As a family dentist in Fulham, we often talk with patients who are experiencing dental abscess about which treatment they would prefer: a root canal or a tooth extraction. So let’s compare the two procedures here.
Why do patients need these treatments at all?
Whether a patient is nervous or simply busy, they will usually take a moment to attend a dental clinic when they have a dental abscess. Unless you have had one yourself you might find this odd, but the discomfort that comes along with a dental abscess is extremely unpleasant, preventing you from concentrating, eating or sleeping. It is also incredibly resistant to almost all potent painkillers.
As the location of the abscess is between the root of the affected tooth and the jawbone, there is very little room for expansion of the tissue, and any inflammation-driven swelling leads to an intense sensation of pressure. A typical abscess is surrounded by bone with a low blood flow, is resistant to oral antibiotics and would have a very high likelihood of recurring without intervention.
How we perform root canals in the clinic
We perform a root canal by opening the top of the affected tooth and removing the pulp, thus exposing the underlying canal. A tooth canal is often less than a millimetre in diameter, which is too narrow to clean or fill so the process of widening the canal must be carried out, using a set of very fine round files. This is performed very carefully and methodically taking up to an hour for our team to do on a single-rooted tooth. If you have two roots or more (like in wisdom teeth) it can greatly increase the overall treatment time. In order to cope with this procedure, it is often split up over multiple sessions with a temporary filling being used to close the access hole between sessions.
Once the canal has been widened, the abscess can be drained and cleaned out, extracting it through the tooth. The space left is then filled with, essentially, a very long filling starting beneath the tooth and extending up to the access hole.
Resolving dental abscesses by extraction
Immediately after an extraction, direct access is given to the abscess which is then cleaned out. The extraction is performed under a local numbing agent, allowing our dentist in Fulham to move the tooth backwards and forwards loosening it before removing it in one piece. The now-vacant socket is given a biologic, dissolving antibiotic packing material and is stitched in order to prevent a new abscess forming or the development of a common side effect known as dry socket.
What treatment method should I have?
Most patients who are contemplating these two procedures are trying to avoid discomfort and have a preconceived notion that a root canal is more than unpleasant. On average, a root canal does take longer to perform but this is a small price to pay in order to return a tooth to that which would otherwise be lost with an extraction. Our dentist in Fulham will always endeavour to try to maintain a patients tooth and would encourage root canal over extractions at our dentist in Fulham.
