Spread of the pain | Pain in case of root canal inflammation

Spread of the pain

The entire human organism must be understood as a complex system, so that the pain caused by a dental root infection can also spread to other parts of the body. Thus, it is possible that not only the affected tooth hurts, but also the surrounding teeth or gums emit a pain signal. This is because the affected tooth irritates the surrounding tissue.

Therefore, the definitive localization of the pain is only possible by means of an X-ray image, since, for example, in a percusion test or a vitality test, even the surrounding teeth can be classified as sensitive due to the aforementioned irritation. However, pain can also occur in the eyes, temples or neck. In general, one can feel tired and listless, as the body has to expend a lot of energy to fight the inflammation.

You are restricted in your daily life. The affected tooth in a dental root inflammation can be slightly higher than the usual position due to the spread of the inflammatory tissue and can cause discomfort when biting together. This minimal change in position can already lead to temporomandibular joint complaints and affect the chewing muscles.

It is no longer in its natural alignment and the muscles tense up. The complaints can degenerate into a so-called cranio-mandibular dysfunction, or CMD for short. This term describes a dysregulation of the joint apparatus between the skull (lat.

“Cranium”) and the lower jaw (lat. “Mandibula”) including all the muscles and bones involved. Although the temporomandibular joint is capable of adapting to changes, adaptation is only possible to a certain extent.

Even the slight elevation of the tooth during root canal inflammation can lead to such a disorder. If these complaints do not occur after root canal treatment, a splint therapy may have to be initiated and the tense muscles loosened again with special physiotherapy in order to reduce the complaints permanently until complete relief. An occlusion splint is made for this purpose.

An inflammation of the tooth root is not only associated with discomfort before treatment, but also after the treatment is completed. Root canal treatment is merely an attempt to save a tooth, but this attempt can also fail.After the last step of the root canal treatment, the root filling, depending on the dentist’s approach, discomfort may occur. Most dentists no longer proceed manually and prepare the canals inside the tooth with hand instruments, but work out the canals mechanically.

The rotation of the machine files causes abrasion in the canal, so that the rubber-like pin that is to fill the canal fits perfectly and airtight into this canal. This process allows materials of the root filling to be plugged so that they press beyond the tip of the root. This can cause pressure problems for several days after the treatment.

The actual pressure process can also cause pain for hours or days afterwards. In both cases, however, these complaints subside completely. Complaints are also possible if the root canal filling does not close optimally, is too short or a canal has not been found inside the tooth and there is still residual tissue.

The disinfection of the root canals must also be optimal so that all bacteria are removed from the tooth. If this does not happen, pain will occur, even if the root canal filling appears optimal. All these complaints are due to a treatment error, usually do not subside and result in post-treatment in the form of a new root filling or apicoectomy.

In the latter case, the roots below the gums are exposed, cut off and filled airtight from below. Before the filling, the surrounding tissue is all disinfected. But even this last attempt does not have to be successful and can lead to further pain. In this case, the patient should consider together with the dentist whether it really makes sense to keep the tooth or whether the individual suffering is so unbearable that there is no other option but to remove the tooth. In summary, the complexity of the treatment leads to many sources of error, all of which can cause pain after the treatment and it is usually difficult to locate this source of pain.