If you are lucky enough to not have any cavities, and if you’re interested in keeping your teeth free of cavities, ask your Dentist in Warrenton about tooth sealants. This process involves the dentist applying a protective clear layer over the teeth. It’s helpful in areas where it may be hard to effectively clean with a toothbrush and floss. It doesn’t replace brushing and flossing by any means, but it does give the teeth some extra protection.
The plastic resin in the sealant will probably eventually break down within the next five years and will need to be applied again. Insurance will often pay for children under age 16 to have tooth sealant applied. They usually don’t pay for an adult to have it done, but adult patients can ask their dentist at Gainesvilledentalassociates.com for this service.
If you do have a cavity, and if it goes unattended for long enough, it can turn into an infection down in the pulp of the tooth. When decay and infection get deep within the canals of the tooth, the Dentist in Warrenton may tell you that you need a root canal. This is not the same painful procedure that it used to be. Today’s root canals are painless. There may be a little discomfort in listening to the sounds of the instruments, or the water being squirted onto your tooth, but you shouldn’t feel any pain at all when the dentist removes the cavity and cleans out and removes the infected pulp material.
In fact, if you’ve been in significant pain due to the exposed nerve, you’ll be feeling much better once you get the local anesthetic Warrenton. There may be mild soreness for a few days, but since the root is gone, the pain should be no where near the level it was before. The dentist may send you home with a prescription for an antibiotic, but you will probably only need ibuprofen.
The Dentist in Warrenton may also recommend that you have a crown next on that same tooth in order to protect it. Root canal treatment can result in the tooth being dry and brittle, so a crown on the tooth will enable you to keep the tooth.
