Tooth Cyst

What it is? The name itself comes from the Greek word “kystis”, which means bubble. You can't say it more precisely. So, a cyst is a disease in which a pathological cavity with dense walls is formed in the body, most often filled with liquid or mushy contents (dead cells, bacteria, etc.). The wall of the cyst (blister) consists of a thin layer of cells that produce fluid and, as it were, inflate the cyst from the inside, like a balloon. A dental cyst is located in the gum around the root of the tooth. And if the cyst is not cured in time, the teeth trapped in the cyst cavity will fall out.

Causes
The main causes of dental cyst formation are trauma and infection. You can get a tooth injury not only in the boxing ring or in a street fight, but also at home, cracking nuts. The infection usually penetrates into the root canal due to improper dental treatment. For example, the doctor removed a nerve but did not completely fill the canal, or accidentally forgot a small instrument inside the tooth. Sometimes it happens. Less commonly, a cyst occurs as a result of sinusitis or some infectious disease in which harmful microbes are transferred into the gums through the bloodstream.

What's happening?
It all starts with periodontitis - inflammation of the periodontium: a thin layer between the tooth root and the jaw bone. If the disease is not treated, serious complications may arise: in response to inflammation, tissue growth will begin around the tooth root. While the size of this neoplasm is small, up to 5 mm, it is called granuloma. Gradually it increases and becomes covered with a shell, the so-called “bag”. The granuloma turns into a cyst; a sort of sac with semi-liquid contents from damaged cells forms in the jawbone. If you do not take treatment now, the cyst will grow further and capture more and more teeth. Sometimes the cyst spontaneously opens, forming a fistulous tract. The fistulous tract is a canal that connects the cyst cavity with the external environment.

Why is it dangerous?
Granulomas and cysts are particularly insidious. Not only do they undermine the roots of our teeth, from time to time they can become more active and then the entire body suffers. Weakness appears, the temperature rises, the lymph nodes in the neck swell, the person suffers from headaches, while the gums swell and ache unbearably, and gumboil appears on the cheek. An exacerbation of a disease hidden in the gums can be caused by anything: hypothermia, heavy physical or mental work, decreased immunity, stress and a cold.

How to recognize?
The most unpleasant thing is that sometimes a person may not even realize there is a cyst until a crisis occurs. In appearance, a diseased tooth does not differ from a healthy one, the gums are also normal. Unless when biting something hard, unpleasant sensations appear, and even then not always.

Diagnostics
The only way to identify a cyst is to x-ray the tooth. So it turns out that only an experienced dentist can suspect something is wrong, and most often this happens by accident. The doctor treats a carious tooth, orders an x-ray, and then it turns out that there is a cyst under the tooth.

Treatment
Professional dentists believe: the earlier a cyst is detected, the easier it is to cure it. Therefore, they advise their patients to undergo a preventive examination at least once a year and check suspicious teeth. Especially those that were filled more than ten years ago or hidden under a crown.

The easiest way to rid a patient of a cyst is to pull out the damaged tooth and clean out the gums. Just ten years ago, dentists did just that. Patients lost a “healthy” tooth and scolded the doctors, but they just shrugged: there are no other ways to get to the cyst. And only very recently there has been a revolutionary revolution in the treatment of cysts and granulomas. Today, with the help of the latest methods of modern dentistry, it has become possible to get rid of a cyst and at the same time save the tooth.

In dental clinics, patients can be offered a choice of two methods of treating cysts and granulomas: surgical and therapeutic. Each of them