In the past, patients with frequent toothaches had to rely on tooth extraction to solve their problems, and often ended up with “no teeth” in their old age. Nowadays, with the continuous development of medical technology, people who visit dentists for toothache often hear the term “root canal therapy”. Thanks to this technology, many teeth that would otherwise need to be extracted can remain. However, “root canal treatment” is not easy, it is also more demanding in terms of doctor’s skills and hospital hardware facilities, and if the first root canal treatment is not successful, the success rate of the second treatment is not only lower than the first treatment, but also more expensive. ”Many people may not know that a tooth that looks hard on the surface is actually hollow. The hollow structure inside the tooth is called the “root canal”. It contains the nerve and blood vessels that maintain the tooth’s nutrition and sensory function. Factors such as tooth decay, tooth trauma, and hidden cracks can easily lead to infection inside the root canal. When the inflammatory secretions inside the root canal press on the nerve, it causes pain. Since teeth are very hard tissues and root canals are very narrow and cannot be expanded, toothaches are very intense and injections and medications cannot solve the problem. Root canal treatment is the best way to deal with the cause of the toothache and to deal with the painful nerve of the tooth and preserve the tooth for a long time. During the treatment, the doctor first drills a hole in the tooth (under anesthesia) to relieve the pressure in the root canal and release the inflammatory secretions. The effect is immediate, and the patient immediately feels no pain in the tooth. Then, the doctor will use professional instruments to clean out the infected and necrotic nerve and blood vessel tissues in the root canal, and then use special tools to enlarge and shape the root canal and sterilize it clean. Finally, when the affected tooth is completely free of discomfort, the root canal is then filled with a special material to restore the tooth’s appearance to perfection. ”Root canal treatment is not easy. However, it is this little “root canal treatment” that makes both doctors and patients love and hate it! Why do you say that? “I love it because with it, I don’t have to be afraid of toothache anymore; I can keep a tooth with a big defect and perform a good chewing function; I can keep many teeth that need to be extracted. “Hate it” because to do it well, in addition to patients needing multiple visits (3 to 5 times, once a week), the cost is relatively high (depending on the number of root canals and the degree of difficulty of the tooth, the cost of treatment varies from hundreds to thousands of dollars), it is also more demanding in terms of the doctor’s skills and hospital hardware facilities. The doctor must not only know the complex root canal system inside the tooth like a tree root, have enough patience and perseverance when treating (sometimes it takes an hour just to find the hidden root canal opening), but must also have good medical ethics and responsibility, because only the doctor knows whether the root canal treatment is done well and whether the effect will last. In addition, the hospital must also be equipped with strong hardware support, such as strict sterilization procedures, clear filming equipment, advanced treatment instruments, etc. Expert advice: 4 tips to ensure the effectiveness of treatment Choose the hospital carefully: because the first treatment is not successful, the success rate of the second treatment is not only lower than the first treatment, but also more difficult and more expensive. Regular treatment requires 3 dental films: Since the number of root canals, root canal morphology, root canal length, degree of root canal calcification, and size of apical lesions vary for each individual, the doctor must take dental films to understand the situation before treatment, again during treatment to guide the operation, and 3 times after treatment is completed to test the treatment effect. Therefore, a proper and responsible root canal treatment must have 3 radiographs before, during and after the procedure (possibly more for difficult cases). This is a very simple way to determine if the root canal treatment is standardized. Tooth does not hurt, but also insist on treatment: Because root canal treatment often has “immediate” effect, many patients think that as long as the tooth does not hurt, the disease is cured, and do not want to follow up treatment. This is actually very wrong. It is important to understand that pain is only a symptom of the disease, and the absence of pain is not the same as the absence of disease. After drilling, the tooth must be thoroughly cleaned, disinfected and filled to ensure that there is no infection. Otherwise, it won’t be long before the tooth hurts again and the root canal has to be re-treated. After treatment, you may want to get a “brace”: After root canal treatment is completed, the infected nerve and blood vessels are removed, the tooth is not nourished, and over time, it becomes more and more brittle. If you want to keep the tooth for life, it is recommended that the patient go to a prosthodontist to have a brace made to protect the tooth and prevent it from biting and cracking.