I went for a check up, which is covered by my insurance completely. While there, he told me I need a root canal treatment. I was a bit surprised about that because none of my teeth bother me. I was wondering if I DO need a root canal treatment, how long can I wait to get it without it causing a problem?
Jeff
Dear Jeff,
Your question is interesting. Without seeing the tooth I can give general advice.
Recognizing an Active Infection
Here are some things to look for that may tell you it is time to see a dentist. In some of these cases, I would consider it a dental emergency.
- If you have a pimple on your gums, where the root of the tooth would be, this means the tooth is abcessed.
- If there is any drainage.
- If the tooth is hurting. This is true even if it is only hurting a little bit.
- If it has recently been hurting and has stopped.
None of these currently apply to you, so you are probably able to wait, at least for a little while. If you do need a root canal, you seem to have what is known as an arrested infection.
One colleague told me about a patient of his who was able to go a little over ten years before he finally decided to have it done. It wasn’t bothering him, but he didn’t want to wait until it was. The really interesting thing about this was that when he finally did have the root canal treatment done he commented a few weeks later to my colleague that he felt better than he had in years. Apparently, the arrested infection was causing some fatigue in his body.
While in that man’s case, everything turned out fine, you do run the risk of root resorption where the root of the tooth is slowly eaten away. This will make the tooth unsaveable. Instead of getting a root canal, you will need a tooth extraction and then some type of tooth replacement, such as a dental implant.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. Steven Collins.