Is your dental crown giving you trouble, but you don’t think it’s that serious? How long can you wait before the issue becomes a dental emergency?
If you have a chronic toothache—even if the tooth is beneath a crown—it’s likely that the pulp, or inner tissue of your tooth, is dying. At times, bacteria can get beneath a dental crown and promote decay in your natural tooth. A root canal treatment is needed to clear out the infection and save the tooth. You should see a dentist about tooth infections as soon as possible.
Symptoms of a Dying Tooth that Require Emergency Dental Treatment
When a tooth is dying, there are common symptoms:
- Sensitivity – A dying tooth can be sensitive cold, heat, or pressure from chewing or touching the tooth. As the infection gets worse, the tooth will be particularly sensitive to heat.
- Pain – Strong, persistent pain
- Swelling – Swelling in the gum tissue around the tooth
- Odor – Chronic bad breath or a bad taste in your mouth
What’s causing the swelling?
In response to an infection, your body sends white blood cells and other defenses to the pulp in your tooth. The tissue swells, chokes, and dies, because it can survive in the confined space inside your tooth. Warm food and drink increase the pressure from gases released by the dying tissue. And of course, your pain increases with the pressure. Cold foods or drinks can relieve the pressure.
An emergency dentist will remove the crown and examine your tooth. Other teeth in the vicinity of the dying one will be examined also. The infected pulp can spread to other teeth and into your jawbone. Don’t keep putting it off. After the infection is removed, a crown will be placed over your tooth again to protect it from further decay or damage.
Nervous about treatment?
An emergency dentist is equipped to calm your anxiety and deliver painless treatment. The area around your tooth will first be numbed. The dentist will relieve your pain before you receive treatment or diagnosis. If you delay treatment, it will make the issue worse and your dental appointment can be lengthy. Call today for treatment.
This post is sponsored by the Dr. William Becker of Poplar Crossing Dental in Hoffman Estates, IL.