Do you feel a sharp pain or a tingling sensation when you eat something hot or cold? You could be suffering from pulpitis, a condition in which the pulp inside your tooth becomes infected or inflamed. This inflammation may be reversible or not. The best way to be sure is by visiting Shreveport’s dentist for an examination and an appropriate remedy.

Causes of Pulpal Inflammation and Pain

Some of the common causes of damage to tooth’s pulp include physical trauma to the tooth, a deep cavity that extends close to the dental pulp, a cracked tooth, preparations for dental crown placement, repeated invasive dental procedures and bruxism or teeth clenching can cause the blood vessels in the pulp to get inflamed.

Dr. Ben Kacos reveals that when such inflammation is triggered, discomfort results since the blood vessels will be pressing on the nerves inside the pulp.

If this resultant pain comes when you eat something cold or hot and then subsides soon after, you could be having a reversible form of pulpitis. However, if that pain is intense and it lingers even if the temperature around it has changed, then you could be having irreversible pulpitis. This is especially likely if the pain you feel flares up without any clear trigger.

Time is of the essence when you feel tooth pain, so see Dr. Kacos immediately for timely management. Several diagnostic tests, including x-rays, may be needed to get to the bottom of the condition and design the right treatment plan.

How to Treat Reversible Pulpitis

The reversible forms of pulpitis can be treated by removing the root cause of the inflammation or irritation. For instance, your tooth may be so decayed that the pulp gets inflamed. In this case, removing the decayed portion and placing a dental filling on the tooth will allow the pulp to heal. In this way, you will have dealt with the condition decisively.

However, when reversible pulpitis is left untreated for long, the damage which triggered it can progress and cause irreversible pulpitis. This is due to the extensive damage and inflammation caused to the pulp.

Treating Irreversible Pulpitis

The common characteristic of irreversible pulpitis is that the pain and inflammation persist even when the cause of that inflammation has been eliminated. We asked our friend, Dr. Chris Green, a dentist in Parker, CO, about treating irreversible pulpitis. Dr. Green explains that this occurs because the dental pulp keeps dying off due to a shortage of blood to its tissues (blood can’t flow normally because the blood vessels are swollen).

Under normal circumstances, the body’s immune system eliminates any dead pulpal tissues. However, when a lot of dead tissue is present, the immune system may be overwhelmed and fails to cope appropriately. In that case, the dead tissue will accumulate and cause an abscess (a pus-filled sac) to form. The bacterial infection can then spread to the nearby bone and connective tissues. Even other parts of your body may end up being infected too.

At this point, you need to see an endodontist so that root canal therapy can be done to the infected tooth. This will stop the pain, but the damage cannot be undone. The final option if root canal therapy isn’t feasible is to extract that tooth. However, Dr. Ben Kacos usually avoids taking this step until all else has failed to save your tooth.

How to Prevent Pulpitis

Now that you have looked at the common causes of damage to tooth’s pulp, you might want to know how you can avert this problem before it happens. Shreveport’s dentist shares some of the preventive measures you can take.

First, be particular about brushing your teeth two times each day and flossing once a day. This will keep your teeth clean and free from the bacteria that can cause an infection that spreads to the dental pulp.

Secondly, see Dr. Ben Kacos regularly for an exam (at least once a year). During these visits, any decay will be identified early and treated before extensive damage is caused to your teeth.

If you play contact sports or suffer from bruxism (teeth grinding), you will be well advised to wear a mouthguard while you play. Mouthguards protect your teeth from potential damage due to those conditions.

Despite your best efforts to keep pulpitis away, you may still develop tooth sensitivity or pain. When that happens, alert Shreveport’s dentist immediately. When timely intervention is provided, you may prevent the pulpitis from progressing to an irreversible form that can cost you your tooth.