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Endodontist AshbyEndodontics for Ashby and district

Assessment & decisions

Tooth pain assessment in Ashby-de-la-Zouch

Toothache misleads more often than people realise: it can seem to come from the wrong tooth, the opposite jaw or the ear, and not every ache means a nerve has died. Good care starts with an accurate diagnosis.

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Diagnosis before anything else

Pain from an inflamed nerve is often felt in a neighbouring tooth, or even in the other jaw. Treating the tooth you point to rather than the tooth that is ill is the most expensive mistake in endodontics — and an avoidable one. At this practice root canal treatment follows a diagnosis confirmed by testing, never symptoms alone.

What the assessment involves

  1. Your account. When the pain started, what brings it on, how long it lasts, whether it wakes you and what relieves it.
  2. Examination of teeth, fillings and gums, looking for swelling, cracks and weeping spots.
  3. Nerve tests. Cold, and sometimes heat, applied to individual teeth shows whether each nerve is healthy, inflamed or no longer responding.
  4. Biting and tapping tests pick out inflammation around a root tip, or a cusp that has cracked.
  5. X-rays. Low-dose digital images show infection at the root tips, decay and the condition of earlier root fillings.

Allow about 45 minutes. You leave with a written summary of what we found, what we recommend and — if treatment is needed — its prospects and the fee.

What we often find

  • A nerve that will settle — brief sensitivity from decay or a recent filling.
  • A nerve past saving — lingering pain to hot and cold, throbbing that starts by itself, sleep broken by pain.
  • Infection at the root — a dead tooth that is sore to bite on, with a swelling or a gum boil.
  • A cracked tooth — sharp pain on biting that is hard to pin down.
  • Not the tooth at all — sinus congestion, jaw joint or muscle pain, or a nerve condition.

Getting ready

Note which side hurts, what sets it off and whether painkillers help, and bring recent X-rays or ask your dentist to send them. If the pain is severe or there is a swelling, tell us when you get in touch.

Also see

Related treatments and assessments

Root canal treatment

Root canal treatment takes away the pain of a dying nerve, removes the infection inside the tooth and lets you keep the tooth. For patients in Ashby-de-la-Zouch it is performed under magnification, with the tooth fully numbed and isolated, usually in a single visit.

Read more

Root canal retreatment

A root filling can fail long after it was placed, but that rarely means losing the tooth. Retreatment removes the old filling, cleans the whole canal system — including any canal overlooked the first time — and seals and restores the tooth again.

Read more

Microscope-assisted endodontics

Canals can be thinner than a bristle and hidden under hardened dentine. The operating microscope gives a bright, magnified view inside the tooth — and it is how every root canal treatment and retreatment at the practice is carried out.

Read more

Ready when you are

Let’s find out what your tooth needs

One unhurried appointment gives you a diagnosis you can rely on, an honest view of whether the tooth can be kept and a written plan with the fee. Arrange it online or by phone — and if you are in pain, say so and you will be seen as a priority.

Arrange an Appointment 0116 270 0550
0116 270 0550 Arrange an Appointment