Dental Emergency

The Severe Toothache

One dental emergency is the severe toothache. Toothache pain is one of the most excruciating pains to cope with.

It is a true emergency because your life truly comes to a halt. Most people simply can't go to work or carry on with their normal daily routine if they have a severe toothache.

An abscessed tooth is the most common cause of a severe toothache that leads to a dental emergency.

The remedy for this dental emergency is really
quite simple. But there is a great deal of confusion, anxiety, and questions anytime you are dealing with toothache pain.

Here are some common questions:

1. What is an abscessed tooth? It is when the dental pulp becomes necrotic (dead). Most people think of it as the "nerve goes bad." The dental pulp does contain nerve fibers but it also contains small blood vessels and specialized cells.

This tissue is very important when you're a child because the specialized cells of the pulp build the hard structures (enamel, dentin, and cementum) of your tooth.

After your tooth is completely formed the pulp has no function. However, when it becomes inflamed or infected it creates a dental emergency.

2. Does my tooth have to be abscessed to cause a severe toothache? No. Most people refer to all toothache pain as an abscessed tooth. Technically this isn't correct.

The pulp could still be very much alive and still cause a toothache. In this situation we say the pulp is irreversibly inflamed. In other words, it is on its way to becoming an abscessed tooth.

 
3. What causes an abscessed tooth (or one that is irreversibly inflamed? The most common cause is tooth decay. But even old fillings or crowns can cause a pulp to become so diseased that it leads to a severe toothache.

4. Why does toothache pain hurt so badly? It really is amazing how badly a small tooth can hurt. You can feel like your whole head is throbbing.

Essentially it is a space problem. An inflamed pulp has no place to swell as the inflammation worsens.

That means there is pressure on the nerve endings within the pulp which results in a severe toothache.

As an abscessed tooth forms there is inflammation and infection of the bone and ligament at the tip of the root.

Again there is very little space for swelling so there is pressure on the nerve endings at the tip of the root. It will feel like toothache pain but the pain is actually coming from the area surrounding the tooth.

5. How is a dental emergency with a severe toothache treated? You basically have two options:

  1. Tooth removal. There are times when the tooth can't be saved. Dentists will always save a tooth if possible. When tooth removal is necessary you will be advised on the best options to replace it.

  2. Root canal treatment. Sometimes a pulpotomy will be performed in the case of a dental emergency for pain relief.  A pulpotomy is the cleaning of a portion of the dental pulp. This will provide temporary pain relief. This is essentially the beginning of the root canal treatment.

At the next visit the root canal treatment will be completed. Sometimes the root canal treatment can be completed in one visit.

Being told you need a root canal is never good news. But the good news is that root canal treatment has made such great advances that you need not be fearful.

I've written a book, The Relaxed Root Canal to help the fearful dental patient. In the book I answer over 80 questions that I've heard in my 20+ years as a root canal specialist.

You simply must get a YES answer to this question. I'll give you my recommendation on what to do if you get a NO answer.

Don't let your dental emergency and root canal treatment keep you awake at night with fear. For more information on The Relaxed Root Canal please CLICK HERE.

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