Root Canal Therapy and Vital Pulpotomy

At Southside Pet Hospital, we offer Root Canal Therapy.

Standard root canal therapy involves removing all of the pulp and nerve, disinfecting the canal, filling the canal, and capping the tooth. This will make the tooth nonvital, but by doing so, it will remove the pain and allow the animal to keep the tooth and maintain jaw integrity and occlusion.

Root canal therapy can be done on all teeth, but mainly performed on canine and 4th premolar teeth in most cases.

We do offer Vital Pulpotomy.

Vital pulp therapy is considered when the tooth is recently fractured, and the pulp is still vital. The age of the animal, which tooth is fractured, and the length of time the tooth has been fractured must be considered prior to this procedure.  It should not be performed if the fracture is more than 48 hours old. The first 5 mm of exposed pulp is removed, followed by a thin layer of a lining cement or calcium hydroxide. This irritates the pulp and forces the formation of a bridge over the exposed pulp. An intermediate restorative layer, such as a glass ionomer, is placed between the cement layer and final restoration. The owners should be warned that this procedure can fail and will need monitoring for the remainder of the animal’s life.