Infected Tooth or Gums

As tooth decay progresses, it can destroy the layers of our teeth to reach the inner tooth pulp that helps keep our tooth alive. Once the pulp becomes infected, it can be extremely painful. Although your dentist may be able to save your tooth with a root canal, the infection could warrant a tooth removal if it’s advanced.

You could also have advanced gum disease, which may be creating an infection in your gums and in turn, making your teeth hurt. Gum disease can attack the ligaments that keep our teeth connected to our jaw, therefore leading to loose teeth and toothaches. If you’re experiencing a foul taste in your mouth along with pain, get yourself to a dentist as soon as possible!

Bruxism

Bruxism, also known as teeth grinding, is extremely damaging to teeth. It puts a huge amount of pressure on your pearly whites and cause injury to the teeth, such as cracks or chips. Bruxism is also a common reason that teeth ache or hurt, especially during times of stress or upon first waking in the morning.

If you believe you’re experiencing tooth grinding, schedule an appointment with your dentist. Although this isn’t a dental emergency, the sooner you can get yourself to the dentist, the less damage your teeth will accrue.

Injury

If you’ve received an injury to your mouth or face that’s resulted in a knocked-out or broken tooth, this is a dental emergency and you need to get to a dentist or the emergency room as soon as possible. If you’ve had an injury that’s not resulted in a direct impact to your teeth but is still resulting in a toothache, schedule an appointment with your dentist as soon as you’re able. He or she can take x-rays to determine if there’s any damage to your jaw.

Decay

Tooth decay can get severe enough to cause an infection, but it doesn’t have to get to that point in order for it to cause pain. Even advanced cavities that have not yet reached the tooth pulp can still cause toothaches. The sooner you see a dentist, the better!

Dry Socket

If you’ve recently had a tooth extracted such as from wisdom tooth removal, you’re at risk to develop dry socket. This happens when the blood clot that has formed over the empty tooth socket to protect it and help it heal has been dislodged. Dry socket exposes your jaw bone to air, food, and bacteria. This can be extremely painful and should be seen by a dentist immediately. Fortunately, dry socket affects less than 10% of people who get a tooth removed.

Are you experiencing a toothache? Don’t let the pain go on for days or even weeks. Dentists are trained to quickly identify the problem and effectively treat your pain. Whether you have an injury, cavity, or infection, your dentist can help!

The post Is a Toothache Really That Serious? appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

White Spots

As our teeth are constantly exposed to acidic foods, our enamel takes a beating. Brushing and flossing our teeth helps to keep the bad bacteria away, but depending on our diet and dental hygiene, tooth enamel can still get damaged even with regular care.

When enamel is damaged, you can often see a white spot on your tooth that’s a different color from the rest of your teeth. This is a sign that your enamel has been damaged and a cavity may soon be forming. This stage of tooth decay is reversible!

Enamel Decay

During enamel decay, your tooth enamel will start breaking down beneath the surface. If enamel decay persists, the surface of the tooth will be affected, at which point the damage is irreversible. Once you notice that your enamel has been damaged—which is usually evident by a dark spot on the tooth—the cavity will need to be repaired by your dentist with a filling. The smaller your cavity is, the easier your dentist will be able to fill the hole without any additional problems.

Dentin Decay

Dentin is a softer component of your tooth that’s protected by your tooth enamel. However, once enamel decay has taken place, the dentin is now subject to harm. This is when the decay moves past your tooth enamel and into the dentin.

Although this stage isn’t reversible, your dentist is still able to repair this damage with a simple filling. If your tooth decay is left to progress beyond this point, you’ll begin experiencing the pain of a toothache and perhaps even pulp infection.

Infection of the Pulp

After the decay goes through your enamel and your dentin, the next tissue it has left to reach is your tooth pulp. Your tooth pulp is essentially the living part of your tooth that houses connective tissue and nerves. Your tooth pulp will get infected as a result of the decay, which can cause pus and death of the blood vessels and nerves inside the tooth. At this point, the tooth begins to die and a filling will no longer fix the problem—you’ll need root canal therapy to save the tooth.

Abscess

If the problem still progresses beyond this point, the infection will eat through your tooth pulp and begin to infect the bones and ligaments that support the tooth. This is painful for most patients. This causes a pocket of infection that will be physically visible on the outside of your gums or even your cheeks. At this point, a root canal could still save the tooth, or you may need to have the tooth extracted.

Throughout these five stages, you have plenty of opportunity to stop the decay as well as to treat it. Once the enamel is damaged, your dentist will need to fill in the tooth. Notice the white spots that could mean enamel damage, and always get regular checkups with your dentist to catch cavities while they’re still small!

The post The Five Stages of Cavity Formation appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

Reduce Injury Risk – A custom mouthguard is less likely to bruise or cut your face when you take a hit than a store-bought guard. Custom guards also reduce the risk of jaw dislocation, tooth loss, and neck injury. The guard acts as a buffer during impact so that the teeth do not puncture soft tissue or each other. The force of a hit is redistributed to cause minimal or no damage to the teeth and jaw. Perhaps one of the most important functions of the guard is to protect against concussions that can cause brain damage and potentially end an athlete’s career. The guard does this by absorbing much of the shock caused by the jaws being slammed together.

Designed for Comfort – Custom guards feel better than generic guards. This increases the likelihood that a player will actually wear the guard and be protected from injury. This is vital because one study showed players without a mouthpiece are 60 times as likely to suffer an injury to their teeth.

Improve Performance – Custom guards do not affect speech or breathing like a generic guard might. This allows an athlete to communicate effectively with teammates. It also allows the athlete to get the oxygen needed for optimal gameplay. Breathing properly allows a player to perform better and last longer.

The benefits of a custom fit sports mouthguard are clear. You get better protection than you would from a store bought mouthguard. The custom fit also encourages use of the guard because it is comfortable and does not affect gameplay like a poor fitting guard might.

Because of the dangers of playing without a guard, we encourage all athletes to have a custom fit guard made as soon as possible. If you are currently using a store bought guard, it is time to up your game and give your neck, head, and mouth more protection by upgrading to custom fit.

The post Sports Mouthguards: Custom Fit for More Protection appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.