What Happens If You Don’t Get a Root Canal?
Your first reaction when hearing that you need a root canal to treat the excruciating toothache in a specific tooth would be to try to delay the treatment for as long as possible without realizing the consequences of not receiving the therapy. You would make every effort to avoid getting a root canal, making every excuse possible to leave the dentist’s office with the toothache accompanying you.
You might not realize you have a severe infection inside the affected tooth, causing pain and sensitivity to hot and cold temperatures when eating or drinking, and might even develop pimples around the tooth root, indicating the presence of a life-threatening issue in your mouth. You think root canals are fearsome because they cause severe pain making you vulnerable to considerable expenditure that you can avoid.
The infection in your tooth behaves mysteriously, leaving you momentarily only to return with more ferocity later. The dentist suggests a root canal only after examining your tooth by taking x-rays to determine the severity of the damage. If you decide not to have a root canal, the sole option is to have the tooth extracted and seek replacements with implants or bridges.
Why Are Root Canals Needed?
Root canal treatment becomes essential when you leave a cavity untreated in a tooth allowing it to expand and reach the soft center of your tooth containing the dental pulp. The pulp houses the connective tissue, blood vessels, and nerves nourishing the tooth during its development. An infection of the dental pulp causes it to become inflamed, making you susceptible to lingering pain and sensitivity in the tooth and causing the pimples to develop near the tooth roots.
Root canals also become necessary if you have a chipped or broken tooth that you didn’t get repaired with fillings to encourage your mouth bacteria to eventually penetrate the cracks and infect the dental pulp.
Dental pulp infections are best treated by getting a root canal to eradicate the disease and save your natural tooth. If you refuse the treatment or delay it beyond a specific time, the only option available is to remove the tooth to prevent the infection from spreading to the neighboring teeth, your jawbone, and your entire body when the bacteria enter your bloodstream. To avoid the complications caused by infection, root canals become necessary to preserve your natural tooth by eliminating the disease.
Root Canals and Dental Anxiety
The dentist in spirit Lake, IA, receives many patients with dental anxiety whether they need root canals or routine dental checkups. Dental anxiety is prevalent among 30 percent of the population globally, and Americans are no exception. If people express fear when visiting dentists, even for routine exams and cleanings root canals are no exception because they are considered a painful treatment.
Discomfort is undoubtedly expected when receiving a root canal but it only affects you the dentist performs the treatment and not when receiving it. Dentists providing root canals are experts in pain management and will ensure you experience no pain or anxiety when receiving the treatment. They provide sedation for anxiety management and local anesthesia in the mouth for pain management before drilling your tooth. Next, they remove the infected or inflamed dental pulp, clean the canals, and fill and seal them with a rubber-like biocompatible material, gutta-percha. Finally, the dentist advises you to restore the tooth after you recover with a dental crown to give it back its strength and functionality.
You will experience discomfort after about six hours of receiving a root canal when the anesthesia starts wearing off. However, you receive a prescription or suggestions for taking over-the-counter painkillers to help relieve the pain, besides instructions not to bite with the treated tooth until you recover and restore it with a dental crown. In addition, the dentist suggests relying on soft foods during your recovery and refraining from consuming crunchy and complex foods for fear of irritating the affected tooth and developing complications.
After you restore your tooth with a dental crown, you can continue using it for many years without feeling that the dental pulp within no longer exists. It also serves as an education not to leave cavities or damage untreated to become vulnerable to infections inside the tooth that need root canals to eliminate them.
When you don’t get a root canal, as Great Lakes Dental Associates suggested, you become a victim of the consequences of an infection, making you susceptible to enduring immense pain unless you treat the tooth. In addition, the condition also causes tooth loss because of extraction. Therefore, if the facility suggests this treatment, ensure that you receive it immediately to save your natural tooth.