How does a root canal save a tooth? Isn’t it dead without the roots?
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Dentistry is a relatively barbaric practice still. Despite advances in other areas almost all dental procedures are destructive in nature.
Cavities are opened up wider. Root canals hollow out the center, kill the nerve, and get sealed after.
Most of these procedures simply allow you to continue using your teeth, but they do not restore or heal them. Instead they remove the decay and attempt to seal it from future damage in the same area. This technique has limits.
What “saving” the tooth means in this context is really just that you can keep using it and don’t need it extracted to avoid infections.
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