Root Canal Treatment
A root canal is a treatment used to repair and save a tooth that is badly decayed or becomes infected. During a root canal procedure, the nerve and the pulp are removed and the inside of the tooth is cleaned and sealed with guttapercha. Without treatment, the tissue surrounding the tooth will become infected and abscesses may form and you might experience a lot of pain.
A pulpotomy occurs when the inflamed pulp chamber, usually on a baby molar, is removed, the area is sterilized and the chamber is sealed. It is sometimes called a baby tooth root canal, but it’s not really a root canal and in some cases can be done in permanent teeth, too. It helps maintain the baby tooth until the new one is ready to grow.
Space maintainers are small appliances placed in the mouth if a baby tooth had to be removed before normal exfoliation. They are recommended in order to prevent migration of the teeth and to avoid future need for braces.
Surgical incision and drainage is a fairly often used technique in oral surgery to treat dental infections which have progressed to oral swellings (abscesses). If cavities of the teeth are left untreated, they can eventually progress to infections that spread into the jaw bones and later into the surrounding soft tissues. Not only is this process extremely painful for the individual, but it might also be extremely dangerous. This is because untreated dental infections which have penetrated into the surrounding tissues can lead to a spreading of the infection to other parts of the body, including the brain or heart in a short period of time, causing severe illness.