Pulp Tissue -
- A tooth's pulp tissue is that soft living tissue found inside the confines of a tooth. Most people equate the terms "pulp tissue" and "a tooth's nerve." Although pulp tissue does contain nerve fibers, it is also composed of blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, and connective tissue. It sometimes is referred to as "dental pulp" or "tooth pulp."
The region inside a tooth where its pulp tissue is located is typically designated as two distinct areas, although these connected regions are not precisely differentiated as to precisely where one ends and the other begins. They are the "pulp chamber" and "root canals."
- Dental Pulp -
- A synonymous term for "pulp tissue" or "tooth pulp."
- Tooth Pulp -
- A term synonymous with "pulp tissue" or "dental pulp."
- Nerve Tissue -
- Most people's use of this term is a misnomer. It is commonly used as slang for a tooth's pulp tissue. True to the use of this term, a tooth's pulp tissue does contain nerve fibers. Most precisely, however, it also contains blood vessels, lymphatic vessels and other connective tissues.
- Pulp Chamber -
- That hollow space found within the crown portion of a tooth (that part of a tooth that lies above the gum line). A tooth's pulp chamber contains pulp tissue. Every tooth has a single pulp chamber to which the tooth's root canal(s) connect.
- Root Canal -
- A hollow passageway that extends from the root tip region of a tooth to the tooth's pulp chamber. Each tooth root will possess at least one root canal and possibly more. A tooth's root canals house pulp tissue.
- Accessory Root Canal -
- A lateral branching of a tooth's main root canal. Also called a "lateral canal."
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Access Cavity -
- That hole that a dentist must make using their dental drill that extends through the crown portion of a tooth to the tooth's pulp chamber. This is the opening through which the tooth's (non-surgical) root canal treatment is performed.
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