Your dentist is the only individual that can determine if you need root canal therapy or not, he or she needs to first find out why you are experiencing pain as not all painful teeth need root canal therapy in New York. Your dentist has a number of ways to check if the nerve is alive, these tests include spraying the tooth with cold liquid, taking an X-Ray of the tooth and the surrounding jaw bone and tapping on the tooth to gauge your reaction.
Root canal therapy gets “bad press” but despite what you might hear, root canal therapy is not painful and seeking timely treatment often results in saving a tooth that might otherwise have to be extracted.
Typical symptoms that might indicate the need for a root canal include:
- Sore and swollen gums
- Pain while you eat and drink; especially cold foods and beverages
- Toothache, often accompanied by a facial swelling
What causes the need for root canal therapy?
The root canal of a tooth is a space in the core, this space holds the pulp. Dental pulp consists of minute blood vessels and nerves and if the tooth is injured decayed or perhaps an old filling has fallen out, the pulp can become infected.
When the pulp becomes infected the quickly spreads to the root canal and because this is where the tooth nerves are located, you will suffer considerable pain. If the infection is left untreated an abscess may form inside the tooth or in the tissue surrounding the tooth; if the infection gets bad enough the tooth will have to be extracted.
The key is to undergo root canal therapy in New York, this is the only way to stop the infection and save the tooth. Although the tooth will be technically “dead” a root canal does not affect the function of the tooth.
