How do you know whether your tooth is infected or just enflamed?!


Question: How do you know whether your tooth is infected or just enflamed.?
.?.?.?Health Question & Answer


Answers:
the nerve inside your tooth may get irritated, say from trauma, a deep cavity, or temperature extremes.. An irritated nerve will get inflamed, like if you have a sliver in your finger and it gets puffy.. Now a tooth can get inflamed a little bit (hot or cold may bother where it never used to, but settles down quickly) and this is called reversible pulpitis.. Your tooth may recover from this.. A tooth can also get inflamed to the point where it will start to die (hot or cold sends you thru the roof and stays with you even after you swallowed the stuff) and this is called irreversibly inflamed pulpitis.. this tooth (nerve) will die.. Infection comes in when germs have made it into the pulp area and your body is trying to fight that off and/or clean out your own dead nerve tissue.. The tooth may be dead, but the pressure from the building infection hurts.. Usually there is no hot or cold sensitivity at this point, just pain.. So you can see that inflamation and infection are related, but not necessarily the same thing.. This is a simple description of a complex dental pathology, so don't get all riled up if you are a dental professional reading this..Health Question & Answer

Infected tooth = indications are INTERNAL; throbbing pain; tooth is sensitive to heat, cold, pressure; x-rays show infection;

Inflammed gums = VISUALLY OBVIOUS; red/pink puffy gums

Inflammed gums, due to gingivitis, should go away in a few weeks AFTER extra brushing, flossing and rinsing

An infected tooth with pain can come and go and may sometimes be accompanied by swelling, throbbing pain, sometimes ear aches for upper molars..

I hope this was helpful! Let me know if you would like anymore info! =)Health Question & Answer

If a tooth is inflamed, it IS infected.. However, make sure it is the tooth and not the gum.. Sometimes you can push down on the tooth and the pain will increase if there is infection inside..Health Question & Answer

I don't think there is a difference..Health Question & Answer



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