Welcome to my site! My name is Verity. I work as a receptionist in a dentist office. Every day for the past 20 years, I have come in to the office, worked on paperwork, and greeted patients. I love my job, because it has helped me meet a lot of really wonderful people. I have seen families grow up! But an added benefit from my job is that I have also picked up some small information about dentistry. I'm not one of the dentists, but I do know quite a bit about simple procedures and basic dental hygiene. Hopefully this blog can teach you something, but remember to always consult with your actual dentist for real professional advice!
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2 Dental Treatment Options For An Infected Lateral Incisor With Pulp Damage
Eleanor Crawford
The lateral incisor teeth located towards the front of the mouth help the central incisors with cutting into the food you are eating. If a lateral incisor becomes severely infected, you will experience painful biting. Leaving the infection untreated can cause the vital pulp material to become damaged, which threatens the life of the tooth.
There are a few different treatment options for an infected lateral incisor with pulp damage. Ask your general or family dentist for more information that's more tailored to your particular situation.
Root Canal Therapy and Apicoectomy
A mild to moderate amount of pulp damage is typically treatable and reversible. The dentist will need to clear out all of the infected and damaged pulp material using a process called root canal therapy, which often shortens to root canal.
Root canal therapy involves the use of a narrow tool the dentist slides into the canal to scrape out all the pulp. First, the dentist needs to have direct access to the canal, which is achieved by drilling a hole in the tooth above the canal. Once the pulp is removed, the canal is rinsed clean, and then temporarily sealed off with a bio-foam that will dissolve later on and allow healthy pulp material into the canal.
Sometimes an infection gets stuck deep in the tooth's roots and a second procedure is required to remove the damage. An apicoectomy removes the root tips or apexes where infections get trapped. The dentist has to access the tips through the bone and soft tissue then treats the roots with the same wash and foam as the canal to finish the treatment process.
Dental Extraction with Bridge or Dental Implant
Severe pulp damage can cause pulp necrosis, which isn't reversible and will cause the tooth to eventually die. The dentist might opt to remove or extract the tooth ahead of the natural tooth death to prevent the tooth from causing more damage to the surrounding structures in your mouth.
Dental extraction will leave a gap that can create bite issues and bone health degradation. You should choose a dental replacement option for the extracted lateral incisor before the date of the extraction.
A dental bridge is one potential dental replacement if you need the replacement in place quickly and have healthy natural teeth surrounding the extraction site. The bridge has a central artificial tooth flanked with dental crowns that are cemented to the natural teeth to provide support. A bridge looks fairly natural but doesn't feel as natural as an implant. The bridge also doesn't provide jawbone health promotion like a dental implant does.
A dental implant has an artificial tooth crown attached to a metal post embedded in the jawbone. The bone heals into place around the metal root to provide security and the root in turn promotes the jawbone health.
To learn more, visit websites like http://www.cresthillfamilydental.com.
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