Does it hurt to touch your tooth?

When you bite down, does the pain just whip from your tooth, right through your jaw?

Do you have a swollen lump on the gums surrounding your tooth?

There are many signs and symptoms that let you know when you need a root canal, but it is the whole picture that helps your dentist determine the extent and type of endodontic treatment that you need. A root canal is needed when the soft tissue inside of the tooth becomes infected, inflamed, or begins to die. These things can cause a number of nagging symptoms to lead you to the need for a root canal.

These common symptoms are all possible signs of the need for root canal therapy:

sensitivity to hot and/or cold

pain when biting or chewing

pain to touch

gum tenderness

swelling in the gums and/or through the face

lump(s) surrounding a tooth

injury to a tooth

graying of the tooth

How Will It Help?

Root canal therapy eliminates the pain and discomfort of symptoms by removing the decaying nerve tissue inside a tooth and replacing it with permanent material, thus getting you out of pain! It doesn't have to be uncomfortable to get treatment either! With the technology and medication that we have today, Drs. can get you out of pain quickly and less invasively than ever before! Ask us about how we can make you more comfortable!

Tooth Pain

Tooth pain can be debilitating and unbearable. It affects your quality of life. When you experience any of the above symptoms, it is recommended that you contact your dentist or endodontist immediately to find out what you might need to do in order to improve your comfort. Your dentist and/or endodontist will go through a series of thermal and percussion tests along with radiographs (x-rays) that will help them diagnose the exact cause of your discomfort.

If your discomfort arises from an infection, they may prescribe antibiotics to get a handle on the environment, after which root canal therapy ensures that the problem does not arise again.

Can you get lucky?

Wouldn't it be nice to know before the symptoms start? Wouldn't it be great if that happened in all cases?

Sometimes, you don't have to have the pain. Sometimes, the problem can only be seen through radiographic diagnosis and your dentist will find it in your routine preventative exams. They may inform you of the need for root canal therapy without having to experience the uncomfortable symptoms that come along with the radiographic findings at a later time.

It is easy to be skeptical of the need for a root canal when you don't have the discomfort common with the need. This is the best time to consult an endodontist though! Finding this before the pain, you have more time to understand and prepare for your root canal treatment, making your treatment easier on you.