What should my root canal look like?

What is my root canal supposed to loo like when it's done?

Ask your dentist to show you the before and after pictures.

Here is a case that I did last week. 

The tooth on the left needs a root canal. 

The black line running through the middle of the tooth

represents the "canal" that runs through the middle of the "root".

Thus a "root" "canal".

In order for a root canal to have the best chance of succeeding

the ENTIRE canal needs to be cleaned out. 

Meaning 360 degrees and all the way to the end of the root.

Below you will see the finished product.

Now, is this "perfect"? 

I am not saying that. I am sure there is always room for improvement.

But, I do like what I see here.

The filling material is all the way to the end of the root. 

There is even just a little out the end, which is great 

(if it weren't do you think I would put it out there for the world to see)?

The filled canal also looks a tad larger then the original, which 

shows that cleaning and shaping took place.

The final filling also has no large voids in it. 

Now some of this may be total Greek to some of you. 

But the take home point is to make sure that the filling material

looks solid and that it is all the way to the end of the tooth.

It is your right, as a patient, to see the after pictures of any procedure. 

Take control of your own health. 

Make sure you are happy with your results. 

Dr Ellis Website

Dr Ellis on Facebook

Dr Ellis on Twitter

One tooth shorter then the other?

Toddlers will fall.

That is just a fact of life.

They go running down the sidewalk and then some unseen force

will give them a big push from the back and down they go.

Hopefully when this happens they catch themselves with their hands.

If they don't however, they will end up catching themselves with their

forehead, noses, or teeth.

If they catch themselves with their teeth then several things can happen.

#1 They can get knocked out.

#2 They can break.

#3 They can actually get knocked back into the jaw.

It is this third option that I will talk of briefly.

When a child gets an upper front tooth pushed back into

the jaw from where it came it is called an intrusion. 

This is, typically, not a big deal.

The baby teeth should fall out right on schedule.

One side effect may be the death of the tooth that has 

suffered the trauma.

This would require a small root canal being done on the 

tooth and perhaps a filling to cover an color change that

the tooth may undergo as a result.

Another, less common, result of these types of injuries

would be some slight damage to the adult tooth above the 

injured baby tooth. 

Only time will tell what the adult tooth will look like when 

it comes in and there is nothing that can be done before hand.

No matter the extent of the accident however, it is always a

good idea to get your child into a dentist as soon as possible 

after an accident.

Dr Ellis Website

Dr. Ellis on Facebook

Dr. Ellis on Google+