Our teeth are meant to last a lifetime…
But sometimes, damage occurs to a tooth, often from an injury causing a tooth to crack or a deep cavity. This can lead to the inside of the tooth becoming infected.
This infection causes damage to the network of nerves and blood vessels inside the tooth, known as the pulp.
If not treated, the damaged pulp can lead to infection that could harm the bone around the tooth, causing pain and swelling. If the damaged tooth becomes infected, we can perform root canal treatment, also known as endodontics, to save it.
What happens when the root canal becomes infected?
- Tooth sensitivity
- Swelling around the tooth that can fill with pus or swell to other parts of the face
- Loss of bone around the root tip
- Dental abscesses can form
If left untreated for a long time, a sinus or drain hole is formed. This starts at the root, draining its contents to the outside of the tooth.
Signs & Symptoms
If your root canal becomes infected, there might not be pain at the beginning. However, as the infection develops, you may start to feel pain and if the infection isn’t treated, it could cause an abscess. This in turn could lead to tooth extraction. Therefore it’s important to have root canal treatment before further damage takes place.
Signs and symptoms of a tooth infection include:
- Significant pain when you bite down, or in some cases, pain to the touch
- Tooth discoloration
What is root canal treatment?
Root canal treatment involves removing the damaged pulp from the tooth and cleaning, shaping, filling and sealing the tooth to prevent further infection.
Sometimes, treatment can be finalised in a single appointment. By using today’s digital technology, root canal treatment can be very successful. It relieves our patients of the pain experienced as a result of infection and, when combined with proper dental care, it is a solution that can help keep your treated tooth strong for many years to come.
Whilst many root canal treatments are straightforward and can be successfully completed routinely, others can be more complex and require specialist intervention. Nick Barker provides specialist endodontic treatment for such cases from our Coggeshall branch.
