Until you experience tooth pain, it’s hard to fully understand how frustrating it is.
You bite into a juicy steak at a birthday dinner or a frozen treat on a hot summer day and all the anticipation of something delicious is destroyed by a sudden shooting pain in your mouth.
You write it off as a one-time thing, but also find yourself unconsciously eating on the other side of your mouth for the rest of your meal.
Read on the find out if you have been experiencing signs you need a root canal. Regardless, if you’re experiencing significant tooth pain, you should schedule a checkup with your dentist.
What is a Root Canal?
Mention “root canal” to most people and their reaction will be some variation of cringing slightly to outright horror. But they’re actually quite common and certainly not something you need to be afraid of.
The term root canal refers to both the passages inside a tooth and the dental procedure. If your dentist tells you that you have root canal symptoms, it means that these passages have become damaged.
Simply put, the procedure clears out the infected materials by removing the nerves and blood vessels. Although the tooth is dead afterward, the procedure is essential to preserve the tooth.
5 Signs You Need a Root Canal
We’ve listed some of the most common symptoms of needing a root canal here in order of severity from least to most severe.
1. You Always Have Food Stuck in Your Teeth
If you always feel like there’s food stuck in your teeth, then it could be that there’s a gap somewhere in your mouth where things are getting stuck. This will start as a small gap and a minor pain, but over time, as the gap increases in size, you’ll start to experience pain in your gums and teeth.
2. You Experience Spontaneous Pain
There are different types of tooth and jaw pain. It can manifest as a dull ache nagging at you all day or it can be a sudden and inexplicable pain. If you are experiencing the latter, it could be due to a nerve being exposed. If this pain is significant, make an appointment with your dentist immediately.
3. You Need Painkillers to Manage Recurring Pain
Humans have an incredible ability to push things, pain included, out of their mind if it doesn’t seem like an immediate problem. If you find yourself constantly taking painkillers because of tooth pain, you may just be allowing a tooth infection or some other health issue to get worse.
4. You Find Bumps On Your Gums
If bumps or pimples appear on your gums, this is a sign of tooth infection. Even if these bumps go away on their own, you should still make an appointment with your dentist otherwise you’re leaving the infection untreated.
5. You Feel a Hole In Your Teeth
A hole in one of your teeth is definitely a cause for concern. You’ll most likely notice things catching on it and start to poke it with your tongue. Chances are extremely likely that you will need a root canal to prevent the loss of the tooth.
Don’t Wait on Treating Tooth Pain
If you’re experiencing any of these signs you need a root canal, you need to see your dentist immediately.
Contact Collaborative Dental in La Mesa, San Diego for gentle dental work from experienced dentists.
