Your teeth are living beings indicating they have a lifespan after which they can die. Unfortunately, tooth demise often occurs because of physical trauma like deep cavities and cracks. Reclaiming dead teeth by infusing life in them is possible using root canal treatments. However, if you wish to understand how the process works, knowing the tooth anatomy helps.
The visible portion you notice in your mouth is the crown and the base of the tooth lying beneath the gums, and your jawbone is the root. Your tooth is comprised of three layers which are the enamel, dentin, and finally, the soft center of the tooth, the dental pulp.
The dental pulp is home to the blood vessels, connective tissue, and nerves. The pulp is often inaccurately referred to as the nerve. Damages to the pulp can occur if the layers of the deep are cracked or worn, leading to infections caused by liquid pressure, gases, or bacteria. You might experience excruciating pain in the tooth before its death.
Your teeth are deemed dead when they have no blood flowing through them, making them incapable of sustaining life. Dead teeth are referred to in different terms but are often called nonvital teeth and necrotic pulp.
After the death of a tooth, it falls out by itself sooner or later. However, the dentist in Gilbert, AZ, recommends not to retain the dead tooth in the mouth because of the harm it can create. The lifeless tooth can harm your remaining teeth and jawbone to assume dangerous proportions. Depending on the extent of the damage, you might have a dead tooth in your mouth for weeks, months, or years before it eventually falls out. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait before it creates a gap in your mouth because you can visit the dental office near you to remove the dead tooth.
As mentioned earlier, leaving a dead tooth in your mouth is fraught with complications because the infection can spread. However, spreading infections is not the only fear because you might even have issues like bad breath and impacted appearance. Dead teeth make themselves visible by discoloring and appearing darkened and distracting. Your lousy breath also prevents people from talking to you.
After the nerves in the tooth fizzle out and die, an option before you to save your tooth is to get root canal treatment. The procedure is painless and completed by the dentist in one or two appointments. Dentists provide adequate anesthesia to ensure you experience no discomfort during this procedure that helps preserve your natural tooth by removing the infection within and cleaning the inside of the tooth. Unfortunately, if your tooth dies even after root canal therapy, the sooner the dead tooth is removed from your mouth, the better.
After your tooth sustains damage or infections, it is only a matter of time before its final days arrive. Depending on the extent of the damage, the tooth might die within days or months. You might notice darkened or discolored teeth indicating the tooth is on its way out.
When you have a tooth that is dying, it appears different from your other teeth appearing yellow, grey, light brown, and black in some cases. After you begin experiencing these symptoms, instead of waiting for the tooth to drop out of your mouth, you must visit the Gilbert dentist to deal with it before your condition worsens. A dead or dying tooth left in the mouth might not cause severe damage immediately. However, leaving it in your mouth for too long is harmful to your remaining teeth and can even affect your jawbone. Instead of inviting multiple complications in your mouth, wouldn’t you consider it better to have the dead tooth sent to its grave when you still have time?
Dead teeth in your mouth are harmful and will not benefit you besides creating additional problems. Therefore if you have one in your mouth, the better option is to contact Coral Pointe Dental & Orthodontics for a solution to have the dead tooth removed to safeguard your overall health. You can even request replacement solutions to close the gap in your mouth but must have the harmful tooth eliminated from your mouth as soon as possible.