Only A Dentist Can Cure an Abscessed Tooth.
Tooth Pain? Make an Appointment with Our Coral Springs Dentist Right Away!
So, your tooth is bothering you a bit? Then, all of a sudden you have extreme pain! Most people will look for an over the counter remedy to reduce the pain only to soon discover that basically nothing that you find at the pharmacy is going to help. If you have a seriously abscessed tooth, you need to make an appointment with your Coral Springs dentist as soon as you can. An abscessed tooth can be extremely dangerous to your overall health and wellbeing.
Only A Dentist Can Cure an Abscessed Tooth.
What problems can an abscessed tooth cause besides extreme pain? What is an abscess? When your tooth has an abscess, you may have symptoms of fever, really bad breath, swollen neck glands, open and draining sores on your surrounding gum, pain when you eat or drink, and facial swelling. An abscess is a pocket of pus that is caused by a bacterial infection which means that the infection that can spread throughout your body. Now, left untreated, this infection can cause your tooth to fall out, can lead to sinus issues, and can spread to your heart and brain. This information is not to frighten you, but to let you know the seriousness of an abscess and what the results can be if left untreated. Maybe in the past, you had a toothache that eventually went away, but with an abscess, it will not go away and will quickly get much worse. If the abscess ruptures, the pain will decrease but don’t let the lessening pain fool you, know that you will still need to see your dentist in Coral Springs right away.
The best treatment for an abscessed tooth is to take preventative measures, but as we know, we don’t always stay on top of that until it is too late. Preventative measures would include seeing your Coral Springs dentist on a regular basis, eating healthy foods, practicing good oral hygiene by brushing and flossing at least twice a day and staying away from sodas and other sugary foods and beverages. Now, if you have developed an abscess and have made an appointment with your dentist, what are the next steps? First thing first, an X-ray of the area will be performed to determine where the infection has spread too if that is the case. If the dentist has determined that the infection has spread beyond your tooth and into your jaw or further into your body, you will need antibiotic treatment. This treatment will not cure the abscess it will only fight the infection. The dentist may need to drain the area to remove the infection from within the pulp chamber. If this the planned course of treatment, an incision will need to be made to drain the pus and pressure. After the pus has been drained and the infection is clear, typically a root canal will be the next step. The root canal will clear out the entire area of infection. During a root canal, your dentist will remove the pulp and clean the inside of the tooth, then seal it. So how exactly is a root canal performed? In most cases, anesthesia will be given to make you more comfortable. Then a hole will be drilled into your abscessed tooth in order to give the dentist access to the problem area. Next, the area will be cleaned out using root canal files which will scrape and scrub the sides of the root canals. During this time, a water tube will run through your mouth in order to flush away the particles coming from the tooth. Usually, the root canal procedure is not completed in one appointment because all of the infection needs to be gone before a sealant can be put into place. Don’t worry, the dentist is not going to leave you with a hole in your tooth until it can be sealed, a temporary filling will be placed over the tooth to keep out food particles and contaminants until you see the dentist again. A week or so later, you will need to go back to your dentist in Coral Springs to finish the root canal procedure. This will be an easy step and it will just be to fill the hole with a sealant and a filling. Now, if you have extensive damage to the tooth, we may speak to you regarding restoring the tooth. If there was much decay, you may need to have a crown, or a crown and post put in. If the damage was extremely extensive, we may have no other option than to pull the tooth.
We Are a Caring Coral Springs Dental Office.
We understand that many of our clients will cringe at just hearing that they need a root canal, however, with modern tools and treatment, most of our clients tell us that the root canal procedure only caused very minimal discomfort that an over the counter pain reliever was able to handle. Of course, for the first few days, you will want to “baby” that area and not chew your food with that tooth. You will want to make sure to keep up with good oral hygiene practices by brushing and flossing twice a day. After a few days, you will notice that the inflammation has gone away and then you can resume your normal chewing behaviors. At Barbag Dental in Coral Springs, we want all of our clients to feel relaxed when they come in for treatment. We provide our customers with a warm and caring environment as well as state of the art equipment to give you an experience with minimal discomfort. Please contact us if you are having any type of tooth problems or if you would like to make us your dental provider!
