Tooth & Jaw Pain

What causes Jaw Pain?

Jaw pain has many possible causes which we can help you to assess and treat. Most commonly, jaw pain is due to inflammation of your jaw muscles which may be being overworked due to abnormal jaw activity at night. This could include clenching or grinding your teeth at night. Sometimes, jaw pain could be caused by one off events, such as dislocating your jaw, injury to the jaw joint, or stretched ligaments in your jaws. Treatment of these problems is generally quite specific to your case, so we recommend that you discuss any jaw problems you are having with your dentist. If you are in the Hawthorn area, feel free to drop by and see Dr Aaron or Dr Patrick to have this fixed.

What does a toothache feel like?

A toothache is characterised by pain in a specific tooth, or around the jaw. This could be from inside the tooth, gums or surrounding bone. The toothache can range from a sharp, shooting, ‘electric’ pain to a dull, continual, throbbing ache. This can also be associated with pain on eating or chewing, heat or cold, bleeding or pus around the tooth or gums, swelling of gums or cheek and fever or headache.

Why do I have a toothache?

There are multiple causes for toothaches, but they most commonly occur due to an injury to the nerves inside your tooth. This causes the tooth to become extremely sensitive and overreact to many things. This nerve injury can be due to decay in the tooth, gum infections, trauma to the tooth, cracks in teeth, leaky fillings or wisdom teeth.

Can a toothache not be due to my tooth?

Sometimes other conditions may give you the feeling of a toothache. Some conditions which can sometimes resemble a toothache include sinus infections, throat infections or jaw joint injury.

How can you help fix my toothache?

Because there are many causes for a toothache, your dentist will generally need to see you to assess where the pain is coming from to best help you manage the toothache. Some investigations include x-rays, testing the nerves in your teeth, as well as ensuring we can have a thorough history of your toothache. Depending on the cause of your toothache, we can help to relieve your pain as soon as possible by removing any infections, tooth decay or if necessary, having one of our trusted specialists to help to assess and fix the problem.

How can I prevent toothaches from occurring?

We recommend that you try to keep your teeth in excellent condition to help to reduce the chance of having an unplanned dental emergency! Having a regular dental checkup, as well as keeping your teeth clean with a good brushing and flossing regime, will help to lessen the chance of a toothache. Also, having any necessary dental treatment done in a timely manner will hopefully prevent an unpleasant emergency appointment.