Toothache – Causes, Prevention and Treatment

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Toothache is a conditionwhere the tooth or its surrounding gums cause extreme pain due to one of theseveral reasons. It can be lesion or an inflammation to the pulp that can leadto pain in that region and it effects the whole body of the tooth.



Causes of toothache -

1. Temperature Sensitivity – This is one of the most commoncauses, in which any contact to very hot or very cold temperature suddenlycauses sensitivity to the tooth and causes pain. This is more prominent whenthe tooth surface has been worn out earlier and the dentin part of the tooth isexposed directly to the extreme temperatures and the dentinal tubules show themaximum sensitivity.

2. Dental decay or caries – Caused due to plaque formationconsisting of microorganisms which slowly decays the tooth and cause pain.

3. Fracture of the tooth – This may be caused due to anyaccident, or improper contact of teeth within food in between and themasticatory forces being higher.

4. Cracked tooth – As the color directly hit totooth is reflected, identifying a crack on the tooth is not easy but still thisis one of the reasons for tooth pain.

5. Pulpal irritation – This can happen after any dentaltreatment. This can happen only if the tooth does not accept the material usedfor the treatment or for the filling. During this, there is some inflammatoryresponse produced by the pulp and this leads to dental pain.

6. Improper Diet – The salivary production, thegastric production are all controlled by a biological cycle in our body and thesaliva with maximum enzymes is secreted in a timely manner. So proper diet andtime should be maintained, or else the infection of microorganisms become moreevolved and can cause tooth pain.

7. Sugary diet – Diet containing sugary food isfull of carbohydrates which are always regarded as the house formicroorganisms. In a sugary environment, the bacteria grow rapidly and causethe decay and pain of the tooth.

8. Gum disease – Gum diseases like Gingivitis areone of the factors that cause the tooth pain.

9. Other than mouth – Rarely, some conditions likesinusitis, or an ear infection can also indirectly lead to tooth pain.



How to prevent toothache?

You never know what thereason for your toothache is. So your best adviser is the dentist. Visit adentist as soon as you experience pain in the mouth as it can be some infectionor injury and should be needed to treat it before it spreads. Here are some ofthe precautions and remedies you can follow to prevent toothache -



1. No extreme conditions – You should avoid hot or coldthings that can increase the pain. The pain caused due to inflammation of pulpi.e. pulpitis can be prevented by having food of normal temperature conditions.

2. Vitamin-C rich diet – Vitamin-C or ascorbic acid iswell known for helping in absorption of calcium and phosphorus, and depositionon the tooth to strengthen and growth of the calcified tissues of the toothi.e. the enamel layer. And this vitamin also helps in restricting the growth ofmicroorganisms.

3. Brushing habits – You should brush twice daily,i.e. before breakfast and after dinner. Here are a few tips on how to brush yourteeth(Read comments there). If you have untimely and improper brushinghabits, lot of small food particles accumulate between the teeth in the embrasuresand this can lead to formation of dental plaque and tooth decay later. Flossingalso helps in emptying the spaces and keeping them clean.

4. Use fluoride-based toothpaste – Fluorine is well known to preventinfections, and helps in strengthening of the enamel layer which can preventthe rotting of the layer due to microorganisms.

5. Lessen sugary food intake – Sugary food as said, helps ingrowth of microorganisms. This is why the young kids are told to eat lesserchocolates as this helps in protection of the tooth surfaces and so tooth paindoes not occur.



Treatment of toothache?

When suffering fromtoothache, as said above, you have to visit a dentist for the best cure. Butbefore approaching a dentist, you can follow these steps to subside the pain -



1. Use toothpaste for sensitiveteeth, which are specially made to reduce the pain due tohypersensitivity on the tooth.

2. In pain due to tooth eruption, a teaspoonof salt taken in a cup of water is used to rinse the painful regionthoroughly and this salt content helps in reducing the pain for sometime.

3. Ulcer near the tooth can also causetooth pain. This can be reduced by normal rinsing of that region withsalt water.

4. Painkillers like NSAIDs(Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatorydrugs) i.e. Ibuprofen available as Nurofen and other tablets like Nicip pluscan help in relieving pain as they are the analgesics which act on reducingpain.

5. Clove oil or powder – Clove is one of the best naturalremedies as it has antiseptic properties and when clove oil is used on anypainful tooth, the pain is relieved immediately giving relaxing effects. Inabsence of clove oil, grinding clove and using its clove powder is alsohelpful.

6. Bacterial removal by wheat – It is believed that wheat juiceor wheat grass when chewed helps in reducing tooth pain, and sometimes alsohelps in curing any decaying of the tooth as it is known to helpfully removethe attacking the bacteria from the region of infection.

7. Salt water – Salt water either cold or in warmtemperature when rinsed in the painful region would help in reducing the paincaused due to either any infection or any tooth eruption.

8. Bacterial kill with onions – Bacterial growth can also beceased by chewing onion for 3 minutes, this can be burning to mouth but itrapidly kills the bacteria and prevents the further growth and reduces thedental pain.

9. Using Asafoetida – It is believed that usingAsafoetida helps in relieving pain and is advised to use along with lemon juiceand heated slightly before usage. It should not be directly applied, but acotton swab is soaked into this solution and used over the painful region ofthe tooth.

10. Pepper as a dentrifice – Pepper when mixed with a bithigher quantity of salt is used for various purposes like curing of toothache,prevention of dental caries, reducing foul breath, reducing bleeding of gums.



But it is still advisedthat these are the temporary remedies and you should give a visit to thedentist for the final conclusion.



Source: Dr.Chetan