoided.
A root canal is one of those tools for saving a natural tooth and maintaining the structure of your smile. Although it has earned a reputation for being a treatment that makes a patient cringe, thanks to many advances in dental technique and materials, it is often no more uncomfortable than a dental filling. In many cases, once the infection has been removed from the interior chamber of the tooth, patients experience relief from discomfort or pain.
Drs. Wooddell and Passaro have developed an interdisciplinary approach to dental care and often work with a local endodontist to coordinate your care when a root canal is needed. Our goal is to ensure that our patients receive the highest standard of care for their dental health needs and we have developed a team of local specialists to achieve this.
Once it is determined that a root canal is necessary to restore your dental health, Drs. Wooddell and Passaro will work with you to coordinate care with a local specialist.
The root canal procedure itself is often completed in a single visit using a local anesthetic for your comfort. The dentist performing your procedure will create a tiny hole in the back of the tooth. The infected tooth pulp will be carefully removed and the interior pulp chamber will be cleaned out. A biocompatible material is placed back into the space and then sealed to prevent future infection.
In many cases, the subsequent placement of a dental crown is recommended to improve the structural integrity of the tooth and support a lasting result.