You know that sensation: Your hand shoots up to your face, and your eyes slam shut. You’ve eaten or drank something that didn’t sit well with your teeth, and the pain flares. It only lasts a moment, but it can happen regularly throughout the day.
Tooth nerve pain isn’t fun for anyone, but it’s something that almost everyone has dealt with at some point. Whether it’s because of a cracked tooth or a cavity, aggravating a nerve is a common reason why you experience pain.
Common Symptoms
Jaw pain and toothache are common complaints of nerve pain. The ache might be severe, or it may feel like pressure, and it can react to either hot or cold stimuli. It might linger for more than 10 seconds even after removing the stimulus. Be on the watch for the following accompanying symptoms:
– Hot or cold sensitivity
– Pain while chewing food
– Injury or trauma in the mouth
– Bleeding or discharge from the gums or around a tooth
Coupled with root pain, these symptoms can suggest gum disease, tooth fracture, or dental decay. Tapping an infected tooth can cause a flare of more intense pain. This helps narrow down the problem tooth, even if it looks normal on the surface.
Causes of Tooth Nerve Pain
The pulp of the tooth is where the bundle of nerves rest in the middle of the tooth. Pain in a tooth’s nerve falls into one of two categories:
Pulpal Sensitivity: If you have nerve pain in just one tooth, it’s a problem in the pulp of that tooth. Pulp pain causes include a broken, cracked, or chipped tooth, tooth infection or decay, pressure from grinding your teeth, or a new tooth filling.
Dentinal Sensitivity: This refers to widespread pain in the teeth. It usually occurs when tooth enamel erodes, allowing external heat, cold, or acid to reach the nerve endings. Causes include receding gums, teeth whitening products, and untreated cavities. Brushing your teeth too hard could also lead to nerve pain.
Quick Home Remedies
Before you do anything, consider the possible cause of your tooth pain. When bodies feel pain, they’re sending warnings to the brain that tell them something is wrong. If you have oral pain, you likely have a problem that needs professional treatment.
In general, there are two ways to tackle toothache pain. First, your goal is to reduce inflammation. Then, it would help if you interrupted the signals of injury from reaching the brain.
To reduce inflammation, you can put a bag of frozen vegetables or a cold pack to your face where the pain occurs. You don’t want to damage the skin, however, so use cloth or paper towels as a buffer.
You can also tackle the inflammation as well as the pain signals by having anti-inflammatory medication. If you opt for this, follow the instructions on the label, sticking with it for a few hours. Please don’t take it once and assume the pain will stay gone.
If you don’t have anti-inflammatory medicine, you can take acetaminophen instead. This helps with pain, but it won’t reduce the swelling.
Permanently Solving Toothache
Treating tooth pain permanently requires going to the dentist.
First, a dentist reviews your medical history and performs an exam. You’ll be asked questions about the nature of the pain, when it started, where it is, how bad it feels, and what changes its intensity. The dentist examines your gums, teeth, and other affected areas. In some cases, you may need to get an X-ray done.
Once the dentist knows what is causing the problem, you’ll get an outline of possible treatment options. If you have cavities, you’ll need fillings. If the nerves are infected, you might need root canal therapy. If there’s an infect, you could be prescribed antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Sometimes, dentists even use cold-laser phototherapy to reduce pain and inflammation.
Depending on how bad the problem is, you might get treatment right away or after a few days. If you must wait, you might get a prescription for stronger medication to help you in the meantime.
No matter what kinds of problems may be causing your tooth nerve pain, the offices of Imagine Dental are standing by, prepared to answer your questions and help you get back to comfortable everyday life. We firmly believe in your satisfaction at the best cost; these two factors are crucial to everyone at Imagine Dental.
The first step in recovering from serious dental pain is just an email or phone call away. We’re able to handle all your family dentistry needs. If there’s something we can’t help you with, we’re also able to refer you to some of the other dental greats in the Phoenix area.
