What to do when you have a toothache: endure or act

Toothache and its types

Pain occurs under a variety of circumstances and varies in intensity and duration.

• Short-term painful sensations from sweets signal the initial stage of caries.
• Passing pain from a sharp temperature change occurs with advanced caries.
• Sharp pain during hygiene procedures or when eating cold food indicates increased sensitivity of the teeth.
• Prolonged aching pain from exposure to temperatures can occur due to inflammation of the nerve.
• Acute toothache, worsening in the evening, can be felt with pulpitis.
• A bursting, aching pain when pressed appears with periodontitis.

Pain does not occur out of nowhere; there are certain reasons for this. Only when they are eliminated can you breathe a sigh of relief.

A tooth hurts under a filling when pressed: reasons

The main reasons why a tooth under a filling may hurt when pressed:

1. Medical error. The canals were treated poorly during dental surgery or the filling does not completely cover the damaged enamel.
2. Lack of hygiene. Neglect or poor brushing of teeth after eating, chewing hard foods with teeth with fresh fillings.
3. Worn filling. On average, the protective properties of a filling last for 5 years. Then the protection begins to weaken and needs to be replaced.
4. Error during filling. The material of modern fillings contains a significant amount of chemical elements. And such a composition can cause an allergic reaction in the patient. It manifests itself gradually, first of all, the feeling of discomfort intensifies, aching pain occurs, and the inflammatory process begins.
5. Pulpitis develops under the filling. The long process of caries development leads to the development of inflammation. In this case, pain occurs constantly. The disease progresses quickly and can lead to tooth loss, so you should not hesitate to visit the dental clinic.
6. Apical periodontitis. The inflammatory process develops due to the lack of timely treatment. Pain occurs when pressing on the tooth.

Why can your teeth hurt?

Toothache in adults and children can occur for various reasons. Here are the most common ones.

Dental diseases

Pain is one of the symptoms of caries, pulpitis, periodontitis, exposure of the neck of the tooth, enamel erosion, abscess, retention (delayed eruption) of teeth and many other diseases of the oral cavity.

Sinusitis

If you have a stuffy nose, you feel weak in the body and the entire upper jaw hurts, the reason for this may be accumulated pus in the paranasal sinuses.

Food leftovers

Sometimes food gets stuck in the spaces between teeth, which are difficult to clean with a regular toothbrush. When food remains get stuck under the gums, they can cause inflammation of the gums and severe toothache.

Bruxism

If your teeth hurt in the morning, your head hurts, and you feel like you haven't slept at all, you may be suffering from involuntary teeth grinding in your sleep.

Lost filling

The service life of the filling is 5–7 years. If it is not replaced in time, it may fall out unexpectedly one day. In this case, pain usually occurs while eating.

Possible reasons

This symptom can be caused by various ailments, and not all of them are related to teeth:

• Sinusitis. Many people have probably heard that sinusitis can cause severe headaches. Sometimes the pathological process also affects the jaw tissue. The patient feels as if all his teeth are hurting at once.
• Deep carious cavity. When a piece of food gets into a carious cavity (especially if we are talking about sweets), a person experiences acute pain. Sometimes the discomfort is so noticeable that it spreads to the entire dentition. It seems that all the teeth hurt at once, although the reason lies in only one unit. This kind of pain is called radiating pain.
• Inflammation of the dental nerve. If caries is not treated for a long time ,
  it can ultimately lead to pulpitis. The exposed root reacts very sharply to external factors. Even cold air can provoke severe pain, also of a radiating nature.
• Granuloma or dental cyst. If the neoplasm is localized on the root of the tooth, this leads to compression of the nerve endings, which causes extensive discomfort that will immediately spread to the entire jaw.

To determine exactly what exactly caused the pathological process, you need to contact a dentist and take an x-ray.

Troubled tooth after treatment

Does your tooth hurt after extraction or therapeutic treatment? Don't panic, at least for the first 2-3 days. Any intervention in tissue, be it surgical or therapeutic, is always an injury that makes itself felt by the appearance of unpleasant pain. If you have had a difficult wisdom teeth removal, be patient: the wound will take at least a week to heal. The main thing with all this is that the intensity of pain should decrease every day.

If more than three days have passed after treatment, and the tooth hurts when pressed, it is possible that a pathological process has developed under the filling or crown. But you won’t be able to diagnose yourself, so seek help from a dentist.

Choose a dentistry that offers dental treatment under a microscope. Multiple magnification allows you to quickly identify and efficiently eliminate any cause of inflammation.

Why do sweets make your teeth hurt?

Teeth hurt due to destruction, damage or thinning of tooth enamel. It loses its protective properties, and irritants reach the pulp, which reacts painfully to them. Problems with enamel can be caused by sugar consumption or a number of other reasons. The most likely of them is caries.

CARIES –

a pathological process accompanied by destruction of hard dental tissues. The trigger for its development is several unfavorable factors.

• Plaque accumulation.
• Poor oral hygiene.
• Foods rich in carbohydrates - sucrose.
• Low level of enamel mineralization.
• The buffering properties of saliva do not neutralize acids.

Dental plaque is a kind of mixture of bacteria and their metabolic products. Due to poor hygiene, it gradually accumulates, and the microorganisms living in it accelerate the fermentation process. Abuse of sucrose reduces the buffer capacity of saliva - it is not able to neutralize the resulting acids. They destroy hydroxyapatite crystals and the enamel is gradually destroyed. The combination of these factors significantly accelerates the carious process. After damage to the enamel, it spreads to dentin, and if left untreated, leads to inflammation of the pulp and periodontium - the connective tissue surrounding the roots of the tooth. On the contrary, eliminating cariogenic factors and timely treatment can stop the growth of caries and save the tooth. And the sooner you contact a dentist, the greater the chances of success. Therefore, experts recommend not to ignore regular preventive examinations, which can detect caries at the chalk spot stage - a demineralized area of ​​enamel that indicates a problem. After its elimination, remineralization of the enamel and subject to the dentist’s recommendations, caries recedes.

It is not too late to seek help at the stage of superficial caries, when teeth react painfully to cold and hot, sour and sweet tastes. In this case, increased sensitivity indicates significant demineralization of the enamel and the progression of the carious process, which gradually spreads deep into the hard tissues of the tooth. But you can get rid of it quickly, easily and without complications.

Today, dentists successfully treat caries of any stage. But the later the patient seeks help, the more difficult, longer and more expensive the treatment will be. However, it also happens that teeth hurt from sweets, but there is no caries. In this case, non-carious causes are considered, which also lead to enamel damage.

INCREASED TEETH WEAR –

a pathology of non-carious origin, which is characterized by intensive loss of hard tooth tissues. They are literally erased - first the enamel, and then the dentin, which is accompanied by painful sensations after eating sweets and other irritants - sour, salty, cold, hot. In this case, pathological abrasion can be due to a number of reasons.

• Inappropriate distribution of load on the dentition due to tooth loss.
• Bite pathologies.
• Bruxism is teeth grinding.
• Wearing an incorrectly fitted denture.
• Hypoplasia is a congenital defect of underdevelopment of hard dental tissues.
• Fluorosis is damage to the enamel due to consumption of food and water with a high fluoride content.
• Harmful environmental or working conditions.

These reasons lead to pathological abrasion of teeth and serious damage to the enamel.

WEDGE DEFECT –

a pathology of non-carious origin, which is characterized by the formation of enamel defects in the area of ​​the tooth neck.

Specific “steps” (depressions) resembling a wedge are formed on the surface of the enamel. Their appearance may be due to poor oral hygiene, plaque accumulation on the neck of the tooth, or inflammation of the periodontal tissues - the tissues surrounding the tooth that hold it in the alveolus. The formation of a wedge-shaped defect thins the tooth enamel. Its depth can reach dentin, which facilitates the penetration of the irritant to the pulp.

HYPOPLASIA –

underdevelopment of hard dental tissues or the entire tooth as a whole. The pathology develops as a result of disturbances in the metabolic process in the tissues of the tooth buds, which leads to abnormal formation of enamel and dentin. Often, hypoplasia is formed during the period of intrauterine development. The appearance of disorders can be provoked by a Rh conflict between the baby and mother, or diseases the woman suffered during pregnancy - toxoplasmosis, rubella, etc. The impetus for the appearance of hypoplasia of permanent teeth can be infectious diseases suffered at an early age, brain disorders, gastrointestinal diseases, rickets or dystrophy. Regardless of the causes, hypoplasia involves a partial or complete absence of enamel, and sometimes underdevelopment of dentin, which poses a threat to the pulp and tooth as a whole.

EROSION OF TOOTH ENAMEL –

non-carious lesions of hard tissues. Erosion is characterized by the appearance of small defects or stains on the enamel, which appear under the influence of a combination of internal and external environmental factors. The exact cause of the pathology has not yet been established by specialists. As a trigger for its development, they tend to consider mechanical effects on the enamel during oral hygiene, as well as abuse of foods high in acids. Erosion may not be noticeable externally, but it involves thinning and damage to the enamel, which makes it easier for irritants to penetrate the dental pulp.

NECROSIS OF HARD TISSUE OF THE TOOTH –

necrosis and destruction of enamel and dentin. The death of hard dental tissues can be caused by intoxication of the body, hormonal disorders, diseases of the central nervous system, exposure to acids, alkalis, radiation therapy and a number of other negative factors. If the enamel is weakened, then it cannot withstand their effects, which leads to pain and destruction of the hard tissues of the tooth.

MECHANICAL DAMAGE TO ENAMEL –

various chips and cracks facilitate the penetration of irritants through dentin to the pulp, and it responds with pain. Mechanical damage can occur under the influence of a number of external factors.

• Tooth injuries from impact or fall.
• Eating solid foods – nuts, seeds.
• Bad habits, for example, opening a bottle with a cork with your teeth.
• Improper oral hygiene - using a brush with excessively hard bristles, using abrasive products to remove plaque, increased pressure on the enamel while brushing your teeth.

To a greater extent, they are affected by weakened enamel, covered with dental plaque, plaque, and deficient in calcium and fluoride.

What is better: to endure pain or take painkillers?

Despite the fact that pain is a natural protective reaction of the body, it should not be tolerated. Firstly, scientists have proven that constant pain, and especially severe pain, contributes to the production of stress hormones in the body, which can lead to increased blood pressure, increased blood sugar and decreased immunity. Secondly, anyone who has experienced acute toothache at least once knows how unbearable and painful it is when it is impossible to eat or sleep. In this situation, taking analgesics will help temporarily get rid of toothache at home, especially if it is not possible to immediately make an appointment with a doctor.

But you need to understand that not a single pill, even the most effective and expensive, can eliminate the cause of your temporary suffering. And even more so, you should not switch to regular and uncontrolled medication use. The serious consequences that may arise due to untimely treatment are not worth postponing a visit to the doctor once again.

Tooth hurts from eating sweets after filling

Pain after filling is not uncommon. After all, the procedure involves preparation (removal) of a damaged area of ​​enamel, which involves a mechanical effect on the hard tissues of the tooth. To ensure that the installed filling holds better, specialists etch the area to be filled with acids that improve the adhesive properties of the enamel. The combination of mechanical and chemical effects can cause weakening of the enamel and a decrease in its protective characteristics.

Ideally, the treated tooth should not hurt or bother you after filling. The filling reliably protects its internal tissues from the influence of irritants and infection. But if the procedure protocol was violated, low-quality material was used for filling, or the dentist made another mistake, then the appearance of pain is a signal indicating the existence of a problem. In this case, a repeat visit to the clinic cannot be avoided.

Don't be afraid of re-treatment. Most likely, remineralization therapy or fluoridation will be carried out, which will strengthen the tooth enamel. If a gross mistake was made during the placement of the filling, then repeated treatment and filling of the tooth will be required.

How to relieve toothache at home

There are situations when there are no painkillers on hand and it is not possible to buy them at the nearest pharmacy. In this situation, you can try to reduce the discomfort with folk remedies. But you still shouldn’t count on their effectiveness and duration of action. They do not always help and not everyone.

Propolis

Has a bactericidal and anti-inflammatory effect. Can be used in pure form or in the form of tinctures.

Chamomile

A well-known folk remedy used to reduce pain and relieve inflammation. It has virtually no contraindications.

Ginger

It has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. You can apply it raw to the sore spot or make a decoction.

Carnation

Has an analgesic effect. Chew one stick of cloves or lubricate the sore tooth with clove oil.

Hypertonic solution

Dissolve 2 teaspoons of table salt and 1 teaspoon of baking soda in half a liter of warm boiled water. Rinse your mouth with this solution 3-4 times a day.

We do not advise children and women to use folk remedies for toothache during pregnancy in order to avoid the development of an allergic reaction.

If in the evening, in addition to acute, aching pain, you have swelling and a rise in temperature, and there is no 24-hour dentist on duty in the city, contact an ambulance for emergency help. The paramedic will give you an injection of pain medication and you will be able to wait until you see the doctor.

A tooth hurts under a temporary filling: treatment

After the filling is installed, you may experience some pain that goes away on its own within a few days. If there is significant discomfort, dentists recommend rinsing with a warm solution of furatsilin or chlorhexidine. A warm saline solution will also relieve pain. After eating, do not forget to rinse your mouth with warm water and 0.5 tsp. soda and a couple of drops of iodine. You can also apply a cooling gel or place a piece of ice on the tooth area. Painkillers can only be used as prescribed by a doctor.

In this case, it is highly not recommended to use traditional methods to relieve toothache under a temporary filling. Home remedies provide only temporary relief and do not eliminate the cause of the pain.

What will happen if left untreated?

If the toothache has passed, do not rest on it. Sooner or later she will definitely make herself known. The teeth are in close proximity to the brain and digestive organs. Can you imagine where the infection will first spread through the blood vessels from the oral cavity? In medicine, there are cases where the cause of death was untreated caries.

In addition, our body is designed in such a way that when pain appears, it devotes all its strength to fighting inflammation. The immune system cannot cope with the increased load. Therefore, do not be surprised if, in addition to toothache, you also get a cold.

From all of the above we draw a conclusion. Toothache cannot be tolerated. Folk remedies are ineffective. And there is only one correct way to help yourself in this situation - make an appointment with a dentist. Moreover, to a competent one, working in a multidisciplinary dental clinic, in sterile conditions, using high-tech equipment. The Center for Modern Dentistry has everything you need to quickly and painlessly provide dental treatment to adults and children.

Treatment in dentistry

After diagnosing the condition of the oral cavity and studying the patient’s medical history, the dentist will determine the exact cause of the pain. Depending on the diagnosis, conservative therapy or surgical intervention will be prescribed. In modern dentistry, the following methods for eliminating pain after sweets have proven themselves well.

• Fluoridation of enamel.
• Remineralizing therapy.
• Sealing of fissures.
• Correction of bite pathologies.
• Preparation of damaged tissues and placement of fillings.
• Installation of crowns, veneers, lumineers.
• Dental implantation.