As Germantown’s dental implant and general dentistry expert, Clopper’s Mill Dental Care is dedicated to providing patients with oral health education and advanced dental treatment—and one of the most common forms of treatment is reducing and curing tooth pain. In this blog, we’ll discuss a few of the many causes of tooth pain, how they form in the mouth, how to identify them, and how to treat them.
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Causes of Tooth Pain, Part 1
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Tooth Decay
It’s not a secret—tooth decay is the most common source of tooth pain for people of all ages. Foods of all kinds are broken down by the saliva and bacteria in your mouth, creating acids that slowly eat away at the enamel of your teeth, causing tooth decay—and with tooth decay comes unsightly and painful cavities.
You’ve heard this speech from your mother before: eating foods high in refined carbs and sugars will only accelerate the decaying process, as will skipping your daily brushing and flossing regimen. Brush your teeth, floss, and keep the cavity-inducing foods to a minimum, and you’ll drastically reduce your likelihood of developing cavities.
But if you do experience mild to moderate tooth pain without any underlying health factors at play, then there’s a good chance you have a cavity. Stop by your Germantown dentist, let them fix up your cavity, and take heed of your mother’s cavity speech next time.
Sustain your gum health.
Everyone deals with bacteria and plaque in their mouths on a daily basis—it’s what you do about it that matters. As you age, the likelihood of developing periodontal disease (also known as gum disease) increases, and if left untreated, can causes bleeding, soreness, and bad breath, as well as serious damage to your teeth and jaw.
If you suspect you have periodontal disease, even if it’s a mild case, it’s best to pay your dentist a visit to treat the problem before it gets any worse.
Abscessed Tooth
For those who will continue to ignore mom’s lectures on oral health, the consequences become more and more severe with time. When tooth decay takes a serious turn and eats through the entire enamel of a tooth, bacteria seeps into the pulp of the tooth, causing an infection in the pulp, roots, and sometimes, the jawbone. This kind of infection is called an abscessed tooth—one of the most painful oral health ailments that causes difficulty chewing, bad breath, swollen neck glands, fever, and severe tooth and jaw pain. These symptoms may subside once the pulp of the tooth dies, but the infection still lives on, moving to other areas of your mouth—so make a trip to the dentist, even if the pain, swelling, and other symptoms go away.
Fractured Tooth
There are many different classifications of fractured teeth, from tiny chips and cracks to full-fledged splits down to the base of the tooth. Many of these fractures can be fixed—however, if the crack of the fracture makes it past gumline level, the tooth will most likely need to be extracted from the mouth. Usually, tooth fractures don’t happen without some sort of cause, so if your get hit in the face or jaw, or experience facial injury from a car or biking accident, it’s good practice to inspect your mouth for tooth chips or fractures, and to head to your dentist’s office so they can make sure you haven’t been dealt any less noticeable oral injuries.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this blog series, which will give you even more information on the leading causes of tooth pain. Until then, catch up on our other oral health posts!