How Serious is Tooth Resorption?
Dental Health is as serious as you make it. Your overall health is reflected in your dental health, as evidenced by the correlation between dental health and heart health. Allowing severe infections and disease to proliferate within your mouth is a recipe for disaster, and bad breath. At the first sign of dental decay, please, make an appointment with your care team and get it checked out. Your Dentist is not here to cause your anxiety or pain, they invest a lot of time and energy into making sure you and your teeth enjoy a long happy life.
Tooth Resorption
Resorption is a biologic term that refers to tissue absorption, in the act of saving healthy tissues and eliminating unhealthy ones. In dentistry it often refers to the absorption of Dentin, Cementum, healthy gum tissues–and the presence of odontoclasts. Odontoclasts are cells that help to signal the resorption of baby teeth, which leads to them falling out to make room for adult teeth. When they begin popping up in and around adult teeth, something is going on. If untreated, resorption will lead to tooth loss, severe infection, and potentially disease like TMJ.
How to Diagnose Tooth Resorption
Begin as always by seeing your dentist. Call first and discuss your symptoms, schedule an appointment and get yourself checked out. Your dental care team will require updated x rays in order to see the progress of the resorption. They can use the x rays to see if the tooth is hollow, or the underlying root structures are compromised. This will help them to prematurely identify things like shifting teeth or the loss of the teeth themselves.
Treatment for Tooth Resorption
Tooth Resorption can be treated in multiple ways. Firstly hygiene will be implemented. Both at home and restorative hygiene in office to clean and maintain sanitary conditions for your teeth. Then, the dentist can make several decisions.
1. Root Canal- The Dentist may opt to try to remove harmful tissues in the pocket or fill the affected area. This is an attempt to save the healthy tissues of the tooth and allow them to regrow and reintegrate to create a strong base.
2. Tissue Removal- A less invasive pocket may be exposed in order to remove harmful tissue from the gums. Specifically removing those which are most infected or inflamed to save the otherwise useful tissues.
3. Tooth Extraction- If action is not taken soon enough, the whole system may be so compromised that the tissues have to be removed and the tooth has to be extracted. Once the area is cleaned and recovered, replacement options can be explored.
Taking care after treatment
Once you have gone through this experience, take it for a learning lesson. Do not let yourself wait so long next time to seek help. Seek treatment and consultation early, and reinvest yourself in dental hygiene. It’s all about the routine: brush twice, floss once, use mouthwash, and attend your cleanings and examinations. Make it a high impact/low urgency part of your everyday routine, until it happens without you having to make it happen.