Dental injuries can happen in an instant. Whether it’s a sports accident, a fall, biting into something hard, or even a car accident, mouth trauma can cause lasting damage deep inside your teeth.
Sometimes, the effects of trauma are visible and obvious — a fractured or cracked tooth, for instance. In those cases, the need for treatment is also obvious. But other times, the damage is internal, affecting the nerves and blood vessels that keep your tooth healthy and functional.
This type of internal tooth damage can’t always be treated with a simple filling or crown. Instead, you might need root canal therapy to treat underlying damage, preserve your tooth, and prevent infection or other complications.
At Compassionate Endodontists New York/NYC, our team specializes in treating dental trauma, using the most advanced diagnostic tools to map out every treatment plan. Here, learn how trauma damages teeth, how that damage can lead to a root canal, and how our team can help restore and protect your beautiful smile.
Your teeth are more than the white coating you see when you smile or brush your teeth. Inside each tooth is a softer central pulp portion — the part that contains the nerves and blood vessels for each tooth.
When you strike your mouth or bite down on something that’s too hard, you can injure the pulp, disrupting blood flow, damaging nerves, or triggering an inflammatory response deep inside the tooth. This damage can happen even if the outside of the tooth appears undamaged.
While pulp may heal on its own after very mild injuries, even a seemingly minor trauma can trigger internal damage that won’t go away without treatment. In fact, it often grows worse, leading to infections deep inside the tooth, at the tooth root, or in the bone and connective tissues that support the tooth.
Even tiny fissures or hairline cracks are large enough to let bacteria inside your tooth and gums. Many cracks are so tiny, they can’t be seen on your own — which is why it’s so important to schedule an evaluation with our team after any type of oral trauma.
Most dental injuries cause some degree of pain, either at the time of the injury or afterward. That said, discomfort isn’t the only warning sign you need to watch for. Other potential signs of internal tooth damage include:
Some teeth remain symptom-free for days or weeks after an injury, only flaring up when the internal damage has progressed to a more serious stage.
While traditional fillings treat damage in the superficial layers of your teeth, root canal therapy uses techniques designed to address issues affecting the pulp portion. During your treatment, we access the central part of the tooth and use special tools to remove the entire pulp portion that extends down one or more channels — or canals — extending from the center of the tooth all the way to the tip of the root.
Once the pulp is removed, we thoroughly clean the canals, disinfect them, seal them, and then fill them with a special, durable material to restore the tooth’s structure. In most cases, we cover the tooth with a crown to protect it and ensure it looks its best.
Our team is also skilled in other procedures focused on treating various types of traumatic damage, including deep cracks or fractures and root-tip damage. And of course, we also specialize in pain management techniques to keep you completely comfortable during and after your treatment.
Even minor dental injuries can become more serious and complicated when treatment is delayed. If you’ve had any type of dental injury, call 929-229-0255 or book an appointment online at Compassionate Endodontists New York/NYC in New York City today.
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