What Does Nerve Pain Feel Like In A Tooth?

Ordinarily, the tooth’s nerve is well protected in the inner pulp. However, sometimes it gets exposed. Gum disease is the most common cause of exposed nerves. Still, any activity that causes gum degeneration, such as vigorous tooth brushing, smoking, tobacco usage, teeth grinding, and teeth misalignment, can have similar effects.

When any of these happen, it’s never a funny story. The first problem you encounter is how best to eat and drink because hot or cold, sugary, acidic, or sour foods and drinks irritate an exposed tooth nerve. You may get lucky when you take food or drink like this because tooth nerve pain may sometimes be dull and aching. On the other hand, it may also come as a sharp, stabbing one. Sometimes, you could get pain relievers and feel relaxed a bit. However, it doesn’t work for everyone. That is why we advise that you visit a dentist anytime you feel like this.

At Golnick pediatric dentistry, we offer several management options depending on the cause of nerve tooth pain. Kindly read on to see what these are.

What Causes Tooth Nerve Pain?

The two major causes of tooth nerve pain are Pulpal Sensitivity and Dental Sensitivity.

• Pulpal Sensitivity: When there is trauma to the pulp of only one tooth, it may lead to pulpal sensitivity. That also means that the pain would only occur in one tooth. These damages to the pulp include tooth infections, cracked or chipped tooth or damaged dental restorations. People who grind their teeth habitually can be victims of pulpal sensitivity. Over time, the enamel would erode, and it won’t be strong enough to keep the inner teeth structure safe.
• Dental Sensitivity: Unlike pulpal sensitivity, dental sensitivity affects several teeth or the entire mouth. The leading cause is weakened enamel. The enamel can get weak due to various factors. People experiencing teeth grinding, broken and chipped teeth are at a higher risk of developing dental sensitivity. The pain can become worse when they eat or drink hot, cold, acidic, sugary, and sour foods or drink.You should also know that constant teeth whitening, especially bad teeth whitening products, can weaken your enamel. Besides dental sensitivity, teeth infection is another problem because germs can easily penetrate a soft enamel. That is why you should only get teeth whitening from a dentist.

Nerve Pain Symptoms

Various signs indicate that you have nerve pain. These symptoms could start as mild ones and deteriorate over time. Tooth nerve pain symptoms include:

• Pain on a single tooth or the entire mouth.
• Tooth pain gets severe after eating or drinking hot, cold, sugary, acidic, or sour food and beverages.
• Mild pain at the gum line area

Some ways to prevent tooth nerve pain are practicing good dental hygiene and regular dental examination.

Can Nerve Block Surgery Treat Tooth Nerve Pain?

Dentists use the nerve block procedure to numb an area of the mouth, usually before a painful dental procedure. Asides from this, there are several other options available in sedation dentistry to help patients through uncomfortable dental procedures. However, dentists don’t use nerve block surgery to treat tooth nerve pain. They use other techniques- dental fillings and root canals, depending on the cause of the pain.

Dental fillings can solve the problem if tooth nerve pain is due to cracks in the tooth. A root canal treatment is more suitable for severe tooth decay or damage. A dentist removes the injured nerve and pulp from inside the tooth, cleans the region, and closes it during a root canal. The nerves inside teeth aren’t necessary for good tooth function and are even causing pain. Hence, removal solves the problem.