Dental Pain: See A Dentist for The First Dental Pain

A pain is an unpleasant sensory feeling causing an emotional disturbance and physical changes attached to it. No one wants to experience it by choice. Sometimes, we can't avoid it. Everyone experiences certain physical pain, especially tooth pain, at least once in their lifetime. The tooth is equipped with the specialized anatomy of the pulp-dentin complex containing dense, small fibre nerve innervation. These nerve fibers are sensitive to noxious pain stimuli as well as for fluid movement. Due to the high density of nerve endings at the border of pulp-dentin complex, sharp lancinating - shooting pain is felt by the patient and that’s the same reason that irreversibility is not possible as decay progress to root of the tooth. These nerve fibers make a connection to the brain thus how we perceive the pain which in-turn protect our teeth from dying and regenerate. 

Dental or oral pain can be due to changes happening to the normal oral structures, either to gum, tooth, tooth joint socket or to the oral epithelium due to an inflammatory process to a pain stimuli. Mainly activated by inflammatory mediators, irritating substances released by the damaged dentin pulp causes the tooth to express pain and wall-off the infection by self-healing. Sometimes, self-healing does not happen due to the complex oral environment and needs dental intervention. It is in the patients best interest to visit a dentist to differentiate the stage of pulpits (decay reaching the dentin-pulp complex). 

What are the stages of tooth pain?

When unwanted stimuli propagates to any of the oral structures, for e.g. tooth, in the form of decay, the tooth starts without any pain and the patient is unaware. Usually, young adults experience sharp tooth pain when they are hit by tooth decay. By seeing a dentist, they can reverse the discolored or decayed tooth and restore it to the normal tooth structure without any pain. The early stage of pulp inflammation (Acute pulpits) symptoms are hypersensitive to thermal stimuli. There is a stage called irreversible pulpitis (chronic pulp inflammation) when patient must have an emergency treatment. Patients abruptly end up losing a tooth or having to go through a pricey treatment called a root canal. 

Some patients have severe pain without visiting a dentist and only take oral medication. The pain disappears within a few days of taking medication. Nevertheless, the tooth remains untreated and damage to deeper structures ensues, reaching into jaw bones and muscles. Sometimes, patients may have similar pain due to damage to heart muscles. This is referred to as "referred pain" and many people miss the heart attack pain thinking it was recent dental pain. The patient should always treat dental decay and never neglect tooth pain.

Typically, when a tooth is hit by sharp pain for a short period of time, this is acute pain. It is usually unnoticeable. If acute episodes of pain hit often during chewing, drinking hot and cold beverages, or grazing sweet snacks, this could indicate a progressing decaying tooth. This could mean it is spreading towards the tooth pulp chamber and tooth root. It would be too late to save the tooth if acute pain has transferred to a chronic stage of pain where the toothache lingers on for a while. The patient may need a root canal treatment to save the tooth from being extracted. A tooth extraction is not usually the best treatment option for chronic toothache. My advice to patients is to seek out dental help and prevent your teeth from being removed. 

There are many treatment options for acute dental pain due to tooth decay in younger adults. There are three different methods of eliminating this acute pain and restoring back to the original tooth structure in one single appointment. Dentists call the procedure dental "pulp capping". Dental pulp is the innermost tooth structure, highly vascularized with nerve plexus having the ability to repair and regenerate itself if the pain stimuli is stopped. What a wonderful natural healing substitution the tooth pulp body has equipped with it. It requires minimal work of cleaning of the decay debris created by oral bacteria and placing dental pulpal soothing medicament's and restoring it back.

Chronic toothache of a decayed tooth means the bacterial debris and its toxin substance has reached the dentinal-pulp complex. It has initiated an inflammatory cascade process resulting in irreversible, permanent damage to the tooth root canal and no more pulp-capping procedure would help the tooth to repair on its own with root canal therapy as intervention option. Nevertheless, there is still hope to save the tooth through a root canal procedure. A root canal procedure is usually done in one sitting. 

Many people think that a root canal procedure is very painful and the tooth doesn't last long. Although having a root canal can stop the tooth infection and create a strong adherence of the tooth to the tooth socket. It’s unlikely that it would get infected again and pain would return. After a root canal treatment, patients can not only eat, chew, smile with the natural teeth, but it also restores their neuromusculoskeletal system by achieving homeostasis of many organs of the body.

Likewise, by pulp capping the decayed tooth, it restores the natural tooth structure and function. A dental crown can restore the discolored, broken teeth to its best appearance and function. It’s also a myth that every root canal treated tooth needs a dental crown. Also, every crowned tooth doesn’t have to go through a root canal therapy unless acute dental pain persists. Regardless, it's encouraged that every patient should consult with a dentist before a root canal treatment. So they will know whether they need a crown for root canal treated teeth or not before starting the therapy, so you are not left with surprises and despairs.