symptoms of failed root canal treatment
After a lengthy root canal treatment (RCT) Â procedure, most do ponder “How would I know whether it is a good job done?” Drifting on, our thoughts eventually go to whether the treatment has really saved our tooth. Is a root filling all you need to solve your woes? Continue reading
What is root canal therapy?
Root canal therapy is a series of treatment done to the pulp to remove the source of infection in the pulp and prevent further infection to the disinfected pulp, thus maintaining its health and vitality.
Root canal treatment, on the other hand, is carried out if the pulp is seriously infected, and when tests reveal that the pulp is irreversibly damaged or dead. Root canal treatment involves removal of the damaged or dead pulp content and sealing the root canal space with a suitable material eg. gutta percha. Continue reading
decayed teeth
Have a problem with tooth decay? Tooth decay or otherwise called caries has been a vast predicament that affects most dentate people. According to the United States Surgeon General’s report, caries is stated to be the most common chronic childhood disease of children aged 5 to 17 years and is five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever.
How does our tooth get caries?
Tooth decay is a demineralization process of hard tissues in our mouth that are contributed by four major factors namely bacterial microorganism, sugar (carbohydrates), tooth surface and time. Without this four factors decay would not occur. A community of haphazard collection of bacteria on your tooth is called plaque.
This bio film of plaque is capable of fermenting carbohydrate substrates (sugars like sucrose and glucose) and producing acid causing the plaque pH to fall below 5 within 1-3 minutes. Repeated falls in pH results in demineralisation of tooth surface and leads to carious lesion formed.
Tooth sensitivity
Tooth sensitivity is a common dental condition where the teeth becomes extremely sensitive to hot and cold, leading to tooth pain. It affects quite a number of adults, sometimes affecting their lifestyle where certain food with extreme temperatures such as ice-cream or hot coffee needs to be taken cautiously or in some cases, avoided completely.
Tooth sensitivity occurs due to the exposure of dentinal tubules layer of the teeth which is usually protected by enamel. There are a range of factors that can contribute to dentine exposure, such as tooth grinding, broken tooth, tooth erosion, defective tooth filling, tooth whitening, tooth straightening, dental crown or bridge work and so forth. These are explained as followed: Continue reading
Pulp death and dental abscess.Image taken from http://www.andoverdmd.com/treatment_root_canal.html
Endodontic treatment is a common dental procedure that removes damaged living tissue called “dental pulp” from inside the root canals of a tooth. The pulp contains blood vessels and nerves. It is often referred to as root canal treatment or root canal therapy.
Sometimes, the pulp inside the tooth becomes infected by bacteria or damaged by a traumatic injury to the tooth. However, the most common cause of pulp death is a fractured or cracked tooth and deep tooth cavity which can expose the pulp to the bacteria found in saliva. This can result in inflammation, infection and, eventually, necrosis (pulp death).
Endodontic treatment is also known as root canal treatment. It is a procedure to clean, shape and fill the root canals of a diseased tooth. Our anterior tooth (incisors and cuspid)Â has one canal normally except for lower anterior teeth whereby they may have two. Bicuspids and molars have more than one canal. Continue reading