Toothache during eating - the causes

When we chew food, we usually do not notice anything. But suddenly it hits us: we sip an icy cola, and the pain runs through the tooth and jaw; we bite into hard bread, and it hurts.

Sometimes the pain increases during the day, often just stopping. Cold, sugar, acid, so ice cream, chocolate or juice trigger the pain - or it is enough to breathe cool air.

Sudden pain when chewing hard, sweet, sour or cold has various causes (Nobilior / fotolia.com)

Pain has reasons
We should take a toothache seriously. Healthy teeth do not hurt when eating cold, sour or sweet.

Why does it hurt suddenly??
The toothache when chewing can have many causes: tooth decay, an exposed tooth neck, an inflammation of the tooth root, but also a tooth fracture, so a crack, after we bite on something hard.

If it hurts while we chew and put pressure on our teeth, the usual suspect is an infection. This hurts less or not at all, if left untouched - however, pressure on the infected tissue hurts sharply.

overload
But chewing pain can also be overloaded. When we grind teeth, bite our teeth together, or rub our teeth, we put pressure on our teeth and mastics, and that takes its revenge as a throbbing toothache. Dentists also warn that a lot of pressure when brushing your teeth is extremely damaging.

dental treatments
After the visit to the dentist, pain is completely normal when the anesthesia subsides. Every operation hurts and leaves wounds - that's unavoidable. However, if chewing pain develops in the days following the operation, it is a sign that a bridge, filling or prosthesis does not fit: it is too small, too big, too low or too high.

It may also be that a filling sits over a supposedly healed infection and the pain now pounding under the freshly treated tooth. This shows that the inflammation had not healed yet. The filling now presses on the diseased site, and the dentist must remove it until everything is completely healed.

Irritated nerves
The pain of chewing after surgery is less throbbing, but pulling. Especially it hurts to chew hard. This pain persists for a while after chewing and then disappears.

Once filled, the tooth first reacts sensitively to hot and cold. This is no reason to worry: the tooth nerve is necessarily irritated by the dental treatment and hypersensitive.

If everything goes right, this pain is over again a few hours to days after treatment. If the pain persists, be sure to contact the doctor: The filling probably has not clogged into the tooth and the doctors need to renew it.

Toothache from the outside
Not all sudden toothaches have their origin in the teeth. Our teeth are complex structures and connected to the nervous system of the body. Therefore, inflammation elsewhere in the body can manifest itself as further passed pain in the nerve endings of the teeth.

Classics are headache, sinusitis or chest pain.

What to do?
There are many home remedies. Scots swear on whiskey, Russians on vodka to numb the pain. In moderation, and drunk on the acute spot, alcohol certainly helps, but we should handle it very carefully.

For example, if we have appointments or have to go to the dentist immediately, we should not be hopelessly drunk, especially since alcohol is incompatible with many medications.

By no means should we take Aspirin (ASA) for the pain. ASA inhibits blood clotting, and if we have to go to the dentist, it can have serious consequences. Because the wounds in the dental treatment heal so much worse, in larger operations, the blood loss brings serious problems. Instead of ASA we should use acetaminophen.

Work home remedies for toothache?
If no medication is on hand, help Home remedies for toothache to curb the pain, but not to correct its cause.

Carnations are known that numb the pain; in the pharmacy we get clove oil - without a prescription. If it needs to go fast, dried cloves from the spice counter of the supermarket also help. We can put it in the mouth, rest it in a cheek pouch, pull the saliva through it, and move our tongue towards the ache of pain.

At the dentist
The dentist looks first where the pain originated. If it is caries, so the waste of bacteria, then remove the doctors with the drill. This creates a hole in which a filling comes.

If it is a fine crack, however, a root canal treatment is required. Red swollen gums indicate inflammation. Female doctors now clean the periodontal pockets and use medication. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)