Your oral health and habits can affect your overall health and well-being. Some common oral issues such as gum disease and dental problems can contribute to inflammation, chronic pains, discomforts, heart disease, infections and so many other health problems. Many people out there have cases of dead tooth, most of them tends to ignore it. After all, it’s not causing any pain.
Well, there are certain dental problems that you should never ignore no matter what. One of these dental problems is dead tooth. When a dead tooth is left untreated, it gets infected and cause more serious health problems. The bacteria that thrives from the dead tooth could spread, you might end up losing more tooth. Before the end of this article, you will get to know how to identify a dead tooth. You will also learn more on the recommended period of time a dead tooth should stay in your mouth.
How to identify a dead tooth
It’s not always easy to identify a dead tooth, especially at the early stage. One of the easiest ways to know whether your tooth is dead or not is to visit a dentist. The dentist can examine the suspected tooth with a quick X-ray and other dental examinations. However, there are two common symptoms of dead tooth. The first is usually extreme tooth pain and discomforts. The second symptom is tooth discolouration. A dying tooth tends to discolor when the living nerves and blood inside the tooth die and no longer provide fresh blood and oxygen.
In most cases, the tooth will change from white to yellow, then to grey and finally black. It’s also possible for the tooth to become sore and cause swelling at the gum-line after the living nerves and blood inside the tooth must have died. Swelling around a dead tooth is usually caused by an abscess. An abscess occurs like pimple filled with pus at the root of the tooth. The abscess under the tooth can rupture at any time, this can lead to chronic bad breath as the pus continues to flow into the mouth. (1)
How long can a dead tooth stay in your mouth?
Keeping a dead tooth in your mouth is totally unnecessary. A dead tooth might still remain functional, lasting for weeks or months. But it’s not always advisable to allow a dead tooth to stay in your mouth for a long period of time. A dead tooth can get infected easily, the infection might spread and cause more serious damages. In addition, a dead tooth with abscess can lead to extreme tooth pain, tooth sensitivity and bad breath. Infection can stay alive there, and the longer a dead tooth stays in the mouth, the greater the toxic substances and discomforts increases.
However, it’s not all cases of dead tooth that cause pain and discomforts. By simply looking at your tooth, it may not always be that easy to identify if it’s dead or dying. With the help of dental examinations, a dental professional can tell you for sure if your tooth is dead or not. Depending on the severity of the infection or damages, a dead tooth can either be saved or removed. On one of my previous posts, I gave a full guide on how to fix a dead tooth. You can read here to learn more on – how to fix a dead tooth.