Editing Toothache (section)

==Prognosis==
Most dental pain can be treated with routine dentistry.  In rare cases, toothache can be a symptom representing a life-threatening condition, such as a deep neck infection (compression of the [[airway]] by a spreading [[odontogenic infection]]) or something more remote like a heart attack.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

Dental caries, if left untreated, follows a predictable [[Natural history of disease|natural history]] as it nears the pulp of the tooth.  First it causes reversible pulpitis, which transitions to irreversible pulpitis, then to necrosis, then to necrosis with periapical periodontitis and, finally, to necrosis with periapical abscess.  Reversible pulpitis can be stopped by removal of the cavity and the placement of a [[pulp capping|sedative dressing]] of any part of the cavity that is near the pulp chamber.  Irreversible pulpitis and pulp necrosis are treated with either root canal therapy or extraction.  Infection of the periapical tissue will generally resolve with the treatment of the pulp, unless it has expanded to [[cellulitis]] or a [[radicular cyst]].  The success rate of restorative treatment and sedative dressings in reversible pulpitis, depends on the extent of the disease, as well as several technical factors, such as the sedative agent used and whether a rubber dam was used.  The success rate of root canal treatment also depends on the degree of disease (root canal therapy for irreversible pulpitis has a generally higher success rate than necrosis with periapical abscess) and many other technical factors.<ref name=Hargreaves2011 />{{rp|77–82}}