Any oral issue that leaves you in severe pain counts as a dental emergency. Toothaches are your body’s way of letting you know something is wrong in your mouth. A severe toothache is a good indicator that the problem in your mouth is serious enough to require urgent care.
A dental emergency requires immediate care. Waiting up to two weeks for a regular appointment slot is not an option when you are dealing with pain so severe, it makes it impossible for you to concentrate on anything or get quality sleep at night.
The only permanent solution to severe tooth pain is diagnosing the cause of the patient’s problems and addressing them. Painkillers and other products that help with tooth pain only mask the pain until your body builds up resistance to their active ingredients.
Let us take a look at some of the common causes of severe tooth pain and how a dentist goes about addressing them:
A broken tooth might require emergency dental care if the damage reaches its pulp chamber. The pulp chamber is in the center of a tooth’s crown, and it contains its blood vessels and nerves. The area is sealed off from the rest of a tooth, and it is covered with a layer of dentin and enamel.
Minor damage to a tooth often only affects its enamel and dentin, but severe damage might open up the pulp chamber. Signs damage to a tooth has left its pulp chamber compromised include blood coming from inside the tooth, severe toothaches, and increased sensitivity. A tooth’s pulp chamber being opened up also significantly increases its vulnerability to infection.
Treatment
A severely damaged tooth can be addressed by performing root canal therapy. During the procedure, the tooth’s pulp chamber is cleaned out and sealed with a material called gutta-percha. That is typically enough to stop the pain caused by the damage and protect the tooth against infection.
A tooth infection develops when bacteria in the mouth infect the soft tissues in the pulp chamber. Tooth infections often come with symptoms like bad breath, severe pain, and pus coming from the tooth. The toothaches caused by an infection are some of the worse a person can experience. The infection in a tooth can also spread to other parts of the body like the brain and heart, which can have life-threatening consequences.
Treatment
Root canal therapy is the standard treatment for tooth infection. The dentist drills a hole into the tooth, and dental files are used to extract the soft tissues in the pulp chamber. The area is cleaned, and medication is inserted into the tooth before it is sealed. The dentist might recommend extracting the tooth if there is a risk of the infection spreading to other parts of the body.
Dealing with a nasty toothache? Give us a call or head to our Irvine office to get the treatments you need.
Request an appointment here: https://www.lightbreezedental.com or call Light Breeze Dental at (949) 274-4719 for an appointment in our Irvine office.
Check out what others are saying about our dental services on Yelp: Emergency Dentist in Irvine, CA.
Emergency dentistry provides the urgent treatments that you need when you need them. This can end up saving your life because untreated dental issues like infections can be life-threatening. Emergency dentistry also gets you relief from any pain and discomfort caused by the oral problem that you are struggling with.Wondering what life-threatening issues quick dental…
An abscessed tooth most likely will not go away on its own. If the symptoms become severe or exist for an extended period of time, then you may need to visit an emergency dentist to promptly treat the dental abscess. There are different treatment options an emergency dentist may recommend to treat an abscessed tooth. An…
An emergency dentist is indispensable. You can never know when a dental emergency, such as a broken tooth, will happen. Panic may overwhelm you, but it should not. One of the most common dental emergencies is a broken tooth. If you want to see an emergency dentist for your broken tooth, here are the things…
If you've knocked out a tooth, it's an emergency dentistry situation, and you should call your dentist immediately. If they can't see you right away, an emergency dentist can help you in the meantime by putting the tooth back in place and providing emergency dental care until you can get to the dentist's office. Read…
Dentists generally recommend dental implants as a natural choice for replacing missing teeth. If you play sports regularly, especially contact sports, you may be worried about continued participation after having your lost teeth replaced. This article covers what you need to know about playing sports with dental implants.Every sport has required skills, levels of fitness…
Finding the right cosmetic dentist is important. Unfortunately, many dental patients do not realize that general dentists can perform cosmetic procedures, making it easy for patients needing cosmetic services to find a dental professional to assist them with their cosmetic dental needs. Ready to learn more about dental veneers?Learning the different cosmetic options from a cosmetic…