Emergency Pain Management

Root canal treatment is started here to relieve the pain and finished by an endodontist; we restore the tooth afterwards.

A root canal is one of the most dreaded phrases in dentistry and one of the most misunderstood. The procedure exists to save a tooth from extraction, and far from causing pain, it relieves it. When decay reaches the pulp — the living tissue inside the tooth — the infection that follows is what hurts. Treating it is what makes the pain stop.

What we do at Posh

If you arrive in pain from an infected tooth, we can treat that pain the same day. Dr. Groberg performs a pulp debridement: opening the tooth, removing the infected pulp tissue that is generating the pressure and pain, disinfecting the chamber, and sealing it with a sedative filling that settles the tooth down.

For most patients this is the moment the pain stops.

Finishing the root canal

Completing a root canal — shaping, cleaning and filling the canals to the tip of each root — is work we refer to an endodontist, a specialist who does that procedure all day and has the microscopes and instruments purpose-built for it. We will make the referral, share our images and notes, and coordinate with their office so nothing is repeated and nothing falls through.

Once the endodontist has finished, you come back to us. A tooth that has had a root canal is more brittle than it was and usually needs a crown to protect it from fracturing.

Why saving the tooth matters

Dr. Groberg's priority is always to help you keep your natural tooth structure — it is better for your bite, your bone, and your long-term health than any replacement. When the pulp is infected, root canal treatment is what makes keeping the tooth possible.

In pain right now?

Call the office at 480-857-4900. New patients in pain are seen for a free emergency exam, and we will tell you exactly what is happening and what it takes to fix it before starting anything.