What Happens When You Avoid Root Canal Treatment?
You visit your dentist with an excruciating toothache, including pain when biting and chewing and lingering sensitivity to hot and cold temperatures. The dentist examines your tooth, x-rays it, and recommends you receive root canal therapy to eliminate infection to the dental pulp after a thorough examination. If many people dislike dental treatments, everyone hates root canals. The recommendation from the dentist undoubtedly makes you jump with fear, and you decide to put off the treatment for later.
Sometime later in the day, the pain disappears by itself, making you congratulate yourself on avoiding the treatment the dentist recommended. Unfortunately, the pain returns the next day to make you wonder what’s happening with the tooth. Making further inquiries and researching over the Internet, you realize you congratulated yourself too early because the temporary relief the toothache provided was merely an indicator that your tooth was dying. Fearing the consequences, you return to your dentist for further advice on root canal treatment. The dentist puts the message across and plain and straightforward terms stating you can either endure the toothache or adhere to their advice and get this endodontic treatment from the dental clinic in Fort Lee, NJ, without delaying the therapy further. As you prepare to leave your dentist’s office, the professional alarms you by mentioning you may soon need the tooth extracted if you don’t get the treatment recommended.
What Are Root Canals?
Root canals, also called endodontic treatment, become necessary when the dental pulp soft tissue inside your tooth containing blood vessels, connective tissue, and nerves becomes infected inside. The infection occurs due to repeated procedures on the same tooth, chips or cracks, or an untreated cavity. Root canals generally involve removing the infected or inflamed pulp from inside the tooth and sealing it to prevent further infections. After you receive the treatment from a skilled root canal therapy service near me, the treated tooth lasts for a lifetime with proper dental hygiene.
Why Are Root Canals Essential?
Your teeth have no mechanism to heal themselves. The infected dental pulp will not heal but worsen with time unless you get the recommended treatment without delay. The pain might disappear at times like you experienced to make you think the infection has healed. Unfortunately, as you experienced, the pain returns soon because the condition remains inside the tooth. If you refuse to undergo root canal treatment fearing pain from the therapy or financial circumstances, you must endure severe consequences of ignoring the treatment.
When the infection is left untreated in your tooth, the bacterial infection spreads to your jaw, blood, and your entire body. In addition, the infection can make you prone to other conditions needing help from different medical professionals. Unfortunately, the untreated tooth needs extraction to eradicate the infection from your mouth.
Aren’t Root Canals Painful?
The tale of pain surrounding root canals is merely a myth because many people feel little or no discomfort during their treatment. When you schedule your appointment to have root canal treatment, the specialist x-rays your tooth on the day of your appointment to determine the extent of the damage. You receive sedation and local anesthesia in your mouth before the specialist begins drilling and cleaning your tooth. You will likely experience no discomfort after the anesthesia takes over and the dentist works on your tooth. After the treatment, you will probably comment that root canals are no more painful than getting dental fillings.
You would experience discomfort after the numbing medication starts wearing off and the pain persists for a few days, especially if you had pain before receiving the treatment. Dentists are fully aware of this phenomenon because you have undergone a severe dental surgical procedure with the potential to cause pain and sensitivity. However, they recommend over-the-counter and prescription pain relievers to ease the discomfort.
After you undergo root canals, the treated tooth can last a lifetime after you get it restored with a dental crown a week after the procedure. So long as you brush your teeth twice a day and floss at least once, and get regular dental checkups and cleanings, rest assured the tooth will not bother you again sometime soon. Of course, you must avoid chewing on hard foods with the treated tooth and limit or avoid sugary foods and beverages.
Whenever your dentist recommends root canal treatments on a painful tooth, do not delay the treatment but visit So Good Dental to have a root canal without delay.