What Makes A Root Canal Different From A Filling?

Almost every adult in the world will get at least one cavity in their lifetime. Some will only have one or two, some will have a new cavity practically every time they visit the dentist, but going from birth to death with perfectly clean, healthy teeth is extremely rare.

The usual cure for a cavity is a filling. The dentist uses a drill to scrape away the infected parts of the enamel and the pulp inside and then fills the hole with a composite material or something else tough enough to stand up to the abuse your teeth go through to let you chew your food.

However, sometimes a filling isn’t enough. Cavities can grow around and below fillings, and your teeth don’t have the ability to heal or regrow. Once cavity-creating bacteria eat away at your enamel, that enamel is gone for good. Fluoride can slow cavities down by recrystallizing enamel, but that’s not something your teeth can do on their own. Once a cavity reaches too far into the pulp hiding underneath your teeth and starts to infect it, a dentist may recommend a root canal instead.

A root canal works basically the same way as an ordinary filling, but it goes much further. While a normal filling scrapes away the surface where the infection is, a root canal digs all the way down to the base of the roots, hence the name. The dentist clears away all the pulp, nerves, and other living parts of the tooth and fills the space back up with a durable material. And since this procedure damages a lot of the crown, the part of the tooth above the gum line, you’ll get an artificial replacement either the same day or on a return visit depending on which dentist you visit.

While a regular filling repairs damage and protects the living parts of your teeth from infections, a root canal removes these parts and essentially turns your real tooth into an artificial replacement. But while that might sound convenient on its surface since cavities aren’t nearly as much of an issue afterward, the cost of the procedure and the fact that it’s long and uncomfortable, to say the least are the reasons why most people stick with cavity fillings for as long as they can. A root canal can save your tooth from infection, but it’s a high price to pay in more ways than one.