Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Root Canal Treatment

A root canal in Brentwood, TN, is your dentist's procedure to save an otherwise endangered tooth. This level of damage can have multiple causes; extensive decay or cavities, fractures, large chips, and wear that have impacted a tooth's internal structure. When this happens, bacteria that live in your mouth may infect your tooth.

While root canal therapy is often associated with pain, it's not an inherently painful procedure. Instead, the infection growing inside the tooth causes significant pain, and the root canal treatment will resolve that pain.

Root Canal Treatment Complete in Two Appointments

Your dentist at Sullivan Dental Partners will perform the majority of root canal therapy on the first visit. The procedure begins with numbing your tooth, then your dentist removes all the infection and shapes your remaining tooth to support the dental crown. Finally, to ensure no further infection can grow, your dentist will seal the tooth entirely.

After around two weeks of healing time, the second appointment will be when your dentist installs your permanent dental crown, tooth-like look and feel. With proper care and maintenance, a new dental crown can last a decade or longer.

Root Canal Therapy in Brentwood, TN

You can find relief from the pain caused by tooth damage and decay through root canal treatment. We encourage you to give Sullivan Dental Partners a call and save a tooth today.

A root canal or "endodontic" treatment basically restores your painful or infected tooth back to health.  Basically, a tooth is hollow, kind of like a drinking straw.  Inside this hollow space (the root canal) is where the nerves, blood vessels, and other "stuff" is located.  Outside of the tooth, our mouths have bacteria that naturally live there.  However, if these bacteria enter the root canal either through a cavity or a crack in the tooth, the nerve can die and the tooth will require a root canal treatment.

Root Canal Process

Root canals are not painful...some patients may remember a painful tooth that needed a root canal, but the actual procedure takes the pain away.  Many patients actually take a nap during the root canal!  During the procedure, the tooth is numbed, any cavity is cleaned up, and access is gained to the hollow "root canal" space of the tooth.  Then we thoroughly clean that hollow space, dry it, and seal it.

After a root canal, many teeth will need a full-coverage crown as soon as possible for protection against cracking, as the tooth is now more brittle and fragile than before the root canal procedure.

Please give us a call if we can be of any help!

We know that dental treatments can cause anxiety for many patients, and our priority is getting you the important care you need. If you experience dental phobia, we can offer anxiety-reducing medications.

It is very common to be afraid of visiting the dentist. In fact, it’s a problem that affects millions of people. Sometimes the fear may be so overwhelming that you’re tempted to put off important treatments designed to protect your oral health.

Reduce Dental Anxiety

Of course, you already know that avoiding treatment only postpones the inevitable. But we need to find a way to help reduce your anxiety, and that’s why we offer anxiolysis options.

Sedation Options

When we use anxiolysis medications, you will not go to sleep. You will just feel very calm and a little drowsy. Many of our patients tell us that, after treatment, they don’t really remember what was going on around them.  Because of the drowsy effects most patients will feel, we require these patients to have someone drive them home after the appointment.  The effects wear off fairly quickly, but can vary from person to person from almost immediately after treatment to a few hours later.

Please don’t put off dental treatment because of your anxiety. We will be happy to explain more about the benefits of anxiolysis at your next visit. Please call our Birmingham dental office to schedule an appointment.