Root Canal Infection Identified

Despite the death of a tooth, infection within deceased teeth can foster and grow, as a root canal infection.  If a tooth is dead, blood no longer flows to what was once the inner component of that tooth.  As a result, with the lack of any blood flow, there is no mode for which the deceased tooth can receive valued protective immune cells to destroy the occurrence of infection.

Progression of Root Canal Infection

Therefore, the infection develops within the dead tooth, and spreads its expansive ill bacterium to the surrounding bone.  Inflammation, in correlation with the infection, builds and creates a pressure that, in turn, forces the tooth upward from its socket.  The afflicted person then senses that the tooth is elevated upon biting.  Eventually, the escalated root canal infection can spread to other regions within the face, and, later, progress its ill effects to the skull.

Biology of a Root Canal Infection

As a root canal infection emerges within the dead tooth, the body’s biology launches its defenses to the oral areas that are adjacent to the tooth.  Ultimately, the developing bacterium brings the onset of inflammation to the afflicted tooth. Soon, the affected nerve related to the deceased tooth realizes pain.  To alleviate the pain, antibiotics can be administered, although such medications only mask the core of the problem, which is identified as the dead nerve.  The established root canal infection is fueled by dead nerve tissue, despite that the antibiotics have temporarily relieved the pain, though fail to cure the ailment.

Progressive Root Canal Infection

If the initial pain brought about by the eruption of a root canal infection has been resolved through administering antibiotics, the affected individual may believe that the problem has been resolved.  Such resolution is only temporary, as the root canal infection progresses.  Upon a re-occurrence of the afflicted tooth’s pain, the condition has obviously worsened to a heightened degree of severity, necessitating endodontic therapy immediately to eradicate the increasing problem.  Should the biology of the body and the root canal infection arrive at what could be considered as a middle ground, a condition clinically referred to as a dental abscess can form.  The complications that surrounds such an abscess can maintain itself within the jawbone of a patient for a long duration, as it continually feeds a combination of dead and live bacteria into the bloodstream, risking effects to overall bodily health.  In this elevated stage of root canal infection, only two remedies exist within the field of dentistry – root canal therapy or a dental extraction.

Dental Abscess as a Consequence of Root Canal Infection

A small ball of pus encompassed by a region of tissue that is inflamed within the oral cavity constitutes a dental abscess.  In relevance to root canal infection, this pus is an accumulation of liquefied dead and live bacteria, dead nerve tissue and white blood cells.  The dental pain that is realized by the patient is a result of the pressure of the ever-expanding pus ball, fortified by infection, and intensified through inflammation.