Endodontics is the dental specialty concerned with the study and treatment of the dental pulp.
Toothache, also known as dental pain, is pain in the teeth or their supporting structures, caused by dental diseases or pain referred to the teeth by non-dental diseases. When severe it may impact sleep, eating, and other daily activities.
The pulp is the connective tissue, nerves, blood vessels, and odontoblasts that comprise the innermost layer of a tooth. The pulp's activity and signalling processes regulate its behaviour.
Periodontology or periodontics is the specialty of dentistry that studies supporting structures of teeth, as well as diseases and conditions that affect them. The supporting tissues are known as the periodontium, which includes the gingiva (gums), alveolar bone, cementum, and the periodontal ligament. A periodontist is a dentist that specializes in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease and in the placement of dental implants.
A pulp polyp, also known as chronic hyperplastic pulpitis, is a "productive" inflammation of dental pulp in which the development of granulation tissue is seen in response to persistent, low-grade mechanical irritation and bacterial invasion of the pulp.
Commonly known as a dental cyst, the periapical cyst is the most common odontogenic cyst. It may develop rapidly from a periapical granuloma, as a consequence of untreated chronic periapical periodontitis.
A dental abscess is a localized collection of pus associated with a tooth. The most common type of dental abscess is a periapical abscess, and the second most common is a periodontal abscess. In a periapical abscess, usually the origin is a bacterial infection that has accumulated in the soft, often dead, pulp of the tooth. This can be caused by tooth decay, broken teeth or extensive periodontal disease. A failed root canal treatment may also create a similar abscess.
Scaling and root planing, also known as conventional periodontal therapy, non-surgical periodontal therapy or deep cleaning, is a procedure involving removal of dental plaque and calculus and then smoothing, or planing, of the (exposed) surfaces of the roots, removing cementum or dentine that is impregnated with calculus, toxins, or microorganisms, the agents that cause inflammation. It is a part of non-surgical periodontal therapy. This helps to establish a periodontium that is in remission of periodontal disease. Periodontal scalers and periodontal curettes are some of the tools involved.
Root canal treatment is a treatment sequence for the infected pulp of a tooth which is intended to result in the elimination of infection and the protection of the decontaminated tooth from future microbial invasion. Root canals, and their associated pulp chamber, are the physical hollows within a tooth that are naturally inhabited by nerve tissue, blood vessels and other cellular entities. Together, these items constitute the dental pulp.
Apical periodontitis is typically the body's defense response to the threat of microbial invasion from the root canal. Primary among the members of the host defense mechanism is the polymorphonuclear leukocyte, otherwise known as the neutrophil. The task of the neutrophil is to locate and destroy microbes that intrude into the body – anywhere in the body – and they represent the hallmark of acute inflammation.
Laser-assisted new attachment procedure (LANAP) is a surgical therapy for the treatment of periodontitis, intended to work through regeneration rather than resection. This therapy and the laser used to perform it have been in use since 1994. It was developed by Robert H. Gregg II and Delwin McCarthy.
Gingivitis is a non-destructive disease that causes inflammation of the gums. The most common form of gingivitis, and the most common form of periodontal disease overall, is in response to bacterial biofilms that is attached to tooth surfaces, termed plaque-induced gingivitis. Most forms of gingivitis are plaque-induced.
Resorption of the root of the tooth, or root resorption, is the progressive loss of dentin and cementum by the action of osteoclasts. Root resorption is a normal physiological process that occurs in the exfoliation of the primary dentition. However, pathological root resorption occurs in the permanent or secondary dentition and sometimes in the primary dentition.
A periodontal abscess, is a localized collection of pus within the tissues of the periodontium. It is a type of dental abscess. A periodontal abscess occurs alongside a tooth, and is different from the more common periapical abscess, which represents the spread of infection from a dead tooth. To reflect this, sometimes the term "lateral (periodontal) abscess" is used. In contrast to a periapical abscess, periodontal abscesses are usually associated with a vital (living) tooth. Abscesses of the periodontium are acute bacterial infections classified primarily by location.
In dental anatomy, the apical foramen, literally translated "small opening of the apex," is the tooth's natural opening, found at the root's very tip—that is, the root's apex—whereby an artery, vein, and nerve enter the tooth and commingle with the tooth's internal soft tissue, called pulp. Additionally, the apical foramen is the point where the pulp meets the periodontal tissues, the connective tissues that surround and support the tooth.
Pulp necrosis is a clinical diagnostic category indicating the death of the pulp and nerves of the pulp chamber and root canal of a tooth which may be due to bacterial sequelae, trauma and chemical or mechanical irritation. It is often the end result of many cases of dental trauma, caries and irreversible pulpitis.
A phoenix abscess is an acute exacerbation of a chronic periapical lesion. It is a dental abscess that can occur immediately following root canal treatment. Another cause is due to untreated necrotic pulp. It is also the result of inadequate debridement during the endodontic procedure. Risk of occurrence of a phoenix abscess is minimised by correct identification and instrumentation of the entire root canal, ensuring no missed anatomy.
Periapical periodontitis or apical periodontitis (AP) is an acute or chronic inflammatory lesion around the apex of a tooth root, most commonly caused by bacterial invasion of the pulp of the tooth. It is a likely outcome of untreated dental caries, and in such cases it can be considered a sequela in the natural history of tooth decay, irreversible pulpitis and pulpal necrosis. Other causes can include occlusal trauma due to 'high spots' after restoration work, extrusion from the tooth of root filling material, or bacterial invasion and infection from the gums. Periapical periodontitis may develop into a periapical abscess, where a collection of pus forms at the end of the root, the consequence of spread of infection from the tooth pulp, or into a periapical cyst, where an epithelial lined, fluid-filled structure forms.
In the dental specialty of endodontics, periradicular surgery is surgery to the external root surface. Examples of periradicular surgery include apicoectomy, root resection, repair of root perforation or resorption defects, removal of broken fragments of the tooth or a filling material, and exploratory surgery to look for root fractures.
