Root Canal - Long Island City, NY
Saving infected teeth from being pulled
A root canal (RCT) is an endodontic dental procedure that treats infected nerves and abscesses within the tooth. It is done to preserve your natural tooth in your mouth so they don't need to be extracted.
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Our emergency dentists at 1311 Jackson Ave Dental can help relieve your throbbing toothache. Your root canal therapy in Long Island City will grant you a sigh of relief from that raging toothache.
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What we offer
Here at Jackson Ave Dental, we can save your infected tooth and preserve it in your mouth by giving it a second chance. Treatment by our dentist in long island city can prevent your tooth from being pulled and delay it to the far future. We offer multiple types of treatment for a tooth needing a root canal.
Root Canal Therapy
A complete root canal treatment involves removing the infected nerve and all decay. The canals will get disinfected to kill bacteria and then sealed with a root canal filling.
Pulpotomy
For teeth with emergency nerve pain, sometimes all it takes is a pulpotomy procedure which removes only the nerve in the pulp chamber. You can think of it as a partial root canal to get you out of pain fast.
Root Canal Medication
For severe root infections and periapical abscesses, your root canal may require more than one visit. In between the appointments, our dentist will place an antibiotic inside of your tooth to kill all of the bacteria.
When root canal therapy is needed
This procedure is typically done to alleviate pain or infection associated with the nerve of your tooth. It is a conservative alternative to eliminating bacterial infection. The only other option to get rid of an abscess would be a tooth extraction.
When it's needed:
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Tooth nerve pain or infection
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Periapical abscess
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Dead tooth
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Trauma or sports injury
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Deep filling close to pulp
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Pulp decay
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Throbbing pain that comes and goes
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Extreme tooth pain that wakes you up at night
How we can help
The entire root canal process with our long island city dentists at Jackson Ave Dental usually takes a single visit. However, if the tooth is severely infected it may require two appointments. Antibiotics will be placed inside of the canal while you're in between visits.
Benefits:
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Eliminate infection
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Alleviate tooth pain
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Preserve your tooth
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Avoid an extraction
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Stops tooth decay
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More cost effective than an implant
Single Visit Treatment: 60-90 minutes
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Administer local anesthesia to numb the infected tooth .
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Place rubber dam to isolate tooth and protect your mouth/throat.
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Create access opening by drilling through enamel and dentin to reach the pulp.
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Extirpate the tooth nerve with hand files and nickel titanium rotary files.
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Disinfect the canals with sodium hypochlorite.
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Further disinfection with other agents.
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Seal the canals with gutta percha (root filling).
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Place temporary restoration (cavit G).
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Return to restore the tooth with a core build up and dental crown.
Two Visit Treatment: 120 minutes
Doing the root canal in two visits is very similar to the one visit treatment. It's just that after the disinfection, you do not fill the canals with gutta percha.​
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Here is what we do instead:
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Place antibiotic medication (calcium hydroxide) inside canal.
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Return two weeks later for another round of disinfection.
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Then you can seal the canal with gutta percha.
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Place a temporary and be ready for final restoration.
The Next Step
After you complete your root canal treatment, you're not done with our dentists at Jackson Ave Dental yet because it still needs to be restored. The next phase of treatment would be the restoration which involves a core build up and a crown to protect the damaged tooth from further harm.
Core Build Up
A core build up is used to rebuild all of the damaged tooth structure from the root canal and cavity. This procedure restores the tooth to a proper shape and form to be able to fit a crown.
Dental Crown
A dental crown is used to restore the tooth after the root canal and the core build up, to look like your natural tooth. The image above shows what the core build up looks like. A tooth cap is necessary because after endodontic therapy, the nerve and blood supply will be gone. The tooth will no longer receive nutrients and will become brittle over time. Having a crown is essential to protect the tooth from future harm and damage. An example would be biting into hard foods and cracking the tooth.
Costs
On average, insurance will cover root canals at 80% of the total cost. That means you may be responsible for 20% of the cost for this endodontic procedure but it depends on your specific insurance plan.
Our dentists at Jackson Ave Dental are in network with most of the major PPO dental insurances. What that means is an additional cost saving for you if you see us vs seeing an out of network dentist.
FAQs
How long do RCTs last?
As long as the tooth doesn't get re-infected, your root canal treatment should last for many years in your mouth. Studies have shown that the 10 year survival rate was 85.1% which is very good.
What happens if it gets re-infected?
If your tooth gets re-infected, you will need to see a root canal specialist (endodontist). They may offer to retreat it with a root canal retreatment or they may surgically try to eliminate the infection with an apicoectomy. The latter is when the tip of the root gets removed while the former is a redo of the initial procedure.
Alternative
The only other feasible alternative to eliminating a tooth infection is by getting an extraction. That involves removing the entire tooth from your jaw bone. What is left will be a missing tooth. Afterwards you may want to consider getting an implant to replace the extracted tooth.