Root Canal Treatment and Extraction are two different treatment solutions for teeth with severe decay or damage. Your dentist normally would provide either of the two options. Still, it is important that you understand what these options are and what they involve.

Root Canal Treatment

When the pulp of your tooth which houses the blood vessels and nerves that supply to our teeth gets infected, root canal treatment is the only way with which you can save your teeth. Special 3D imaging techniques are used to view the structure of the affected root canal.

Once the anatomy of the root canals is fully understood, your dentist will use tools to clean out the infected pulp and disinfect the canals. Once the root canals have been cleaned out and disinfected, the root canal is filled and sealed with a biocompatible material called gutta-percha. And finally, a dental crown is placed over the treated tooth.

Tooth Extraction

Unlike a root canal treatment, in tooth extraction, your dentist would remove your infected tooth entirely. Bleeding will be present to a certain extent for about 45 minutes after the extraction. Facial swelling and bruising will be present after the extraction. Your dentist will also prescribe you with some pain-killers to manage the pain after the extraction. Most dentists would avoid a tooth extraction unless the tooth cannot be restored by a root canal treatment.

Root Canal Treatment vs. Tooth Extraction

Although there are many options for you to replace your extracted tooth, having a functioning natural tooth is always better than have a tooth replacement. If your infected tooth can be salvaged with a root canal treatment, it is recommended that you get your tooth treated with a root canal treatment rather than getting it extracted. Because getting your tooth extracted translates to more dental procedures in the future to replace the extracted tooth.

However, in some situations, tooth extraction for an infected tooth is inevitable. Some teeth are severely infected that they cannot be treated and salvaged by root canal treatment. While root canal treatment is still possible for severely infected teeth, it is a futile procedure and so a dentist would not recommend in such a scenario. While both these treatment offers a solution for an infected tooth, the choice of treatment ultimately depends upon the severity of the condition. So always go with what your dentist recommends.