Your parents must have told you that good oral hygiene habits are the key to healthy teeth and gums. But even after practicing such habits, you can still have a badly infected tooth or decay that needs to be dealt with. This can be done by performing a root canal treatment. When a tooth’s pulp and nerve become badly inflamed and irritated and infected, it is most likely due to deep tooth decay. This procedure involves removing the pulp and nerve of the tooth to clean and seal the inside of the tooth. This helps in stopping inflammation, infection, and intense pain. Without this procedure, an abscess can form around the tooth’s surrounding tissue.
What is the need for removing the pulp?
When there is damage that has occurred to a tooth’s pulp or nerve tissue, it starts to break down, and bacteria multiply in the pulp chamber of the tooth. All of this is very severe since it can cause infections or, worse, an abscessed tooth. This pus-filled pocket that ends up forming at the end of the roots means that the infection has spread all the way past the ends of the roots. This can result in many severe symptoms and problems, such as bone loss at the root’s tip, an intense swelling that can spread to other areas of the head, neck, and even the face.
Signs and symptoms
According to the experts at Artisticsmilesmiamidentist.com, you will know that you need a root canal treatment if you have the following issues:
- If you have tooth sensitivity that ends up lingering.
- A sharp sensation when you bite or chew.
- Cracked or chipped teeth.
- Painful or swollen gums.
- Darkened gums or severe deep decay.
- Discoloration of the tooth.
- Extreme tooth pain.
What to expect?
The first thing that your dentist will do is take an X-ray to determine if there is any decay in the tooth. Then they will determine if there is an infection in a surrounding bone. After providing you with local anesthesia, your dentist will drill a hole for access to the tooth. They use certain root canal files to clean the area. Pulp, decayed nerve tissue, and bacteria are removed from the tooth, and the full length of the tooth is flushed down with sodium hypochlorite to flush away the debris.
Recovery
This treatment has more than a 95% success rate, and most of these procedures can last a lifetime. You might have to deal with infection after the treatment if there was an undetected crack in the root of the tooth. You need to follow certain instructions after a root canal procedure, such as no chewing gum for two days after your procedure, only having cold liquid after your procedure, and sticking to soft foods for two days.
A root canal treatment can be quite a frightening procedure if you do not know what to expect. Use this list to help you understand the process so that you are well prepared before your treatment.