How to Treat Tooth Abscess?

A tooth abscess is a critical infection that starts from either a tooth or the gums around a tooth. Such an infection can be very uncomfortable, painful, and causing serious problems to a person’s health. The treatment for an abscessed tooth depends on the severity of the infection, and whether it came from the gum or the tooth:

• In most cases, if the abscess is of significant size, taking antibiotics is necessary before any treatment.
• If the abscess comes from the tooth, a root canal should be done on that tooth by cleaning all of the infection inside and sealing the canals of the tooth. Eventually placing a crown allows a proper treatment.
• If the abscess comes from the gums instead of the tooth, drainage and curettage may be needed..

Full article: How Can You Treat a Tooth Abscess?
Source: Dental Abscess
In French: Traiter un abcès dentaire

Is a Tooth Alive?

Can teeth be considered as being alive? Well a tooth cannot move around on its own and reproduce like any other living organism. Also, a tooth cannot develop by itself if it is not inside a living body. But a tooth, like all other organs, has a flow of nerves and blood vessels. This blood flow helps it grow and mature before it emerges in the mouth.

When a tooth has completed its development and is located in its right position on the jaw, it does not really need the nerves and blood vessels located in its pulp chamber. A tooth can remain functional without needing blood and nerves that originally helped it progress to maturity. That is why a tooth that has had a root canal can remain in a person’s mouth for a lifetime and play its purpose of chewing and eating.

Full article: Are Teeth Alive?
In French: Est-ce qu’une dent est vivante?

Leaving a Cavity Untreated

Cavity's bacteria

What might happen if you leave a cavity in your mouth without treating it? Tooth decay is like an infection. It is made of harmful microscopic bugs that use sugar to attack teeth. With time this creates a little hole in a tooth, and if not repaired with a filling, the cavity continues to grow.

If a cavity is not treated it can destroy a good part of the tooth, making it hard to be rapaired with a conventional filling. If a lot of the tooth is gone, only a crown can fix it.

If the decay’s micro-organisms reach the pulp chamber, where the nerve and blood vessels are located, then the pulp becomes irritated and infected. This can eventually lead to an abscess which can be very painful. Only a root canal can fix a tooth when its pulp is infected, and a crown is then probably needed as a final restoration.

There are also situations where a tooth is so much destroyed by a cavity that nothing can be done to fix it, not even a root canal and a crown. In that case the tooth would sadly need to be extracted.

Full article: What Happens if You Don’t Treat a Cavity?
In French: Laisser une carie sans la traiter

Abscess Fracturing a Tooth

Can a tooth abscess really fracture a tooth? Of course, if it’s left there for a long time! A tooth abscess that has originated from a tooth is caused by a big cavity that has reached the pulp chamber. When the abscess is big and painful, there is a good chance that the cavity is also huge and compromises the integrity of the tooth. If it is not treated, the tooth might break apart to a point that no treatment can restore it, eventually needing to be extracted. If the fracture is not too big, the tooth might be restored by a root canal and a crown.

An abscess might also originate from the gums and not from a tooth itself. In that case, gum disease must be treated in order to eliminate the abscess. Daily oral hygiene care, including brushing and flossing, are very important to prevent gum disease.

An abscess is made of infection, and whether it originates from the gums or from a tooth, it is a bad thing to have in the mouth because the bacteria can enter your body and reach other organs. This can complicate diseases such as diabetes and caridiovascular disease.

Depending of how big the abscess is, usually prior to any treatments, antibiotic medication should be taken to control it. But put in mind that the antibiotic effect is only temporary and permanent treatment should be done.

Full Article: Can an Abscess Cause a Tooth to Break Apart?
In French: Abcès qui fracture une dent?

Why Would Someone Need a Root Canal?

No one wants to be announced by the dentist that a tooth needs a root canal. Here are some of the main reasons why a tooth should get root canal therapy. Knowing those circumstances might also help to prevent them:

• An infection that is at the apex of a tooth (periapical lesion) means that the whole pulp tissue is irritated or infected. A periapical lesion can only be seen on an x-ray. In this case the tooth needs a root canal, following antibiotic therapy.
• A cavity can grow and reach the dental pulp chamber, where the pulp tissue is located, including the nerve. The bacteria contained in the decay infect the pulp directly and the tooth would need root canal therapy to stop the infection.
• If a tooth has had an advanced fracture, and there is not enough tooth material left to repair it with a conventional filling, root canal therapy must be done on that tooth to be able to put a post that will hold a filling or a crown.
• If a tooth has suffered from trauma, the pulp can be irritated permanently and needs to be removed from the tooth by root canal therapy.
• The dental pulp can also be irritated by a filling that is too deep, which was done by a dentist following tooth decay that was very at a very advanced stage.

Source: Root Canal Therapy
In French: Pourquoi aurait-on besoin d’un traitement de canal?