4 Signs You May Need Root Canal Therapy

Dark-haired man cringing in pain and touching his cheek due to a toothache

Feeling something a little off with one of your teeth? As you’re trying to figure out what’s going on, your mind may be jumping between several different possibilities, one of which may be thinking you need root canal therapy. To help you figure out if that’s the case, we’ve made a list of the five most common warning signs that you may need root canal therapy:

  1. Tooth Pain
  2. This one is a fairly easy one to notice. Your tooth pain could be mild discomfort or it could be severe pain that’s hard to ignore. You may notice this ache more when you’re chewing something or when you apply pressure to the area.

  3. Tooth Sensitivity
  4. Tooth sensitivity isn’t quite the same as tooth pain. With sensitivity, you may feel an unusual sensation in your teeth after eating or drinking something hot, cold, sour, or sugary, but this feeling may linger for a while longer, even when you’re no longer eating or drinking that item.

  5. Tender, Painful, and/or Swollen Gums
  6. It’s not just your teeth that you should be looking at when assessing your dental health. Your gums can exhibit some signs as well! In particular, teeth that are infected may cause the surrounding gum area to become inflamed as well as tender or painful. You could also experience a pimple-like bump on your gums. It sounds unusual, but this swollen gum boil is caused by bacteria and infection and could mean that you need root canal therapy.

  7. Tooth Discoloration
  8. Having yellow teeth because you smoke, drink a lot of coffee, or don’t practice great oral hygiene is one thing. Having a tooth that is darkening or starting to look greyish is another. This latter type may mean that a tooth’s roots are dying or dead because of trauma or an infection that requires root canal treatment.

Restorative Dentistry in Jonesboro, AR

If you’ve noticed one or more of these red flags, then we recommend you come into Troy Bartels, DDS so we can have a look and determine whether or not you need root canal therapy. It’s always better to be safe than sorry and to handle a dental issue before the condition gets worse! Contact us today for an appointment.


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