Kathryn Kennedy, DDS

Dentist in Westmont, IL

(630) 810-9940

331 W. 63rd St. Westmont, IL 60559

Westmont Dentist | Root Canals & Endodontic Treatment

Whether you call it endodontics or root canals, it isn’t something people typically look forward to having done. Because we have a 3D cone beam x-ray, we are able to measure and identify more accurately the shape, the number, and the length of the canals in a tooth, giving us a distinct advantage when it comes to treating a tooth completely and with precision.

Dr. Kathryn Kennedy has been providing endodontic therapy – a.k.a. “root canals”, to our patients in Westmont Illinois for close to 20 years. This means Dr. Kennedy has seen just about every possible shape of root there is.

When a patient needs a root canal, it’s because something has decayed into the inside of the tooth and is touching the nerve of the tooth, or the tooth has suffered some type of trauma that affected the root. Either way, through a process of cleansing the canals inside the root and filling them with a rubbery soft medicated material that will seal the tip of the tooth, we can preserve the support structure to place a crown over the tooth and rebuild it.

If you get bacteria into the inside of the tooth, it can pass into the body, at which point the body tries to fight it off. The white blood cells that attempt to block the infection die and create an abscess. The abscess needs to be cleared up for the tooth to heal. This is why simply “doing a root canal” doesn’t always make the area feel better, because the infection takes time to clear.

Sometimes root canal therapy is done in one visit and other times it is completed in two or more visits. It all depends upon the severity of the infection and the amount of time it takes to access the inner canals. Some dentists try to complete it in one visit. Others will always do it in two or more visits to ensure they aren't sealing up the bacteria inside the body with the sealant material.

HOW WOULD I KNOW IF I NEED A ROOT CANAL THERAPY?

Typical symptoms that might indicate the need for root canal are: temperature sensitivity that lingers more than 10-15 seconds, pressure sensitivity to biting, swelling in the gums near the tip of the root, x-ray evidence of an abscess – usually in more advanced progression of infection, chronic pain that wakes you spontaneously at night, relief from discomfort by drinking cold water, or obvious exposure of the root into the nerve during either decay removal or from trauma. In some cases, the tooth may have “died” already and there would be lack of these sensations, but obvious abscess on an x-ray.

Dr. Kennedy has taken extra training to make sure you are well taken care of and your root canal will be completed as quickly and as comfortably as possible. Give us a call if you are experiencing any of these symptoms!