Tooth Abscess

A tooth abscess can occur with no pain or swelling at all. But many times an infected tooth will be accompanied by a significant swelling and a throbbing toothache.

In either event, you are likely to hear these unwelcomed words, “you need a root canal.”

You may be tempted to think that you should just have the tooth removed instead of saving it with a root canal treatment. Many people have been led to believe that a tooth abscess always leads to tooth removal.

Sometimes it is very difficult to convince people that an infected tooth can actually be saved.

I’m speaking from experience here. I’ve performed thousands of root canals over the past 20+ years as a root canal specialist. I’ve also been the recipient of a root canal treatment!

If you have a tooth abscess, my advice to you is save your tooth if at all possible. You will have about a 95% chance of success if you have endodontic treatment (root canal) performed on your tooth.

Here are some questions you might have about your abscessed tooth:

What is an abscessed tooth?

It is when the dental pulp becomes infected. The dental pulp is the soft tissue on the inside of your tooth.

It is composed of nerve tissue and small blood vessels. It is like soft tissue in other parts of your body in that it can become inflamed or infected.

What causes a tooth abscess ?

The pulp tissue becomes infected after being severely inflamed. Inflammation of the dental pulp can be caused by:
 

Severe inflammation ultimately leads to necrosis or death of the pulp. This means the pulp is now infected and must be removed from the inside of the tooth.

What are the tooth abscess symptoms?

An abscessed tooth can exhibit one or more of these symptoms:

• No symptoms at all. Your dentist might discover your abscessed tooth during a regular dental check-up.
• Pain on biting. You may notice that you can’t comfortably chew on your tooth.
• Spontaneous pain. It isn’t uncommon for an abscessed tooth to start causing pain during the night while you are asleep.
• Swelling. This can be a slight swelling of the gum beside the tooth or a larger swelling of the jaw.

What about temperature sensitivity? This indicates that the pulp is inflamed and not infected. Some mild inflammation can resolve without treatment. Severe and irreversible inflammation will need to be treated. If untreated irreversible inflammation will result in a tooth abscess.

What is the best tooth abscess treatment?

The best treatment is to save the tooth with a root canal treatment.

Although there have been significant advances made in root canals, it is still a feared procedure. That’s why I wrote The Relaxed Root Canal .

In this book I answer over 80 of the most commonly asked questions about root canals.

BEFORE you have an abscessed tooth treated with a root canal you should ask the dentist a question. I give you this question in Chapter 5.

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

For more information on The Relaxed Root Canal please CLICK HERE .

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