It’s a New Year, and
if you have been putting off a trip to the dentist, you may want to reconsider.
That throbbing toothache that you have been dealing with since before
Thanksgiving could cause serious problems if you do not take care of it as
quickly as possible. Left alone, that toothache could lead to death. Even if
the pain is mild, you still need to schedule an appointment with your dentist
as quickly as possible.
Your toothache can turn
serious, especially if an infection occurs. Called an abscess, the infection
can happen inside your tooth or in-between your tooth and gums. One way to tell
if you have a pus-filled abscess is throbbing or shooting sharp pain.
WebMD explains that
over 40 percent of Americans have been rushed to the E.R. because of a
periapical abscess. Although there is no exact explanation as to why this is occurring,
but some believe it has to do with rising insurance costs and the fact that
Medicare doesn’t cover routine dental visits.
Other signs to look
for when it comes to an abscess are swollen glands or a swollen face, a fever,
chronic halitosis and neck and jaw pain.
Your dentist explains
that an abscess will not disappear of its own accord. What’s worse is that the
infection can easily spread in as little as a few hours or a few years. If the
infection moves to the heart or brain, it can cause death.
During your dental
appointment, your dentist will tap on the suspected tooth. If you wince, it is
most likely the abscessed tooth. X-rays will also be taken to confirm that you
do indeed have an abscess.
There are three
treatments that your dentist may use to treat the infected area, incision and
draining, root canal therapy or extraction.
If the abscess is
located between your gum and your tooth, your dentist will make a small cut
before draining and cleaning the area. The pain will begin to subside almost
immediately.
The most widely used
tooth abscess treatment is root canal therapy. During this procedure, your
dentist drills into the area that is infected before scraping away the dental pulp
that contains blood vessels and nerves. Once the roots of your teeth have been
filed and cleaned, your dentist will fill them with a sealant before placing a
crown over the area.
An extraction is a
permanent treatment that is normally used for a very deep abscess. Once
removed, the abscess is gone.
