From dull and achy to sharp and throbbing, tooth pain can make chewing, concentrating, or sleeping difficult. If the discomfort lasts more than 24 hours or two days, it is wise to visit your dentist immediately.
Tooth pain could be an indicator of poor dental habits or medical issues like sinusitis.
Dull Aches
Sharp pains typically only last temporarily and typically signal muscle spasms or nerve damage, while dull aches can linger for days or even months and be the source of many health conditions, being classified by some health professionals as chronic pain.
Understanding different sensations of pain will enable you to communicate them accurately to your dentist in Mt Pleasant and enable him/her to more accurately diagnose what’s causing the discomfort in your teeth, thus helping the healing process commence more rapidly.
Chronic pain typically takes on a dull and aching character, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia or other health conditions. Chronic pain may also manifest itself through referred pain such as sinus infections or teeth grinding (bruxism). This form of nerve pain known as neuropathic pain often presents itself with dull throbbed sensations.
Sharp Pain
Sharp dental pain often signals a more serious issue such as a deep cavity. This is because teeth with deep cavities expose their nerve-rich pulp chamber to outside forces such as temperature extremes, intensifying discomfort.
If the pain persists for an extended period, visiting your dentist might be necessary. A dentist might diagnose your issue by reviewing symptoms and performing an X-ray examination on both your tooth and jaw to properly identify what the issue is.
On occasion, your dentist might require laboratory tests to make sure they’re diagnosing the right issue. If your discomfort isn’t too severe, an over-the-counter pain reliever such as acetaminophen may help manage pain until an appointment with your dentist. If fever, bad breath and pus accumulate around gums it could indicate an abscess which could be quite dangerous and should be seen by your healthcare provider immediately.
Sensitive Teeth
If you find yourself wincing when biting into cold blocks of ice cream, experiencing sharp pain when enjoying hot and cold food and beverages, or experiencing discomfort while brushing or breathing cold air, you could be experiencing tooth sensitivity. The sharp pain experienced by people with sensitive teeth results from dentin becoming exposed and its thousands of tiny canals becoming exposed leading directly to nerve endings causing sharp discomfort – similar to nails running down a blackboard or being poked with needles.
Tooth sensitivity can be caused by several issues, including gum disease, dental erosion, cracked or loose fillings or cracked enamel. All these conditions can be treated successfully using desensitizing toothpastes; delaying treatment could only make matters worse and it’s wiser to contact a dentist as soon as possible to address it before the pain worsens further.
Emergency Care
Though regular dental pain typically resolves over time, acute or severe toothaches should never be ignored; they could be an indicator of infection or injury and require prompt care to mitigate further risk.
Apart from dental injuries that may cause serious morbidity and mortality, other symptoms often necessitating emergency treatment include severe pain, swelling, uncontrollable bleeding and fever.
Infections of the teeth or jaw can have life-threatening repercussions if left untreated, especially infectious dental emergencies like abscesses and periodontal abscesses, alveolar osteitis (dry socket) or pericoronitis.
These conditions are treated in hospital settings by oral and maxillofacial surgeons and endodontists, who use sedation to assist surgical procedures and ease discomfort or pain. Antibiotics may also be prescribed to combat infection spread; supportive measures include maintaining adequate hydration levels, applying cold compresses to reduce temperature fluctuations and taking an over-the-counter pain reliever such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen for additional support.
