Tooth Pain

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Do you feel discomfort, sensitivity or pain when you eat or drink foods that are hot, cold, or sweet?

Transient sensitivity (sharp pain) to stimulus that subsides when the stimulus is gone is mainly due to exposure to the inner structures of the tooth, dentine and/or cementum. 

The most common causes:

-Tooth decay (cavity). When the tooth decays, the outer layer of the tooth, enamel, is pierced allowing stimulus to reach the sensitive parts of the tooth .

-Gum recession. When the gum surrounding shrinks away from the tooth, it leaves part of the root exposed. 

-Root surfaces are more susceptible to cause sensitivity and less resistant to cavities.

Does your tooth hurt when you touch it or bite on it? Dull or sharp pain when pressure is applied to a tooth is a sign of inflammation of the ligaments that support the tooth in the bone.

The most common causes:

-Trauma. If we accidentally bite on something hard, or we get hit by an external object like a ball, this might cause an inflammatory response from our body trying to repair the damage. In most of the cases this is a temporary situation that tend to heal within couple of weeks. In some cases, however, the damage is greater than what out body can repair.

Do you have painful tooth all the time even without any stimulus? Spontaneous pain is a sign that the damage has reached to inner most part of the tooth, the pulp. The pulp is where the nerves and blood vessels reside.