Tooth replacement/implant for teenager

by j Heslin
(ware)

My son had an accident and was bashed in the teeth about 18 months ago. He eventually had root canal treatment but recently has been in severe pain and it seems that it has not worked and so he has to be referred to a specialist dental hospital.

He is now 15 years old, the tooth is next to his front tooth. When can he have a permanent replacement fitted and what obligations/if any have the NHS to solving the problem?

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Tooth replacement/implant for teenager

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Root Canal
by: Sharon B., RDH

Hi J,

Once a tooth has had a root canal performed on it, there is no living nerve left in the tooth that can receive pain and relay it to the brain. Now, the ligaments around the root could still be "bruised" from the injury, and this could be causing some gum pain when pressure is applied, but it should heal over time. If the tooth is cracked, this is sometimes almost impossible for dentists to diagnose. Cracked teeth most likely end up being extracted if other treatment does not help the symptoms. This is not something that can easily be diagnosed, so there was no way to know if that was the case at the beginning of the treatment.

I would also suspect that another tooth could actually be the culprit. Many times we will have "referred pain" which causes us to feel like one tooth hurts, when in reality it is the next one. If he had facial trauma it is very likely that another tooth has also received some type of injury as well, even if it can't be seen. Your specialist can help determine if this is the case.

As far as implants to. usually they are not placed until the patient is fully physically mature, or about the age of 18.

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