When you’re experiencing dental discomfort, focusing on work, enjoying a meal, and even sleeping through the night can be a challenge. But when should you raise the white flag of surrender? Any pain you find unbearable requires a trip to the dentist. Additionally, if tooth pain is waking you up at night, that’s also a significant indicator that you should seek treatment. If the pain is consistent, experienced for more than two to three days in the same spot, you should see a dentist then as well for toothache relief.
Contents
Causes of Tooth Pain
- Decay
- Trauma
- Bone loss
- Tartar
- Overreacting nerve
Causes of tooth pain include decay, trauma, bone loss, tartar between your teeth, or a nerve overreacting from a filling or crown. Patients dealing with tooth pain typically experience an electric-like sensation, throbbing, or pain on biting. Extreme tooth sensitivity can also result in a painful sensation. Patients can experience thermal sensitivity, or discomfort when consuming cold or hot drinks. Other patients feel pain during percussion, or when they are biting down. Pain from palpation is when the discomfort occurs when the patient pushes on the area of the tooth. Determining where the pain is coming from and why the pain is occurring is an essential step for your dentist to make a treatment recommendation.
Diagnosing Your Tooth Pain
Possible diagnoses for tooth pain include cavities, bone loss, tartar between the teeth or under the gumline, and pulpitis. An abscess can also be a diagnosis of tooth pain. An abscess is when infection or puss spills out of the tooth and into the bone, consequently destroying the bone around that tooth. An acratic tooth, or a dead tooth that has lost all nerve sensitivity and blood flow, sometimes collects bacteria in the tooth because once there is no longer blood flow, the tooth can’t fight infection. Pulpitis occurs when a crown or filling causes the nerve to overreact, resulting in extreme sensitivity. Pulpitis can be reversible or irreversible. An example of reversible pulpitis would be from a typical cavity. Irreversible pulpitis might occur from a cavity that has gone all the way to the nerve.
Treating & Preventing Tooth Pain
Treatment options for tooth pain are based on the diagnosis. If the diagnosis is a cavity, the treatment would be a filling. If the cavity is large, a root canal may be required. A patient with a broken tooth might need a crown. If a patient needs a root canal but can’t afford it or if too much of the tooth has been lost and it’s unrestorable, we perform an extraction.
The number one way to prevent tooth pain is taking care of your teeth at home: brushing, flossing, and keeping sugar consumption to a minimum. Secondly, going to the dentist every 6 months for a checkup and x-rays can help prevent tooth pain from occurring. X-rays are an essential preventative measure because sometimes there are problems that could have been prevented had we known what was happening beneath the surface. Additionally, if the pain is caused by sensitivity, we recommend a sensitivity toothpaste.
You Don’t Have to Put Up with the Pain – Contact Cedarwood Dentistry
If you’re experiencing tooth pain that is unbearable, wakes you up at night, or has persisted for more than two or three days, schedule a dentist appointment for toothache relief. The dental team at Cedarwood Dentistry will determine the cause of your pain, make a diagnosis, and create a treatment plan so you can get back to feeling your best.
Don’t Let Tooth Pain Disrupt Your Life
Call Cedarwood Dentistry at (804) 944-8522 or schedule your dentist appointment online today.