Root canal pix - graphic

[BigD]

Marzipan got her root canal yesterday and the vet sent me some very detailed (a little bloody) pix that I thought some of you may like to see. The text is copied from the email the vet sent.

 

Marzipan is 15 months old and broke the tooth Sept. 9th.

 

There are 20 of these things so it may take some time to load. I hope you guys find them as educational as I did...I really found the x-rays to be fascinating - how it shows the width of the canal! And the length of the tooth!

 

1. coronal slab fracture of tooth #204, previous restoration dislodged exposing calcium hydroxide paste.

 

 

2. high speed carbide bur creating access site to enter pulp chamber from mesial aspect of tooth

 

 

3. endodontic pathfinder confirms entry into live pulp tissue

 

 

4. #20 orifice shaper removes dentinal shoulder to allow straight line access to canal. the canal of a young dog is very large, yielding a greater amount of hemorrhage. she also has pulpitis (pulpal inflammation) from the previous exposure.

 

 

5. r.c. prep, a dental lubricant that softens the dentinal structure is used to facilitate debribing and shaping the canal walls.

 

 

6. pulpal tissue removed with rotary nickel titanium endodontic files.

 

 

7. flushing the canal liberally with hydrogen peroxide causes the brown discoloration.

 

 

8. large strand of pulpal tissue removed from the apex of the root canal.

 

 

cont'd

[BigD]

9. canal measurement was 30mm (about twice the length of a human tooth). a hedstrom file ( on left side ) is used to debribe the canal completely until clean dentinal shavings were obtained. a small #20 rotary file (gold file on right side) was introduced in the coronal aspect of the tooth to clean and shape this portion of the pulp chamber.

 

 

10. the root canal has been completely flushed clean, disinfected with sodium hypochlorite, and dried with sterile paper points.

 

 

11. a 2-part dentinal sealer ah-26 is mixed and introduced into the root canal with a lentilo spiral filler on a rotary instrument that gives excellent 3-dimensional filling/sealing. this prevents percolation of bacteria into the tooth from the periapical tissues.

 

 

12. placement of size #40 master gutta percha cone to the apical constriction of the root canal. a plugger was used to pack the material toward the apex. a dozen more accessory gutta percha cones were needed to complete the 3 dimensional fill.

 

 

13. application of 40% phosphoric acid gel for 15 seconds to acid etch the dentinal tubules prior to placement of the glass ionomer restorative.

 

 

14. slightly out of focus. the glass ionomer has been applied and light cured. the yellow tipped syringe is the intermediate flowable composite (revolution) that is being introduced into the previous fracture site to fill this portion of the pulp chamber. revolution was also applied to the access site as the intermediate restorative and light cured. this material has a similar modulus strength to the tooth structure.

 

 

15. acid etching again prior to placement of the final (3rd) layer of restorative

 

 

16. vitalescence hybrid composite restorative applied to access site and light cured.

 

 

 

cont'd

[BigD]

17. restoration polished smooth with extra fine diamond finish bur and sealed with a varnish to prevent leakage with polymerization shrinkage

 

 

18. pre-operative dental radiograph illustrating very large pulp chamber and root canal typical of a young dog. apex was closed.

 

 

19. dental radiograph of hedstrom file to apical constriction, 30mm root length from access site.

 

 

20. post-operative radiograph with root canal completely filled.

 

 

Denise and Marzipan (AKA Princess Pretty tooth)

[Pippin]

Those were some interesting pictures and comments, thanks for sharing.

 

I hope she has a very speedy recovery and does well with her fixed tooth!

[Sue R]

My daughter is, unfortunately, looking at one or two root canals (long story). She and I have learned more about them from the threads on the boards than from any other source.

 

Now, if I could just keep her from biting people! (Strictly a joke, folks!)

[Rave]

Wow, that's way cool to look at!! Thanks for sharing!!! I just hope I'm never on the receiving end of one of those drills!!

[SoloRiver]

Thanks for posting these.

[Valhalla]

Very informative photos and dialog. Stupid question, but why did the vet do a root canal and not just pull the tooth? My dog had a slab fracture of an upper molar and they pulled the tooth completely out.

[BigD]

Hey everyone - glad you are all finding these as interesting as I did.

 

I should note the procedure took just over 2 hours. Yikes.

 

As for being on the receiving end - I've had my top front tooth done TWICE!!! Once by a dentist with a box of nasty looking files - ohhhh...that was nasty. And once by an endodontist. Ahhhh...that was like a day at the spa compared to the first time around. If any of you ever have to do a root canal on your own teeth - go with the specialist!

 

Christine -

 

Take a look at this thread:

 

tooth again

 

you will see why we didn't pull the canine.

 

Denise

[BigD]

Sue & Ed -

 

I can't reply to your PM. PM me your email and I reply to that.

 

Denise

[nancy]

Geez, now I know what the dentist did to me. No wonder I didn't like it.

 

However, I prefer the root canal to pulling the tooth. I have no gap and need no space filler.

 

Remember, the teeh are meant to work in pairs: one up and one down. If you pull one of thaat pair, the other is going to have major problems.

[HerdinGal]

Christine my dog had a much worse fracture of the canine and after much debate (on my part, and mostly over the big discrepancies of vet charges and advice out there) the vet just pulled it. She's fine. Her mouth looks normal, her jaw didn't fall apart, she eats normally...and it cost $10 on top of the spay I was going to do anyway. 3 years later now, still doing fine.

 

Root canal pictures look very interesting though.

 

HerdinGal and the Toothless Wonder Sally

[Rave]

Denise,

Is there any way to get the pictures back up?? A friend of mine is considering a root canal for her dog and I wanted to show her these pics.

 

-Laura

[BigD]

Laura -

 

I'm putting them back up as I type...should all be there soon. Let me know when you are done so I can remove them. Just needed to free up some space on my server.

 

Thanks,

 

Denise