Pulpitis is a disease that is quite common in dental practice. It is an inflammatory process that takes place in the pulp, a connective tissue that fills the crown and root cavities of the tooth and contains a large number of blood and lymph vessels and nerves.
Causes of the disease
Most often pulpitis is a consequence of caries. Other causes of the disease are various physical, chemical and biological factors:
- incorrect actions of the dentist (poor-quality seals, turning of the tooth, surgical interventions on the periodontium, use of strong antiseptics, etc.);
- traumatic fracture of the tooth crown;
- premature erasure of the tooth crown;
- infection through the apical opening, etc.
According to the nature of the disease, the disease is divided into two forms: acute and chronic. The development of the chronic form can occur both on a background of acute pulpitis, and independently. Symptoms of acute and chronic pulpitis are similar, however, each of them has its own clinical characteristics, which allow diagnosing the form of pulpitis. Let us consider further how to recognize the pulpitis.
Acute pulpitis
Signs of acute pulpitis:
- pain, appearing spontaneously, without the influence of any stimuli;
- the occurrence of a prolonged painful attack under the influence of even weak mechanical, thermal or chemical stimuli that does not cease for a while after the elimination of the stimulus (the main difference between acute pulpitis and caries , in which painful sensations disappear immediately after the cessation of the action of stimuli);
- increased pain at night (this sign may also indicate an exacerbation of pulpitis in chronic form);
- paroxysmal nature of pain, the intensity of pain attacks and their frequency depend on the severity of the inflammatory process, and in the intervals between attacks there may be an increased sensitivity of the cutaneous areas of the face and neck that correspond to the affected teeth (this can also be observed with chronic pulpitis);
- The percussion (tapping) of the tooth is insensitive or insensitive.
Chronic pulpitis
Symptoms of chronic pulpitis:
- destruction of hard tooth tissues, bleeding of inflamed pulp;
- pronounced toothache, which occurs under the influence of the stimulus and does not pass for a long time after its elimination (as a rule, the tooth hurts like in acute pulpitis);
- a prolonged feeling of discomfort in the oral cavity (aching pain that occurs during eating, when a sick tooth contacts cold air, it is difficult to chew food on the side where the diseased tooth is;
- when tapping a tooth, its sensitivity can be noted;
- an unpleasant smell coming from the source of inflammation.
Complications of pulpitis
The most common possible complication of pulpitis is periodontitis, which develops due to poorly cured
As a result of depulpation ( removal of the nerve of the tooth ), complications such as brittleness, darkening and coloring of the tooth may occur. This is because the tooth after this procedure becomes "dead" - makeup, carried out by the nerve, stops. The output in this situation is the installation of the crown on the tooth.