Tooth Pains and What Causes them

Taking care of your teeth is something they teach us from the very beginning. Even in kindergarten, teachers and rhymes and stories elicit the importance of healthy teeth and gums and how they benefit us over long term. Having bad oral health is associated with many diseases such as plaque build-up, gingivitis, tooth decay and diseases that arise due to the poor oral health. This is why it is advised from our childhood so that it is imbibed in us to take good care of our teeth and to visit the dentist regularly to stay ahead of oral health problems.

Dental procedures are quite advanced these days and are really quite painless as well. But toothache is something that always triggers us to get our teeth checked and to identify the tooth issues. It is said that the pain from food getting stuck in a decayed tooth invokes sharp pain in the teeth which can be extremely excruciating. That is when most people run to their dentists.

What triggers Tooth Pain?

There are so many reasons why you could be experiencing tooth pain. Some of the most important reasons are listed here:

1. Poor Dental Health

Having bad teeth or having a bad oral condition is the first and foremost reason for tooth pain. Some of us have poor lifestyle habits that can trigger a chain reaction that usually ends up in worsening your teeth condition. Drinking lots of strong coffee, tea, espresso, smoking, drugs, excess intake of sugary desserts and chocolates, sticky toffees, Salty snacks and fatty foods such as steaks and bacon. All of these items can lead to otting of the teeth if they are not carefully and thoroughly cleansed from the teeth.

Sticky foods, sugary foods, salty and greasy foods can stay hidden between teeth and settle over small crevices of the gums and tooth which regular brushing may not reach. This then develops into plaque formation which starts rotting the teeth due to microbial attack. Eventually, the tooth gets decayed and causes all sorts of dental problems starting with excruciating pain in the tooth.

2. Root Canal Treatments

Root Canal Treatments are the obvious solutions to severe tooth decay, where the tooth has to be shaved off after removing all the decayed material from the tooth. This procedure is done by a dentist and can take upto 3 to 4 seatings. Root Canal Treatments are also quite expensive and the only way to avoid them would be by taking good care of your teeth while you can.

A root canal treatment is done with the help of local anesthesia as the dentist would require the use of technical instruments to clean the decayed material from the teeth and thoroughly cleanse the tooth from within. The nerves in the teeth are quite sensitive and therefore the pain is extremely high. This is the reason why a local anesthesia is used to numb the region before starting the procedure. The tooth is then shaved down to the bottom and cemented so that there is no further attack by microbes and germs on the teeth. The dentist would be taking an impression of your teeth and create a new tooth made out of tooth-similar material such as ceramic and other materials. This would then sit onto the tooth as your permanent tooth crown.

3. Temporary Crown Pain

As discussed above, creating a permanent crown of your tooth may take upto several weeks and leaving the tooth as it is could prove quite risky. This is why dentists use something called as Temporary crowns. Temporary crowns are tooth-imitating artificial crowns that can behave like an actual permanent crown and partially function as a regular teeth

Temporary crowns are made from materials such as acrylic resins and light cure composites. They can look and function like a permanent crown and have restorative abilities. Temporary crown pain is usually very less and minimal and temporary crown fitment is usually painless.

One needs to make sure that they do not chew on hard things and brush too harshly when using a temporary crown as they are fitted with temporary dental cements, which may loosen up and give way for the crown to fall off. However they can be fixed back up easily.

4. Tooth Filling

Tooth filling or Dental filling is an alternative to root canal treatments. Tooth filling is done when a tooth is decayed but the damage is quite minimal. In this case the dentist can remove the decayed part from the tooth as it might not have reached the core of the tooth.

The tooth is then filled with composite materials that mimic tooth functionality and can build the tooth back up as whole. Tooth fillings may tend to fall off in case of excessive pressure due to eating hard things or rigorous cleaning. In this case the patient needs to immediately see the dentist as once the filling falls off, the tooth can attract food material that may get stuck in the tooth and can cause sharp pains. Getting a filling done is not very painful but the whole idea of getting food stuck in a tooth which is either rotten or a tooth from which a filling has fallen off can be quite painful.

5. Gum Problems

Gum problems such as gingivitis and scurvy can cause extreme pain and need to be shown to a good dentist immediately. Prolonged gum problems and inflammation can cause the teeth to become infected and cause severe problems for the nerves that lead to the teeth as well. Prolonged gingivitis can also cause destruction of gums and Periodontitis, a much severe form of infection causing tissue destruction and bone resorption of the teeth area.