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Medical Video: This Will Stop Your Toothache In Seconds
Toothache is one of the most common health complaints in the world. Almost everyone will experience toothache, at least once in their lives.
Even though cavities are the biggest possible cause of toothache, it's just one of several potential causes of toothache that you might never have realized before.
Causes of toothache other than cavities
Here are 8 of the most common causes of toothache, as well as what you can do to overcome them.
1. Sensitive teeth
If you experience sharp pain every time you eat or drink something hot or cold, hole teeth can be the cause of your toothache. However, this can also be a sign that you may have sensitive teeth; whether it's due to gum recession (gum line recedes to cause the root surface of the tooth to open) or thinning of tooth enamel. Dental care, such as rotting teeth, braces or dentures, can also cause teeth to become sensitive.
While waiting for a dentist's appointment to determine the cause of your sensitive teeth, use a soft toothbrush and toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth to help relieve symptoms - no more than twice a day. Or, use toothpaste as an ointment by applying it to the affected area of the tooth for about 10 minutes (repeat if needed). You can also use painkillers to temporarily reduce the pain.
2. Habits of grinding teeth
Regularly grinding your teeth can cause nerve damage, which in turn can cause complaints of your toothache. Most people can not realize they are doing this habit, especially when they are sleeping. Emotional stress and tension are the main causes of the habit of grinding teeth. If your teeth have become more sensitive lately, become yellower or the surface is flat, or you wake up with dull pain behind your head or jaw, you might grind your teeth in your sleep.
There are currently no drugs that will help you stop the teeth, but the dentist can provide a kind of retainer that you can use during sleep to calm the symptoms and stop you from causing further damage. Often these habits can stop as your stress triggers pass, so you may just need to be patient.
3. Youngest teething
Wisdom teeth often grow in unwanted positions or crammed in a place that is too crowded, so that it can cause throbbing pain accompanied by sudden sharp pain attacks. Removing wisdom teeth is the most commonly recommended action by a dentist, so if you complain of toothache, it keeps on growing as long as your wisdom teeth grow, make an appointment with the dentist as soon as possible. While waiting for an appointment to remove teeth, you can reduce the pain by gargling salt water or taking painkillers.
4. Dental caries
Dental caries, aka rotten teeth, is the most common cause of toothache. Small cavities in the outermost layer of teeth (enamel) usually do not cause pain, but once decay redeems through tooth enamel and affects the inner layer of the teeth (dentin), the teeth will become very sensitive. This then leads to the formation of tooth holes.
In advanced dental caries, decay goes deeper, down to the deepest layer of teeth (pulp), which results in intense intense pain. This infection from tooth decay can cause tooth death and cause abscesses (clots of pus) under the root of the tooth. This infection can spread and cause further tooth decay and gum disease, so it is important to see the dentist as soon as possible to be treated early.
5. Loose tooth fillings
When your loose tooth fillings are loose or are near the area of new tooth decay, patches can be broken, released, or worn out. You may experience sharp, drowning pain when biting the area. You might also find that the affected tooth area is very sensitive.
Patches that are dislodged or damaged must be handled by a dentist. While waiting for an appointment to remove teeth, you can reduce the pain by gargling salt water or taking painkillers.
6. Gum disease
Gum disease is also one of the most common causes of toothache. This is caused by a buildup of dental plaque around the gums. Inflammation caused by bacteria in plaques can be painful - causing the gums to swell, red, and bleed - and while tooth decay continues, the gums also become more sensitive. This is called gingivitis.
When gingivitis is not treated properly, more serious gum disease can cause abscesses (infections that cause pus clumping) and cause blunt pulsating pain, which makes you have chronic bad breath. This is called periodontitis. This infection then damages the soft tissue and bones that support your teeth. Your gums begin to recede and your teeth can loosen, so you need to pull them out. After your gums recede, the gums will not grow back.
This infection can spread and cause further tooth decay, so it is important to see the dentist as soon as possible to be treated early.
7. The tooth is broken / cracked
Sometimes, you may experience toothache but the root cause is not clearly known. In fact, toothache does not originate from perforated teeth or certain gum diseases. Toothache without obvious reasons that cause blunt pain can indicate your teeth are cracked or broken, which may be too small to be seen by the naked eye.
Tooth fractures may occur due to poor chewing habits, grinding teeth, tooth injury, weakening of teeth due to large fillings, and so on. When the cracks are severe, the nerves that might be affected can cause painful pain. Tooth cracks can be an alternative where bacteria gather, creating infections that cause further damage and dental problems.
8. Less frequent causes of toothache
If you have recently been injured in the jaw and skull joint joints (temporomandibular joints), you may be able to feel dull and pressing pain. This jaw trauma can also be caused by the habit of grinding teeth, arthritis, or oral cancer that affects the jaw.
One of the causes of toothache that is less common, but also equally important is sinusitis. Your upper back teeth share the same nerve as the sinus cavity. As a result, the pain that is present may be caused by the teeth, or vice versa. This sinus pain is usually accompanied by a blocked nose, and pain around the nasal cavity.
If you suspect one of the reasons above is the cause of your toothache, visit a doctor for more accurate diagnosis and treatment.
