Traumatic Injuries

Dislodged Teeth

Injuries to the mouth can cause teeth to be pushed back into their sockets. Your endodontist or general dentist may reposition and stabilize your tooth. Root canal treatment is usually started within a few weeks of the injury and a medication, such as calcium hydroxide, will be placed inside the tooth. Eventually, a permanent root canal filling will be placed.

Sometimes a tooth may be pushed partially out of the socket. Again, your endodontist or general dentist may reposition and stabilize your tooth. If the pulp remains healthy, then no other treatment is necessary. However, often the pulp becomes damaged or infected and root canal treatment will be required.

Avulsed Teeth

If an injury causes a tooth to be completely knocked out of your mouth, it is important that you are treated immediately! If this happens to you, keep the tooth moist. If possible, put it back into the socket. A tooth can be saved if it remains moist. You can even put the tooth in milk or a glass of water (add a pinch of salt.) Your Endodontist may start root canal treatment based upon the stage of root development. The length of time the tooth was out of your mouth and the way the tooth was stored, may influence the type of treatment you receive.

Injuries in children

An injured immature tooth may need one of the following procedures to improve the chances of saving the tooth:

Apexogenesis

This procedure is done to encourage continued root development as the pulp heals. The pulp is covered with special medication which encourages continued root growth as the child gets older. In turn, the walls of the root canal will also thicken, decreasing the possibility of a future root fracture. If the pulp heals, no additional treatment will be necessary. The more mature the root becomes, the better the chance to save the tooth.

Regenerative Endodontics

Cutting edge research is currently developing techniques that will allow new pulp to grow into the root of young necrotic undeveloped teeth, using a patient’s own stem cells. In the past traditional root canal therapy would leave these teeth with thin roots that were susceptible to fracture. However when successful, regenerative endodontics allows continued normal root development.