What Else Causes Toothaches?

Although cavities cause the majority of toothaches, the following four conditions can cause trouble as well.

1. Cracked Teeth

Teeth obviously crack for lots of reasons. In brief, these include bite imbalance, chewing hard stuff like ice, grinding and clenching. Compared to throbbing gum infection pain, both cavities and cracked teeth cause sharp, shooting pains.

2. Abscess and infection

Toothaches also happen from abscesses and gum infections. As has been noted, these cause intense pressure and throbbing pain.

3. Sinus pressure

Guess what else makes our teeth hurt? Surprisingly, sinus infections do! As a matter of fact, if your teeth ache and you have sinus congestion or tenderness around your sinuses, then sinusitis may be the problem.

4. Jaw Problems

Jaw issues (TMD) can also make the jaw, muscles and teeth hurt terribly.

The Danger of a Toothache that Stops Hurting

What!?! How could it be a bad thing for a toothache to stop hurting?!?

Well, if the toothache was caused by a sinus infection, then it’s not bad. Sinus infections are unhealthy and we want them to go away.

However, if the toothache was caused by a cavity or cracked tooth and it stops hurting, it’s bad.

When a toothache stops hurting, it can signal that the tooth’s nerve has died. And even when the nerve dies, without a doubt, the infection is very much alive. In fact, such a deeply infected tooth is literally rotten to the core.

Not only does deep infection damage the jaw bone and nearby teeth, it can also enter the bloodstream. When this happens, infection can spread through the whole body. It is important to realize that how dangerous these infected teeth are. (Read more on teeth infections.)

Fixing the Tooth and the Ache

Permanently fixing a toothache means treating the underlying problem as well as the pain. This obviously involves two steps.

Firstly, we treat the ache by killing the infection with antibiotics.
Secondly, we repair the tooth damage. This equally important step prevents the toothache from coming back easily.

In the event that jaw problems are involved, we specifically start with a bite analysis and facial muscle exam. Without a doubt, the most important step in treating a toothache is finding the original cause.

To summarize: If you fix the root problem, then you both fix today’s toothache and prevent tomorrow’s!