The term ‘Endodontic' comes from the Greek language and literally means ‘inside-tooth'; it is one of the nine specialties of dentistry as recognized by dental associations worldwide. Endodontic treatment deals not with the teeth, but with ‘tooth pulp' – the soft fleshy substance within the teeth.

Tooth pulp is the pulpy flesh and tissues around the root of teeth. The pulp is made up of nerves, arterioles (small blood vessels), venules (small blood vessels which bunch together to form veins and remove deoxygenated blood from the body) and tissue (lymphatic and fibrous). There are many problems that can potentially occur within the pulp. If the pulp does get diseased, endodontic surgery is necessary to save the affected tooth. The following treatments are usually conducted under this particular area of dentistry;

Endodontic Therapy: Getting a ‘Root Canal'

A ‘root canal' is the name given to the space which is naturally found within the root of the tooth. This ‘canal' consists of the pulp chamber and the intricate branches which connect the root canals of all he teeth with each other and with the surface of the roots – this space is filled with the dental pulp discussed above.

A root canal treatment is actually referred to correctly as ‘Endodontic therapy' and it is divided into a sequence of procedures which remove infection, relieve pain and prevent the occurrence of future infection in the decontaminated areas of the pulp and corresponding tooth. Traditionally, root canal treatment is associated with a high level of pain and most people are fearful of it, hence many people use the analogy "I'd rather get a root canal!" when associating with something highly unpleasant however this assumption isincorrectas this treatment is now relatively painless – the pain can easily be managed and modern procedures cut both the recovery time and the chances of future infection. The term ‘getting a root canal' refers to a root-canal treatment.

Root canal treatment procedures: There are several procedures involved with endodontic therapy. This therapy is usually required when a microbial infection is already present within the tooth-pulp or if the tooth is considered to be under threat of such an infection (due to cracking or decay etc). In such a case, dentists recommend apulpectomy; the process by which the infected pulp of the tooth is removed – the dentist drills into the tooth, removes the pulp, cleans and fills the cavity inert material (which prevents infection and does not cause any harm to the body) and seals the opening, sometimes with a ‘crown' if the tooth is damaged due to infection. APulpotomyprocedure, or ‘vital pulp therapy', is the process of focusing on all the vital healthy pulp and removing the only the dead/ infected pulp in order to conserve the healthy parts. This procedure is usually undertaken for primary teeth (it costs less and requires less time than a complete root-canal therapy).

‘Root-end' surgery (Apicoectomy)

In case a root canal treatment fails, and when a follow-up root-canal procedure is not advisable due to any reason, aroot-end surgerycan be used to save the tooth and remove the spreading infection. In this type of procedure, the root-tip of the affected tooth is removed and the root-end cavity is disinfected, filled with an inert material and then sealed.

Reference: Wikipedia ‘dental implant' – ‘endodontic treatment' – ‘pulpectomy'