5 causes of tooth pain
Tooth pain can bring your life to a halt. Knowing the cause of the pain is the first step to fixing it. Are you experiencing any of these five common causes of tooth pain?
A Cavity
At first, cavities might not cause any symptoms, but they can eventually lead to a toothache, especially if the cavity gets large and close to the nerves inside the teeth. Severe cavities typically cause sharp pain that's bad enough to wake you up when you're asleep, and the pain often gets worse when you lie down. In addition to limiting foods high in sugar and starches, you can help prevent cavities by: brushing with fluoride toothpaste twice a day, regularly flossing your teeth, not using tobacco products, and seeing a dentist at least twice a year for regular cleanings and checkups.
A Tooth Injury
Sometimes toothaches come from trauma or injury that you might not think twice about. An example might be a fender bender that made you slam your upper teeth against your lower teeth. In other cases, you might have tooth pain from wear and tear or injury to ligaments that cushion your jaw when you chew.
Drink more water to protect your teeth
Staying hydrated helps us in many ways including getting rid of waste, promoting skin elasticity, and keeping muscles healthy and moving. But water isn’t just great for your body, it’s also great for your oral health.
Water strengthens teeth
Flouride, an essential part of tap water, is “nature’s cavity fighter” and provides many benefits to your teeth. Flouride mixes with tooth enamel in developing teeth and helps prevent tooth decay. It also works with saliva to prevent plaque. Dentists also agree that thanks to fluoride in the water, half of the kids in the U.S. between five and seventeen have never had a cavity in their permanent teeth.
Why does my bite feel uneven?
If you’ve noticed a slight change in your smile or teeth alignment, it may be an indication that your bite has shifted. This condition is known as malocclusion and results from crooked or crowded teeth and misalignment between the lower and upper dental arches.
What Might Be Happening
A variety of issues may be contributing to you feeling like your bite has changed. If you have experienced tooth loss, your bite may not fit together the same way (or your teeth may be shifting out of place). If you suffer from bruxism, eroded tooth surfaces can affect your bite. Old dental work (like a crown or a bridge) may suddenly become worn or damaged, from which even minor changes can affect your overall bite balance. Dental care to address the problem will create a more balanced bite.
This is how to take care of your toothbrush
A beautiful smile begins with taking care of your toothbrush. That’s why you should take special care of it to avoid the formation of germs, fungi and bacteria.
Clean your toothbrush after each use
The first habit to keep in mind — and the most important — is rinsing your toothbrush after every brushing. It’s vital that you make sure that no toothpaste or food residue remains on the brush.
Find a suitable place to store your toothbrush
Ideally, you should keep it in a container, located vertically with the head pointing up to allow it to be ventilated and completely dry. Make sure it’s kept separate from other toothbrushes to avoid the transmission of viruses and bacteria. And don’t forget to protect your toothbrush while you travel!
Do dentures affect nutrition?
Dentures are sets of artificial teeth designed to replace the entirety of the upper and/or lower dental arches. These prostheses have been utilized for decades and are often considered a go-to technique to resolve the dental needs of seniors and adults with widespread tooth loss.
While removable dentures can indeed restore a patient’s smile and ability to bite, recent studies have indicated that the limitations presented by these restorations may have consequences on one’s nutritional health.
Since dentures are traditionally fastened to the gums with dental pastes, the potential for gum slippage and irritation when chewing food can be high. In turn, many individuals who wear dentures opt to consume softer foods that require less mastication, such as mashed potatoes, pasta, and casseroles. These meals are often higher in cholesterol and fat content, leading to reduced intake of healthier ingredients. Dentures that are high quality and fit well can ultimately help patients more comfortably chew, which may reduce the desire to avoid the foods they need for adequate nutrition.
My kid hates brushing their teeth. What can I do?
Kids bring joy to our lives. But when it comes to brushing their teeth and creating healthy oral hygiene habits, the process can be a challenge. Here are some ways you can not only get them to brush their teeth but also enjoy themselves while doing it.
Show Them the Way
Since kids are like sponges and absorb everything around them, show good oral hygiene habits while they’re watching. If they see you happily brushing, they’re much more likely to follow your example.
Create a Routine
Use your routines during mealtime, clean up, chores, and brushing teeth as teachable moments. Everything you do can be a learning experience. And the more you do it, the more it becomes routine and part of what you do every day.
A healthy tongue makes for a healthy mouth
Your tongue plays a crucial role in your oral function and is a key health indicator. Taking care of your tongue is just as important as maintaining healthy teeth and gums. Since the tongue is a muscle, it needs a diet rich in vitamins and minerals to thrive. Consuming iron-rich foods is extremely beneficial for your tongue.
Changes to the color and feel of the tongue can indicate a variety of health issues, from vitamin deficiencies to oral cancer. Here’s a quick guide:
- Red - A red tongue can be caused by many things, such as inflammation, infection, a blood disease, an underlying heart condition, or vitamin B12 deficiency.
- Blue - A blue tongue can indicate a lack of oxygen caused by respiratory issues, kidney disease, or a blood disorder.
- Yellow - The tongue may have a yellow appearance, or a yellow coating can develop due to a buildup of bacteria from poor oral hygiene, tobacco use, alcohol use, heavy consumption of coffee or black tea, dry mouth, inflammation of the stomach lining, or weakened immune system.
- White - A tongue with a thick and lumpy white coating could mean you have oral thrush, a fungal infection of your mouth's mucous membranes.
- Black - A tongue that appears black and hairy with swollen bumps can be due to certain antibiotics, poor oral hygiene, and smoking.
How long does it take to recover from a root canal?
If you’re experiencing tooth discomfort and pain, you may need root canal treatment. But how long will it take to recover from the surgery?
When is a Root Canal Needed?
Severe, persistent tooth pain might indicate the need for a root canal. Sometimes, dental decay can affect the pulp inside of a tooth. That pulp is made of connective tissue, blood vessels, nerves, and other tissues, all of which help your teeth stay healthy. If the pulp becomes inflamed or gets infected, it can be serious, as an infection can even spread to surrounding teeth, affecting your overall health as well as your oral health. To prevent that, root canal treatment is an excellent solution.
What is a Root Canal?
The first step is removing the affected pulp. Once the inside chamber of the tooth is emptied, your dentist will thoroughly sterilize the cavity to remove any debris that’s left over. Then the tooth is sealed with a special material to prevent infection, and create a crown to place over the tooth, if necessary to protect the tooth from further damage.
How Long Does It Take to Recover from a Root Canal?
Healing after a root canal is surprisingly quick. As long as you follow the aftercare instructions, you should start feeling back to normal in a couple of days.
Schedule a Visit to the Dentist
A root canal can help you get back to living pain-free. We’re happy to talk with you about the process and offer professional advice. Schedule an appointment today.
Why are dental implants popular for missing teeth?
If you have one or more missing teeth, you may have mulled over the different ways to fill those gaps. You could go with traditional bridges, crowns, or dentures (which certainly can do the trick) but if you’re looking for the longest-lasting, most structurally sound option for dental restoration, you should consider dental implants.
Implants look, feel, and act like a natural tooth.
Once you complete the dental implant process and recover, you’d hardly know that your new tooth isn’t real — and we’re confident that no one else would ever guess. That’s because dental implants mimic the shape, structure, color, and function of your natural teeth.
Implants can last a lifetime.
Assuming you don’t get into any accidents that harm your dental implants, they can last for the rest of your life if you take good care of them. That means brushing and flossing as you would for natural teeth, as well as not grinding them or chewing on hard objects like ice or pen caps.
Why is fluoride so important to oral health?
Brushing and flossing is an important part of your everyday oral health routine. But what people don’t know is they should also make sure they are incorporating fluoride into their routine as well.
What is fluoride?
Fluoride is an ionic compound that derives from the element fluorine. About 95% of the fluoride added to public water comes from phosphorite rock. The first discovery of a connection between fluoride and cavity prevention was in the early 1900’s, but it wasn’t until the 1960’s that municipalities started adding fluoride to their water supplies.
Flouride is found naturally and because of its health benefits, it’s added to many foods, public water supplies, and dental care products. Bacteria and acids from foods and drinks will slowly start the process of tooth decay, but fluoride will help strengthen the enamel which protects your teeth. Untreated tooth decay can lead to tooth loss, gum disease and oral cancer. To make matters worse, a severe tooth infection doesn’t stop in the mouth. Over time, it can travel to other parts of the body to cause complex health issues.
One of the easiest ways to make sure you are getting enough fluoride is to brush your teeth twice a day with a fluoridated toothpaste. If you use a toothpaste with fluoride or use a fluoride rinse then you are helping your teeth with remineralization and also helping stop the production of acids by bacteria.
Schedule a Visit to the Dentist
You should also make sure that you are getting a regular dental checkup every six months. In addition to cleaning, a dentist can provide a concentrated fluoride treatment. Schedule an appointment today.
What are All-on-4 dental implants?
All-on-4 dental implants are a full set of implants designed to replace your entire upper or lower set of teeth. They act as a more permanent and natural-looking alternative to dentures. With an All-on-4 implant, you don’t need to replace each lost tooth individually. Instead, a dental professional will surgically insert four titanium posts into your jawbone as the main anchors. They can then attach a permanent denture at those four areas for a seamless look across your entire mouth.
There are many advantages of implant-supported full bridges over conventional dentures.
Superior to Dentures – According to The American Academy of Periodontology, when it comes to bone and dental health, full-mouth dental implants are vastly superior to dentures. The implants replace some of the tooth roots and integrate with the jawbone, which better preserves the bone.
Greater Comfort and Stability – With conventional dentures, the bone that previously surrounded your tooth deteriorates over time. Implants are securely attached to your jawbone, making them much more stable and comfortable than dentures. They look, feel, and function very much like natural teeth.
Simple Maintenance – Regular maintenance is accomplished by brushing at least twice a day and flossing daily.