Toothache can occur due to a variety of underlying issues, but can usually be avoided by taking good care of your oral health.

To prevent toothache:

— Brush your teeth twice a day and floss at least once a day.

— Visit your dental hygienist twice a year for a check-up and cleaning.

— Avoid eating too much sugary food and soft drinks.

At Kowhai Dental, we want to equip you to care for your oral hygiene to the best of your ability. If you have any questions about preventing toothache, we’re more than happy to answer them for you — just drop us a line.

Toothache often feels much worse than other pains you might experience in other parts of your body. This is partly because it’s literally in your head. Parts of your head, including your teeth, are closely connected to pain receptors to help protect you.

The pulp inside your teeth is often affected by toothache, and this pulp is full of highly sensitive nerve endings. These same nerve endings don’t process heat, cold or touch, but instead experience any stimulation as pain. Ultimately, this is to protect you and alert you to a problem before it gets worse, but it does hurt in the meantime.

The cost of treating toothache can vary depending on the cause of your pain. Toothache may be a sign of a serious issue, and both the pain and root cause will often only get worse, so it’s important to see a dentist as soon as possible.

When booking to address a toothache, simply select a General Consultation, or let us know what’s going on over the phone so we can book you in properly.

If you’re worried about price, rest assured that we shop the world for the best prices on name-brand dental supplies and maximise efficiency in our clinic to reduce waste and pass those savings directly on to you.

We know going to the dentist can cause some people to feel anxious. We understand.

At Kowhai Dental, we treat all of our patients with compassion. No matter your previous dental experiences, we’ll work to make sure you’re comfortable, happy and properly informed about any treatments we recommend.

We’ve had plenty of patients with genuine phobias about going to the dentist, and treat each one with respect and kindness. Don’t believe us? Find out what our patients have to say.

Toothache may feel worse at night for a number of different reasons. When you’re lying down, you may have increased blood flow to your head which contributes to swelling and puts extra pressure on the sensitive areas of your mouth.

It’s possible that the quiet of lying in bed means you’re without distractions, and therefore focussing on the pain, which makes it feel worse. This can start a vicious cycle, interrupting your sleep and causing you to be more easily agitated during the day. Finally, the food you ate for dinner could be contributing to increased pain if it was particularly hot, cold, or acidic.

Getting to sleep when suffering from toothache can be very hard. Over-the-counter medication can help. Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory painkiller, meaning it works by reducing swelling and pressure, so it’s often the best choice for treating toothache pain. Paracetamol may also help with general pain, and can usually be taken with ibuprofen.

Keeping your head elevated may also help by preventing blood from rushing to your head. Prop your head up with an extra pillow, or try to sleep sitting up slightly.

Foods left on your teeth from dinner can aggravate toothache, so try to avoid acidic, cold, hot or hard foods. RInsing your teeth with mouthwash and gently brushing (to avoid further aggravation) may also help.

Lastly, gently pressing an ice pack to the sore part of your face before bed may help to dull the pain enough for you to fall asleep.

If your toothache lasts longer than one or two days, it’s vital you visit a dentist for a diagnosis. Sometimes, tooth pain may come and go, however the underlying issue may still be there and the pain is likely to recur.

Left untreated, toothache is likely to grow more severe until the pain is unbearable and you may require emergency dental care.

When toothache comes and goes, it may be caused by a reversible inflammatory response in your tooth. It may pass after a day without requiring treatment.

However, the pain may recur and become increasingly severe and persistent. The faster you seek a diagnosis from a dentist, the less you’re likely to suffer and the less treatment is likely to cost.

Brushing your teeth twice a day is the best way to prevent toothache and generally keep your mouth clean and healthy. If you’re experiencing a minor toothache, with only gentle and localised pain, improving your dental hygiene may help. Gently brush your teeth with a soft toothbrush and a fluoride toothpaste to remove surface plaque.

If toothache persists, book an appointment with Kowhai Dental for a professional diagnosis.

A salt water rinse is your first line of at-home pain relief. Salt water is a natural disinfectant, meaning it can clean any oral wounds and help to reduce inflammation. The act of rinsing your mouth may also loosen debris stuck between your teeth, that could be increasing pressure around sensitive areas.

To rise with salt water, simply mix half a teaspoon of salt into a glass of warm water and swirl it in your mouth before spitting it out.

Cavities are a common cause of toothache. Unfortunately, a cavity cannot be treated at home.

Instead, cavities must be treated with a filling or root canal depending on how far through the tooth it has penetrated.

If you have a throbbing toothache that won’t go away, and reaches a severe level of pain, it may be a sign of a tooth abscess, which is a pus-filled lesion caused by infection.

Pulpitis is the infection or inflammation of the soft pink pulp inside your tooth, where all the sensitive nerve endings are held. Pulpitis may be caused by a cavity, and can lead to the formation of an abscess.

Otherwise, throbbing pain may be a sign of damage to the tooth itself, such as a cavity or broken tooth. Disease in the surrounding gum may also cause a throbbing sensation, but would typically be accompanied by other symptoms of gum disease.

Inflammation is often the cause of toothache, so an anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen is usually most effective.

If you can’t take ibuprofen, or need some additional pain relief, paracetamol may help as well. While paracetamol doesn’t reduce swelling, it can block nerve signals that cause you to feel pain. Aspirin, while much less common in New Zealand, may help with inflammation and fever. However, if you’ve lost a tooth or need to have one removed, it’s important not to take aspirin as it can reduce your blood’s ability to clot naturally.

Firmly pressing on particular pressure points may help to relieve the pain of toothaches.

The first pressure point you might try is the first aid pressure point. This is the point on the lower edge of your cheekbone, parallel to the lower part of your nose. Find it by drawing a line down from the outer corners of your eyes. Press on this point for about one minute, making sure to take deep breaths.

To relieve jaw pain associated with toothache, find the muscle that bulges on the sides of your jaw when you clench your teeth. Firmly press this point with your thumbs for one minute.

Finally, you may relieve some inflammation that is common with toothaches by pressing the pressure point between your thumb and index finger. To help find the point, place your thumb beside the second knuckle of your index finger — the highest point in the muscle is where you should press.

Note that these are simply pressure points which can be activated to relieve some symptoms of toothache. They aren’t substitutes for proper dental care.

Early tooth decay can be seen as white spots on the enamel of your teeth. At this point, it may be possible to reverse the weakening of the enamel to some degree. Toothpastes can never restore damaged teeth, but they can help the remineralisation of the dental enamel.

Products with calcium phosphate and fluoride are best at helping the remineralisation process, as these ingredients are known to strengthen weak points in the enamel.