A dead tooth is a condition where a tooth has lost all of its internal tissue. The anatomy of a tooth would include the enamel as the outermost layer followed by the dentin, both of these layers make the milky-white hard tissue of your tooth. The two layers encase the pulp that houses the nerves and vessels that keep your tooth healthy and alive. If the tissue within the pulp is completely damaged, as is the case in severe decay, then your tooth is no longer alive.
In this article, we’ll explore the symptoms, causes, treatment options, and ways to prevent a dead tooth.
What is a Dead Tooth?
A dead tooth, or dental pulp necrosis, is a condition where the connective tissue, nerves, and blood vessels within a tooth no longer receive blood supply, nutrients, or oxygen and begin to decompose. This happens when the connective tissue is damaged from an infection.
A dead tooth could remain in your mouth. However, the tooth can become discolored and cause symptoms like pain and infection in the mouth. The condition may happen without causing any noticeable symptoms in the beginning stages.
Why Does a Tooth Need to Be Alive?
The nerves in the pulp help with many dental functions, including sensory functions like helping you detect, heat, cold, and pressure. The blood vessels help supply the tooth with nutrients to repair tooth damage on the dentin and protective layers.
Without the pulp, and when a tooth is dead, it won’t be able to repair itself. This means that while it initially won’t fall off, it could break with time when repeatedly exposed to chewing forces.
What Causes a Dead Tooth?
Multiple factors, from external to internal, can cause a dead tooth. For instance, physical trauma or injury to the mouth could disrupt the blood flow to the tooth. If the blood supply stops for a long period, then the pulp and internal tissue will begin to die.
Another cause of a dead tooth would be tooth decay, a condition where the bacterial growth on the enamel penetrates the tooth reaching the pulp. If the infection reaches the pulp, it can damage blood vessels, nerves, and the connecting tissue; causing the tooth to die.
Similarly, a tooth can die as a result of gum disease or even a large filling. The gum disease can infect the nerves and lead to their death whereas a large filling can apply too much pressure, or even heat during the application process, damaging the pulp and the living tissue within it.
Symptoms of a Dead Tooth
Identifying the early signs of a dead tooth can help you receive immediate dental care and prevent further complications. Here are some of the common signs of a dead tooth that you should look out for:
Tooth Discoloration
A color change is one of the first signs of a dead tooth that results from the absence of blood flow and circulation. Once the nerves, connective tissue, and blood vessels begin to decompose, you should expect your tooth to turn gray, yellow, or black.
2. Pain or Discomfort
Although pain is not always present with a dead tooth, many patients can still experience slight pain and discomfort. The pain can come in the form of either sensitivity or throbbing pain that ranges from mild to severe.
3. Swelling or Abscess
An abscess is a tiny pocket that is filled with pus and can appear anywhere in the mouth. An abscess can appear near a dead tooth leading to infection, swelling in the gums, and discomfort in the jaw.
4. Foul Smell or Taste
A dead tooth, especially during periods of active infection, may emit a bad odor and taste. This is the result of bacterial byproducts from bacterial growth and pus accumulation.
5. Loose Tooth
While a dead tooth can stay in the mouth initially, the structural integrity of the tooth will weaken over time until it falls off.
What happens if you don’t treat a dead tooth
If you don’t seek professional help as soon as you notice any symptoms of a dead tooth appear, some oral health complications could occur. For instance, the infection could spread to neighboring teeth and surrounding gum tissue.
Similarly, if the infection continues, it can spread to the jawbone, causing bone loss. Bone loss is only reversible surgically with a bone graft procedure, and it is best to prevent it from happening, especially since some dental treatments, such as dental implants, require that you have enough bone density to support the prosthetic.
Likewise, leaving a dead tooth untreated can cause dental abscesses and cysts that may require surgical intervention.
Dead tooth diagnosis
To diagnose a dead tooth, your dentist will begin with a visual examination that allows them to identify any visible signs of infection, disease, and decay. Your dentist will complement the visual analysis with X-ray imaging to reveal any decay and infection around the root of the tooth that is not visible to the naked eye.
How to treat a dead tooth
There are common practices to deal with a dead tooth. The first approach is a root canal treatment because it preserves as much of the tooth as possible. In a root canal treatment, your doctor removes the dead or dying tissue from the pulp, cleans the space, and fills the gap with a biocompatible material. You may or may not need a crown after a root canal, this depends entirely on the extent of damage in the tooth.
If the infection is severe and the damage is substantial, your doctor may have to extract the dead tooth to stop the infection from spreading. If you go through with extraction, you can consider restorative treatments like dental implants, dental bridges, or even dentures to restore speech and other dental functions.
How to prevent a dead tooth?
Precaution and prevention are always a better alternative to treatment. There are a number of lifestyle changes that you can practice to prevent a tooth from dying. The. The most important factor is maintaining good oral hygiene. Make sure to brush your teeth with a fluoride paste twice a day for 3 minutes. Incorporate flossing and use of anti-bacterial mouthwash to prevent bacteria and plaque from accumulating.
Another thing we advise you do is visit your dentist every 6 months for check-ups and professional cleaning sessions to detect any dental concerns early on. Likewise, make sure to seek professional help as soon as you notice any signs of infection, cavities, or discomfort.
Dead tooth: Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is a dead tooth always painful?
No, a dead tooth does not necessarily always cause pain or discomfort. Symptoms do not typically appear in the early stages of a dying tooth.
2. Can a dead tooth heal on its own?
Once infection starts in the pulp, it is important to seek professional help to stop it from spreading. Leaving a dead tooth untreated will only make your situation worse.
3. How long can a dead tooth remain untreated/in your mouth?
Technically, a dead tooth could stay in your mouth for weeks or months in some cases. However, the longer you keep your dead tooth untreated, the higher the risk of infection. Infections can spread to the surrounding gum tissue, deteriorate your jawbone, create inflammation and abscesses, and trigger other oral health complications.
4. How to Save a Dead Tooth?
The best way to save a dead tooth is a root canal treatment since it allows you to keep as much of the healthy tissue in your tooth as possible. The earlier you seek treatment, the more likely you are to be eligible for a root canal treatment.
More severe and complicated cases will require a tooth extraction.
5. Can a Dead Tooth Come Back to Life?
Losing the vessels that supply the tooth with blood and nutrients will cause irreversible damage to the nerve of the tooth. Once the tissue in your tooth dies, your doctor can not revive it back. But what they can do is prevent further damage and loss of remaining living tissue.
6. Can You Whiten a Dead Tooth?
To whiten a dead tooth, you can consider internal bleaching treatments if much of your tooth is intact. In this procedure, your dentist will drill a small hole and carefully add the bleaching agent inside. The bleaching agent should not reach the root, and to prevent it from doing so, your dentist will add cement and then seal the tooth while applying external bleaching. If the doctor cannot save your tooth, you can consider dental prosthetics to replace the missing teeth with a natural-looking crown.
The Takeaway
While a dead tooth seems like a harmless condition that you can just neglect, the truth is far from that. A dead tooth poses many serious oral health risks and complications if you do not seek professional help as soon as you notice oral changes.
Whether from a physical injury, gum disease, or decay, a dead tooth will show signs of decomposition such as discoloration, swelling, and sometimes pain and discomfort. Treatment options such as root canal treatment are ideal solutions that attempt to save as much of the healthy dental tissue as possible. The earlier you seek treatment, the more likely you are to be eligible for a root canal as opposed to a tooth extraction, which is necessary for severely infected cases.
However, prevention remains the best strategy—good oral hygiene, regular dental check-ups, and prompt attention to any dental discomfort can help you avoid the serious consequences of a dead tooth. Taking proactive care of your teeth is the key to preserving both their health and function.
Contact Us
If you would like to seek professional advice on a dead tooth and its treatments, contact our medical specialists at Dentakay. As the winner of the Best Dental Clinic in Europe Award for 2022, Dentakay is board-certified by the Slow Dentistry organization and hosts some of the best dentists in Europe. In a free online consultation, our medical team can help address all your worries and concerns.
