What does root canal treatment accomplish?
As a process, root canal treatment first involves cleaning out the inside of a tooth (the area originally occupied by the tooth’s nerve tissue). Once this space has been cleaned it is filled in and sealed up. The cleaning aspect of root canal treatment accomplishes two things, both of which are related to discouraging bacteria which might be able to cause an infection. The cleaning removes bacteria which are currently present inside the tooth. The cleaning process removes nerve tissue (and any other organic debris) from the tooth. Tissue which could be used as a food source by bacteria. After the inner aspects of a tooth have been thoroughly cleansed the empty space which exists where the nerve tissue used to be is filled in and sealed off with materials bacteria cannot use as food. The net result of root canal treatment is that the tooth’s inner aspect has been cleansed of bacteria and also any nerve tissue bacteria might use as food, and additionally, because the inner hollow aspects
