If you are feeling sharp pain within one of your teeth and your dentist diagnoses an infection of the root within your tooth, don't expect him to prescribe a round of antibiotics. Instead, expect him to discuss either extracting your tooth or performing a root canal to clear up the infection.
Antibiotics Don't Help
Taking a course of antibiotics will not clear up a bacterial infection deep inside the tooth because the source of the infection is the pulp and the nerves inside your tooth. You can obtain relief from some of the symptoms of your tooth infection; the antibiotics will also be helpful once you have undergone your root canal surgery. The reason antibiotics will be no good in clearing up an infection inside your tooth is because there is no blood supply which would help in getting the medication to the site of infection.
Surgery
When a previous root canal has failed--the infection has returned--or when you have an initial root canal infection, your dental surgeon will make the decision with you regarding preserving your tooth or extracting it. If you decide to save the tooth, he will insert a surgical operating microscope so he can see clearly inside your tooth. He will find the root end and the infection which has established itself inside your tooth. He will surgically remove a small amount--approximately three millimeters--by shaving it off. The infection will be scraped away, called an apicoectomy. The root end is then prepared and a filling is put in to seal the canal. Another purpose of this root filling is to prevent a leakage of possible contamination.
Indicators for a Root Canal
If you are undergoing another dental procedure and you have a tooth that will not respond to the numbing injection or if the surface of your tooth hurts when it is touched, this might indicate an infection of the tooth pulp. This infection is irreversible except through surgery.
After a restorative procedure is done, you may continue to feel a sensitivity to temperature change that does not improve or disappear in three weeks or less. This sensitivity could become worse. You may also be unable to adjust to the crown placed on your tooth. You may also feel a generalized, diffuse soreness on the teeth surrounding the tooth which was restored.
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