Root Canal Therapy, or root treatment, is a dental procedure whereby the nerve and all other living tissue is removed from within the tooth and replaced by a rubber filling. The treatment may be performed to alleviate dental pain or to treat a dead and infected tooth, which would otherwise require extraction.

The living part of a tooth may become irreversibly inflamed, or die, due to bacterial infection or trauma. We normally perform root treatment over at least two visits, so multiple appointments are necessary. We choose to perform our treatment over two visits as studies show there is a slight improvement in success rate and there is a considerable reduction in pain felt following the procedure. Under special circumstances root treatment may be completed in one appointment. Root treatment is always performed using rubber dam, a special barrier that isolates the tooth from the rest of the mouth, preventing re-infection from the saliva.

For more information on rubber dam see the rubber dam section below.

Root canal treatment is one of the most complex areas of dentistry and is something that requires time, high quality materials and modern techniques to achieve the best possible success rates. The British Endodontic Society states that a success rate of up to 90% can be expected if no complications are encountered during treatment.

Rubber dam is a special sheet of non-latex rubber that is attached to a tooth, or teeth, with a special clip. The sheet of rubber is attached to a frame, which is positioned outside the mouth. Rubber dam is used to isolate the tooth or teeth being worked on from the rest of your mouth. This may be done to prevent saliva contamination, to prevent potentially damaging fluids from entering the mouth or if small and potentially hazardous instruments are being used. Rubber dam will be routinely used during root canal therapy and often during the placement of white fillings.