A root canal is a procedure a dentist performs on a tooth in order to save it, when a fracture or large cavity damages the pulp, or nerve tissue, within a tooth. Prior to root canal treatments, teeth with such damage had to be extracted. A flexible instrument called a "file" acts like a pipe cleaner to remove diseased tissue and debris from the inside of a tooth. After the tooth is flushed clean with disinfectant solutions, a soft rubber filling material is placed into the hollow chamber to seal it off from harmful bacteria.

Before root canal	During root canal	After root canal

Recent advances in dental technology have provided modern dentistry with a wide array of superior techniques and instrumentation. Root canal treatment has become more comfortable, faster, and more successful than at any time in history

Devices known as "Apex Locators" electronically measure the length of teeth roots, and provide dentists with information about the microscopic anatomy of roots. This allows dentists to perform root canals more rapidly, using fewer x-rays, than in the past.

Advances in metal alloy technology have spawned the development of nickel-titanium root canal instruments. These remarkable instruments are extremely flexible, and bend to match the shape of a root. They allow dentists to perform root canals on teeth with severely curved roots. In the past, many of these teeth required hours of time to treat, or simply had to be extracted.