If you have noticed serious and persistent pain in your tooth, this could be due to severe decay or an infection. At this stage, you may need more than a dental filling, but we can help! In today’s blog, your Prairie Village, KS, dentist talks about stopping discomfort with a root canal.
The Impact of an Infected Tooth
An infected tooth means that harmful oral bacteria have reached your pulp, the nerve center of the tooth. This is possible when the outer layer of enamel is compromised, and decay can spread through the interior tissues. This could occur due to a severe decay, or even due to teeth grinding or an injury to the tooth. When an infection develops, you could experience persistent pain in the tooth, aches when you eat or speak, and even a discharge from the tooth. There could be swelling, aches in the face and jaw, headaches, and more. Don’t ignore pain in a tooth, reach out to us for a diagnosis right away!
Steps to Keep Your Smile Comfortable
Our team will look closely at your tooth with a digital x-ray, which allows us to peer into the tooth and see the presence of an infection, and assess the severity. We can then plan treatment in detail with a root canal. To ensure the endodontic treatment process is comfortable for you, we can numb the tooth directly with a local anesthesia, and we also have sedation to help you enter a deep state of calm, often with no memory of the procedure at all. We can choose from nitrous oxide, oral conscious sedation, or even IV sedation, so if you have anxiety or other complications that complicate treatment, you can enjoy a positive experience at our office.
The Root Canal Process
When you are properly sedated and ready, we will open the tooth and then gently remove all the tissues from within. We carefully clean the inside of the tooth and the root canals themselves, and then replace the tissues we remove with a special filling known as gutta percha. The final step is to cap the tooth with a dental crown, one custom-made for your smile to ensure an attractive appearance. If you have any questions about how we diagnose an infection and treat it with a root canal, or if you have pain in your tooth you want to see addressed, then please reach out to our team today to learn more and get started!
Call Dr. Robert Browne, D.D.S. for Endodontic Treatment
We want to help treat an infected tooth and bring relief for your smile, so you can enjoy your favorite meals again and avoid daily discomfort. To find out more about endodontic treatment to protect smile stability, or to schedule an appointment, please call Dr. Robert M. Browne, D.D.S. in Prairie Village, KS at (913) 901-8585.
