Root Canal Treatment

Root canal treatment saves a tooth whose inner pulp has become infected or inflamed by cleaning out the canals, disinfecting them and sealing them, so the tooth can be kept rather than extracted. Apolonia Dental carries out endodontics under magnification for accuracy, with pricing by tooth type and options for re-treating previously root-filled teeth. German- and English-speaking care is available for visiting patients.

Root canal (endodontic) treatment is needed when the soft tissue inside a tooth — the pulp, which contains its nerve and blood supply — becomes infected or irreversibly inflamed, usually through deep decay, a crack or trauma. Left untreated this can cause significant pain and abscess formation. Treatment removes the damaged pulp, cleans and shapes the fine canals inside the roots, disinfects them and seals them with a stable filling material. Saving the natural tooth this way is associated with preserving normal biting function and avoiding the gap and follow-on work that an extraction would create. At Apolonia Dental endodontic treatment is carried out using magnification to locate and clean the canals precisely, under local anaesthetic so it is comfortable — broadly similar to having a filling placed. The number of canals varies by tooth, which is why front teeth, premolars and molars are priced differently, and the clinic can also re-treat a tooth that was root-filled previously but has flared up again. Treatment may be completed in one or more visits depending on the level of infection. Because a root-treated tooth becomes more brittle, the tooth is then rebuilt and, particularly for back teeth, a crown is usually recommended to protect it from fracture; these restorative steps are quoted separately. Root canal treatment suits patients with a painful, abscessed or deeply damaged tooth that still has enough structure to save; the dentist confirms whether the tooth can be retained at examination, supported where useful by 3D imaging.