Root Canals among Children Are Not Uncommon

You probably shake with fear whenever you hear the name root canal mentioned before you. What would be your reaction if the pediatric dentist Columbia recommended root canal treatment for your child? Whether you like it or not, your child’s anxiety with the excruciating tooth pain they feel will make you wonder what your child did to deserve this fearsome therapy. However, if you spare a moment to realize why the dentist recommended this particular treatment for your child, you will recognize the therapy alleviates the discomfort your child endures and provides them an opportunity to preserve their natural tooth.

Your child may have the best dental hygiene regimen leaving them without any infections in their mouths. The common perception behind root canals is the treatment is merely required if you leave a dental disease untreated in the mouth for long to allow oral bacteria to infect the dental pulp. However, children are unlike adults and always playing around or falling. They may not report a chip or crack in their tooth because they wouldn’t know how oral bacteria use the damages to penetrate the tooth until they reach the dental pulp.

When children develop deep infections in their tooth, they report excruciating pain when chewing or biting and lingering sensitivity to hot and cold temperatures in the affected tooth, requiring you to schedule an appointment with the pediatric dentist in Colombia, SC, to understand what’s wrong with your child’s tooth.

Will You Express Surprise after the Dentists Evaluation?

You may express surprise hearing the pediatric dentist recommend root canal treatment near you is the optimal method to alleviate the pain your child feels and preserve their natural tooth. If you are not aware of pediatric root canals, you will do well to understand children can have this therapy on baby teeth and permanent teeth. You may think baby teeth will soon fall out and require no attention. However, can you let your child endure the intense pain or suffer from infections in their mouths that can also affect their overall health? If not, you must inquire with the dentist how to prepare your child for the treatment and get the endodontic therapy completed as soon as possible.

Preparing Your Child for Root Canal Treatment

Root canal Colombia, SC, will give you instructions on preparing your child for root canal therapy. First, you can talk to your kid, explaining the procedure and why they need it. You can expect your child to express fear about the process. However, you must help your kid understand what happens during the procedure, informing them they will receive sufficient medications to ensure they don’t experience any pain.

Depending on how old your child is, the dentist takes x-rays of results affected tooth to examine the area thoroughly. X-rays help the dentist determine the extent of the infection besides the size and shape of the root canal.

Your child will receive adequate anesthesia to prevent pain and anxiety while undergoing the treatment. They also receive antibiotics after the procedure to prevent infections. As a parent, you must provide the dentist with your child’s entire medical history and any allergic reactions to ensure smooth treatment.

The Root Canal Procedure

After providing sufficient anesthesia, Dr. Harold Jablon isolates your child’s tooth with a dental dam to ensure the treatment area is not contaminated with saliva during the procedure. The dentist must drill the affected tooth to expose the dental pulp and root canals, making a tiny access hole in the tooth’s crown.

After drilling the tooth, the dentist uses tiny flexible instruments to remove the infected or inflamed pulp from the pulp chamber and cleans the canals before disinfecting and shipping them for a filling. Next, the hollow space is filled with rubber-like biocompatible material gutta-percha along with adhesives to ensure the canals are sealed. The access hole in the tooth’s crown also gets a temporary filling that needs replacement with a permanent filling after your child has healed from root canal treatment.

Discomfort after Root Canal Treatment

Your child will undoubtedly experience discomfort after the anesthesia they received begins wearing off. They may also complain about pain and soreness in their cheeks and facial area. However, it is a natural feeling after any surgical procedure, and the dentist would have provided prescriptions for painkillers to alleviate the discomfort. You also receive instructions not to allow your child to eat with the treated tooth until it is restored with a permanent filling or dental crown.

Root canals among children as young as two are reported as successful in helping the child retain their baby teeth. Therefore if your child receives a recommendation for root canal treatment, accept the dentist’s suggestion as a method of eradicating an infection from your child’s mouth.