Visiting your dentist in Chester-Le-Street for a root canal treatment
Root canal infections can be extremely painful and need urgent treatment to avoid tooth loss or extraction. A root canal treatment is a dental procedure regularly offered at All Smiles Dental. It is carried out by your dentist in Chester-Le-Street and is designed to manage and eradicate any infections that occur in the centre of your tooth.
Why root canal treatments are important
Infections that emerge in the centre of your tooth are usually initiated by bacteria that inhabit the mouth and dominate the tooth when specific dental issues occur such as damage due to tooth decay, leaking fillings and trauma. At the centre of the tooth is a soft tissue referred to as dental pulp; a root canal treatment is required when a dental X-ray reveals that a bacterial infection has damaged the pulp, as this will cause the pulp to become inflamed, making it possible for bacteria to multiply and potentially spread to neighbouring teeth.
What are the symptoms of a pulp infection?
There are many ways to detect if you have a pulp infection, so it is best to always remain vigilant and contact your dentist in Chester-Le-Street as soon as you think you may be presenting any of the following signs of an infection. Some of the most common signs of an infection include sensitivity to hot or cold foods and drinks, pain when you chew or bite hard foods, and teeth that suddenly begin to feel loose. It is important to note that the longer the infection progresses, the symptoms disappear because the pulp dies however this is not an indication that all is well. When the pulp dies and there are no noticeable signs of infection, you might think that the infection has cleared, however the infection is actually spreading through the root canal system which will cause additional symptoms to come into light such as swelling of the gum near the affected tooth, discharge of pus from the site of the affected tooth, swelling of the cheek and the tooth darkening in colour.
Why it is important to contact your dentist
It is vital that you contact your dentist in Chester-Le-Street as soon as you experience any of the above-mentioned symptoms, regardless of how minute they may seem as your dentist will be able to detect if the cause is an infected tooth pulp and can manage it straight away. Another reason to contact your dentist as soon as you think you may have a pulp infection is because the tooth pulp cannot heal by itself over time and can instead cause further damage and reduce the efficacy of root canal treatment if the infection becomes more severe. Your dentist will be able to prescribe you a course of antibiotics to treat the infection that spreads beyond the root and causes swelling of the gums, and any painkillers required to make eating and drinking more tolerable.
How is a root canal treatment carried out?
In order for the infection inside a root canal to be treated, the bacteria needs to be removed completely; your dentist can do this in two ways: by either removing the bacteria from the root canal system or by extracting the infected tooth. If you opt to have the bacteria removed from the pulp, the area will be numbed using a local anaesthetic in order to make the procedure as painless as possible. The dentist will then proceed to remove the infected pulp and will drain out any abscesses that have formed. This is followed by a deep clean of the root canal and reforming it to make it suitable for a filling or a crown.