Do you feel like you have Toothache Pain?

Here at Chermside Dental Care, we understand how horrible toothaches can be. We offer toothache home remedies that you can try for tooth pain relief. Toothaches can happen for a variety of reasons. Toothache pain can occur as a result of gum abscesses, cracked teeth, infected dental nerves, jaw joint problems (temporomandibular joint disorders), grinding/clenching or even sinusitis. Dental pain can also be referred from areas/problems outside of the mouth.

The majority of dental pain and problems can be prevented by twice daily brushing, daily flossing and the use of 1,000ppm fluoride toothpastes such as Colgate and Oral-B. Regular visits to the dentist will pick up any signs of fractures, teeth grinding, tooth decay, gum disease and oral cancer among other things.

Gum Abscesses

Toothaches can occur as a result of gum problems. Sometimes it can be as simple as a foreign object that has become lodged inbetween the teeth and/or under the gum. This can result in a foreign body reaction, resulting in pain, bleeding and swelling.

Some patients may have pre-existing gum disease, known as periodontal disease, whereby bone and sometimes gum becomes detached from the roots of the teeth and drop away. This can result in pocketing, where bacteria can flourish and cause gum pain.Toothache Home Remedies - Dr. Fred

Cracked Teeth

Cracked teeth can result from excessive grinding and clenching. They can also happen when teeth are heavily filled and/or root filled, whereby there is minimal tooth structure remaining to withstand the forces of your bite. Some teeth are more at risk of fracture than others, and this depends largely on position, and other teeth in the area that may be missing. Cracked teeth exhibit a large range of symptoms including pain. Some cracked teeth will exhibit pain on biting down, and again on release. The treatments vary depending on the depth and direction of the fracture, but include such treatments as cusp coverage fillings, onlays and crowns. Root canal therapy may or may not be recommended. In some cases, the teeth are untreatable with any solid long-term success rates, in which case extractions may be recommended as soon as possible.

In terms of toothache home remedies, we would strongly recommend soft foods only and to also avoid anything hot or cold.

Infected Nerves

Dental nerve infections are among the worst types of pain one can experience. The pain can be due to the nerve being inflamed or infected. Often hot or cold drinks can make it better or worse. This may sound confusing, but it depends on the situation. Once you’ve figured out whether hot or cold helps, you can keep applying this technique until you can get in to see our dental team. For example, a necrotic tooth may settle significantly with cold water. In this scenario, its best to avoid hot drinks and foods. The opposite may also be true, so the best way is to try it. This would be our best toothache home remedy tip for an infected nerve. A root canal treatment or removal of the tooth is likely to be required.

Temporomandibular Disorders

Commonly referred to as TMD, these disorders are common among the population, with approximately 10% of everyone affected to some degree. These disorders can create severe pain that radiates on one or both sides. The pain is most commonly associated in the time period just after waking up, although it can occur at anytime. High stress events and time periods in peoples’ lives tend to exacerbate the problem. Treatment involves nurofen anti-inflammatories, heat packs and night guards or occlusal splints to attend to the issue. With particularly severe cases, a specialised physiotherapist may be enlisted to help. In terms of toothache home remedies, we suggest using heat packs as much as possible, in addition to 1 nurofen every 6 hours (check for allergies first etc.).

Sinusitis

The roots of your upper back teeth, in particular the molar teeth, are often in close relation with your maxillary sinuses. As such, when you have the flu or sinus-like symptoms, your teeth can start to ache on one or both sides. Treatment will usually involve exclusion of other possible causes of toothaches and then involve sinus medication prescriptions.Toothache Home Remedies - Come see us as soon as possible

Home Remedies for Toothaches

We have some unique recommendations for toothaches here at Chermside Dental Care in Brisbane.

For toothaches/tooth pain we recommend:

  • A combination of nurofen and panadol. We recommend taking 2 panadol, and then 2 nurofen 2 hours later, and then 2 panadol 2 hours later. In this way you don’t overdose on either, while gaining the effects of both and keeping pain killers at an appropriate blood level.
  • The standard advice is to avoid very cold or hot foods because this may make the pain worse. However if you have a dental infection, you may find that cold drinks will help by shrinking the gas by-product of necrotic teeth. This may not always work if you have a different type of infection, but its worth trying.
  • Heat packs may help significantly if your pain is as a result of temporomandibular joint pain. In addition, nurofen will help in this situation
  • One method of home remedy for pain relief is to bite on a cotton ball soaked in oil of cloves. Oil of cloves is available at most drugstores.

These recommendations will help, however it is critical that you get in to see your dentist as soon as possible. We are open Sundays, we are open 7 days for your convenience.