Pain in your mouth can always be disconcerting, scary, and overwhelming to deal with. Toothaches are one of the biggest causes of this pain and are unfortunately a very real part of life. To help you understand some of the unknowns about this kind of mouth pain, here is a break down of some of the signs, symptoms, and treatments for a toothache.
More often than not, pain in your teeth usually happens when nerve associated with one of your teeth becomes agitated. Other times the main reason could be from cracked teeth, dental decay, gum disease, or even from the loss of a tooth.
You never want to ignore when you get a sense that something isn’t right in your mouth. There might be an abscess for instance which could mean there is pus gathering around the perimeter of the root of your tooth or even abnormal bleeding. An abscess is semi-serious and requires you to go to the dentist, but there are some other signs that are more serious than you may need to go to the emergency room for:
When your body works overtime in fighting an infection in your mouth, you need to be very aware of sepsis. If this gets out of control, the end result could potentially be deadly. All of the risks are too dangerous to ignore these kinds of symptoms, so go get your toothache checked out today.
Teeth Grinding
Grinding your teeth at night is usually something that you don’t even realize that you do. If this is a habit you have, you will bite down and have a sudden amount of intense pain and discomfort. Other things you might experience with teeth grinding is a pain in your face, intense headaches or even a tense jaw.
Infected or Receding Gums
Gum recession can also be a big cause for someone with sensitive teeth. The recession usually causes the enamel at the line of the gum to get wear away or get worn down. Because of this, there is no protective coating, so the tooth will be much more exposed. The result is severe pain when eating certain types of food and using cutlery.
The infection of your gum, however, doesn’t really give you pain inside the actual tooth. While the pain is coming from two different locations, our bodies aren’t usually able to distinguish the difference in the pain. Infections like gingivitis can, unfortunately, turn into periodontitis which is a much more dangerous kind of gum disease that makes pockets of space inside the gums that eventually become much more infected.
Untreated wisdom teeth that are trying to come in from your gums in an unnatural position or in a cramped area will cause a lot of pain in your teeth. Once the wisdom teeth start to protrude from the gum, inflammation or infection becomes a much higher concern because it is much more difficult to reach those teeth with cleaning tools like a toothbrush or floss.
Cavities
When decay starts setting into the hard outside surface of your tooth (enamel), it creates a hole. We call these cavities. Cavities probably seem harmless in the beginning because there really aren’t many symptoms associated with them. Eventually, though, this hole can get very big and mess with the nerves inside your tooth which leads to a toothache.
Exercise
There isn’t really anything wrong with exercise, but too much of anything can be harmful. A recent article shows that there is a potentially higher risk of tooth erosion in athletes because of a lack of saliva.
If you are having pain in your teeth for more than 2 days, the best solution really is to see a professional at your local dentist office. Until then though, here are some great home remedies that you can use to temporarily relieve some of your pain:
Saltwater Mouthwash
Warm water and salt can create a great mouthwash that will bring relief to tooth and gum pain, loosen items that may be stuck in your teeth, and even decrease the amount of time healing will take. All you have to do is put one teaspoon of salt into a glass of warm water and stir it around. You can use this as a mouth wash and repeat using it as many times as necessary.
Vanilla Extract
What’s great about vanilla extract is that it can actually bring you relief from pain by numbing the infected areas. It contains alcohol which speeds up the healing process as well. If you just put a small amount of the extract on a Q tip or cotton ball and gently dab any swollen or painful areas, you should begin to experience relief from some of the pain.
Ice
Ice is great for numbing any pain, but especially toothaches. All you have to do is put an ice cube into a plastic bag and then put it inside a really thin cloth. Once you have done this, simply place the pack onto the area that is in pain for around 20 minutes. This will numb all of the nerves around the tooth and bring relief.
Garlic
Because garlic has something called allicin in it, it is great for bringing relief to pain. All you need to do is crush a garlic clove and then combine it with salt. Once this is done, apply the substance to the tooth and wait for 2 – 3 minutes. You should start to feel relief from some of the pain.
There are many other home remedies and solutions to help relieve toothache pain, but we hope you have found some of these tips useful. For more information and to get the best care possible, make an appointment at your local dentist office today!