If you’re experiencing intense pain in your tooth, you might have infected tooth pulp. At Addisville Dental in Richboro, Pennsylvania, Harsimrat Sandhu, DDS treats infected tooth pulp with safe and effective root canals, which enable her to restore your tooth without the need for an extraction. Schedule your visit today by calling the office or making an appointment online.

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What is a root canal treatment?

A root canal treatment is a procedure that Dr. Sandhu performs when the pulp inside your tooth has become inflamed.

The inside of your tooth has a series of channels, called root canals, that contain a soft tissue called pulp. Your pulp is made up of nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissues, and it can become swollen and inflamed as a result of bacterial decay or physical trauma to your tooth. When your pulp swells, it pushes up against the inside of your tooth, which is incredibly painful because it pinches its nerves.

In a root canal treatment, Dr. Sandhu carefully extracts the swollen pulp from your tooth without affecting the rest of your tooth. This is a great step forward from the old way of treating swollen pulp, which was to just extract the tooth entirely.

What are the signs of damaged tooth pulp?

Some of the symptoms of infected, damaged, or swollen tooth pulp include:

  • Intense pain in your tooth
  • Increased sensitivity to hot and col
  • A darker or discolored tooth
  • Tender or swollen gums
  • Pus around your gum line
  • A small, pimple-like pocket near your tooth root

If you don’t treat infected tooth pulp, it only gets worse and can develop into more severe conditions, including:

  • Tooth loss
  • Formation of an abscess
  • Infection of nearby teeth, jaw, or bloodstream

If you have an infected tooth, don’t delay getting treatment. Addisville Dental even offers same-day and emergency appointments in order to get you the prompt care you might need.

What happens when I get a root canal?

Dr. Sandhu drills a small hole in the crown of your tooth in order to access your pulp. Then, she uses a series of small files to scrape out all of the decayed or diseased tissue within.

When your tooth is free of damaged pulp, she sterilizes it, cleans it, and fills the empty pulp chamber and root canals with a natural rubber called gutta percha. She then seals the access hole she drilled in the top of your tooth and fits you with a crown so that your tooth stays strong, functional, and free from infection.

Schedule your root canal treatment today by calling Addisville Dental or booking a visit online.