When a tooth sustains severe damage and traditional restoration cannot provide repair, or if a tooth has decay or infection too severe to be treated with a filling, you may instead benefit from an endodontic treatment. Root canal therapy can stop discomfort and save your tooth, and placement is compared to receiving a filling! In today’s blog, your Londonderry, NH, dentist talks about our endodontic treatments!
The Link Between Infection and Tooth Loss
A dental infection occurs when the nerve center of your tooth, the collection of living tissues at the center of it, comes into contact with harmful oral bacteria, which could be due to an untreated cavity or injury to the tooth that compromises the outer enamel. Without treatment, an infection grows in severity until the tooth requires extraction to prevent the spread of infection, or it simply falls out. To protect the tooth in question and your smile as a whole, you need endodontic treatment to treat the issue with the interior of your tooth, so you can maintain a full and beautiful smile, one that is free of discomfort too.
The Causes and Warning Signs of an Infected Tooth
As we mentioned above, the infection is brought on by issues that cause bacteria to reach your pulp, such as an untreated cavity that has grown in severity and spread throughout the tooth. Teeth grinding that wears down and compromises enamel is a factor too, along with injuries that can crack or chip a tooth. When your tooth is infected, you may experience tooth sensitivity when you eat or drink, toothaches that don’t subside after a day, or pain in your face or jaw. Headaches, swelling, and even a discharge from the tooth could occur too. Don’t ignore these symptoms, please see our team right away for treatment. With a root canal, we can save the tooth and stop discomfort.
Planning Treatment
Our team will conduct a detailed examination, using digital x-rays to assess the position and severity of your infection. From there, we can plan treatment to address the interior of the tooth and bring relief. Every smile is unique, so we take a personalized approach to treatment, so you can obtain optimal results and avoid the loss of a tooth.
Anesthesia and Sedation
Your comfort is paramount, as we want our patients to enjoy their time in the office and avoid unnecessary discomfort. With local anesthesia, we can administer a numbing agent to the area being treated to prevent discomfort from occurring. However, you may have anxiety about the procedure and we understand, so we can offer sedation to help you enter a state of calm and relaxation, with little to no memory of the endodontic procedure at all. Our team can choose from three options. Nitrous oxide is administered through a mask over the nose, and the effects are immediate and wear off once the treatment ends. Oral conscious sedation is given in a pill or liquid form and offers a deeper state of calm. IV is the deepest available, and is given intravenously. For oral conscious and IV, the effects take time to wear off, so you need a friend or family on hand to bring you home afterward.
Root Canal Therapy
Once you’re prepared and ready, we will open the tooth so we can reach and remove the inner tissues. Once we do, our team will thoroughly clean the interior of the tooth and the root canals, removing tissues. We then clean the interior thoroughly and will add a special filling known as gutta percha. Once we do, we can cap the tooth with a dental crown, one designed to look natural and blend with your smile. At the same time, this can protect the tooth from discomfort and reinfection. The procedure can take as little as one visit, and bring instant relief. You can then take steps to avoid future discomfort by brushing and flossing each day, eating a healthy diet low in sugar, avoiding tobacco products, and seeing our team for a checkup and cleaning every six months, so your risk of cavities and infection are much lower.
If you have any questions about how we treat infected teeth with an endodontic root canal procedure, or if you have an aching tooth that needs attention, then contact our team today to learn more. We want to help you enjoy your best smile!
Schedule A Visit With Dr. Karimipour for Treating Infected Teeth
Our team can treat a dental infection or even a tooth that requires retreatment. Talk to our team about addressing damaged and infected teeth by calling My Dentist in Londonderry, NH at (603)965-3407!
