Many people go to the dentist because of tooth pain. Although you may think it is just a cavity, it can be much more serious than that. In some cases you can actually get an infected tooth that turns into an abscess. Here are some things you need to know about abscessed teeth so that you know how to protect yourself and get the proper treatment.
What Is An Abscessed Tooth?
An abscessed tooth is an infection in the tooth that is localized. The decay in the tooth has become so large that is has gone all the way to the root and caused an infection in the root.
An abscessed tooth can be caused from a couple different things. For some people they have had a crown put on their tooth and the decay in the tooth continued, and reached the root. For others, a cavity went untreated for a long period of time, and for some they might have experienced some sort of blow to the tooth that damages the tooth and caused the root to become inflamed.
How Will I Know I Have An Infection?
It will be pretty apparent that you have a problem when your tooth has an abscess. You will be in a great deal of pain because of the infection around the root. You might not be able to sleep at night because the pain is so bad. You would expect it to feel much more severe than a simple toothache.
Additionally the pain might come on very quickly. Instead of it getting progressively worse, you might have no pain one day and then notice a great deal of pain the next. This is because once the infection reaches the root it will be an all or nothing pain.
How Will The Dentist Treat The Problem?
When you see the dentist they will need to take x-rays to diagnose the problem. Once they are sure you have an abscess they will first treat the infection. They need to get the infection under control before they can actually correct the issue.
Once you have been on antibiotics for the right amount of time, then they will do your dental work. You will probably need a root canal. In younger children who do not have their permanent teeth, the dentist may choose just extract the infected tooth. The important thing is to get treatment right away before the infection spreads.
If you suspect that you have an serious dental infection, meet with a dentist such as Jeremy Archibald DDS PC.
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