Root Canals

At The Grove City Center for Dentistry, we perform root canals as a way to preserve your natural teeth.

Performing a root canal allows us to do just that. We recommend a root canal when we find inflammation or infection in the pulp of your tooth.

There are many different causes of infection or inflammation, including decay, prolonged teeth grinding, multiple procedures on the same tooth, or even chips or cracks in the tooth.  Sometimes, an injury to a tooth can cause pulp damage even if there are no visible cracks. When this happens, we may recommend a root canal to treat the damaged pulp.

The “pulp” is the soft tissue that fills the inside of your tooth and runs down through the center of the roots. The roots of your teeth look like two canals, which is how a root canal gets its name. If the pulp inside the root canals of a tooth becomes inflamed or infected, it can be extremely painful and may lead to an abscess.

The Root Canal Procedure at The Grove City Center for Dentistry

Dr. Simone or Dr. Lowe will consult with you to determine if a root canal is the best course of action for your treatment needs.

• The actual root canal procedure is relatively simple. Dr. Simone or Dr. Lowe will “isolate” your tooth to prevent saliva and bacteria that is inside your mouth from entering the tooth.
• We will make an opening in the crown of the tooth, and then clean the pulp from the internal anatomy to shape the space for the filling material.
• Once the inside of your tooth is cleaned and shaped, Dr. Simone or Dr. Lowe will fill and seal the root canals of your tooth with a resin material.
• After we seal the roots, we place a hard restoration in the tooth to further seal off the root canal system from the oral cavity.

After your root canal procedure, you may need to return to The Grove City Center for Dentistry to have a crown, or another type of restoration, placed on the tooth to protect it and ensure it is fully functional.