General Dentistry
Other causes of dental pain
Dental pain can be caused by deep cavities, but can also have other common causes:
- Gum pain : when the gums are inflamed due to the presence of tartar or food stuck between the teeth, pain can be felt on the teeth in the area, without the teeth having pathologies.
- Pain in the dental ligament (= Desmodontitis) : The desmodontal ligament is a small living tissue that connects the root of the tooth to the bone where it is anchored. It is used to absorb the shocks and pressures suffered by a tooth. When excessive pressure is exerted on a tooth by biting down on hard food, for example, or by excessive brushing or grinding of the teeth, the ligament can become inflamed and painful.
A dental restoration (composite or ceramic) placed in an overbite, i.e. too high in relation to the other teeth, will put too much pressure on the tooth in question and will also cause painful desmodontitis.
Tooth fissure/fracture: Dental fissure or fracture is often not visible to the naked eye, and rarely visible on a classic 2D radiograph. A 3D cone beam can sometimes objectify it, and it is mainly a clinical examination of the tooth that will highlight this type of problem that may require the extraction of the tooth.
In general, fiscure or fracture affects the root of the tooth, if the tooth was very fragile or if a trauma took place on the tooth, and will be felt by pain when chewing on the tooth and small abnormal mobility of the tooth.
- Joint and muscle pain : Other types of pain often present are a pain in the muscles of mastication and temporomandibular joints of the jaws (TMJ) which are related to excessive clenching or grinding of the teeth during day or while sleeping. These pains should not be neglected because they can spread to other muscles and joints in the body that are connected to the jaw muscles. The body functions through a chain of muscles and joints that communicate with each other. If one element of the chain fails, the rest of the body will also be impacted. A qualified occlusodontist will be able to balance the occlusion of the teeth and the position of the jaws to make this type of pain disappear.
