Root Canal

Root canal therapy tends to have a bad reputation, however, the truth is a root canal treatment allows you to save your tooth and relieve pain. This prevents you from having to extract or remove your tooth. The majority of our patients who undergo root canal procedures compare the process to a regular dental filling that takes a little more time. We routinely have patients fall asleep during the procedure and have a strong reputation for providing effective anesthetic applications to simplify root canal treatment. As with any other dental procedure that involves working with more critical areas of the mouth (deep fillings, crowns, etc.), if a tooth is not numb enough, it could cause increased sensitivity.


At Beacon Smiles Dental, our combined approach focuses on keeping our patients as comfortable and calm as possible. In some cases, this may involve administering medication prior to the appointment or utilizing different types of anesthetics or injection techniques. With our multi-faceted approach, we ensure that all patients are provided with the most comfortable and pain-free experience.

What is Root Canal Therapy?

A pulp chamber is found in all teeth. This is the region where living tissue and blood vessels are located and enter up from the bottom of the root through the canals. The dental pulp refers to the mix of tissue and cells of this region. While the dental pulp is located in the middle of the tooth, an infection can occur if tooth decay is untreated. Once infection in the dental pulp occurs, root canal treatment is needed. The treatment involves removing the infected pulp to prevent further tooth decay. The treatment may be carried out in one or sometimes two treatments. Common reasons why you may need a root canal are:

• Decay that has reached the pulp
• A cracked tooth
• A tooth that underwent extensive treatments in the past.
• Trauma or injury to the tooth

What happens during a root canal and will I feel anything?

First of all, we’ll use a local anesthetic to numb the tooth so that you won’t feel any pain at all during treatment. The area is then covered with a rubber dam or sheet which isolates the tooth and helps to keep the area dry. When you’re fully numb, we’ll access the tooth until we reach the pulp chamber. Once an opening is made, we’ll be able to remove the infected pulp completely. Next, we have to clean out the root canals and pulp chamber thoroughly and shape them ready for sealing by using special dental files and irrigating the canals with an antibacterial solution.

Then it’s time to seal the root canal using a biocompatible material called gutta-percha. This is heated and then pressed into the root canals where it acts to seal the canals. This step is important, as it protects the canals from bacteria and possible re-infection.

At this point, the remainder of the treatment is to seal the top of the tooth with a filling where the opening was made at the beginning of the treatment. Due to the tooth being in a much weaker state now from the root canal, a crown will be recommended. In order to do this, we can use our CEREC machine to create your new crown on the very same day!

At Beacon Smiles, our priority is to help you save your teeth whenever possible and to recommend root canal treatment if our dental specialists believe it’s the best course of action. With years of experience, you have nothing to worry about and you’ll be surprised at how easy and painless the process is.

Beacon Smiles also offers Invisalign in Calgary if you’re looking to straighten your teeth.