What are the causes of toothache?

[Kev]

Hi

I was in a lot of pain from my top canine tooth last week and had to take a lot of painkillers but after a couple of days the pain stopped by itself and now there is no pain from this tooth anymore.

I had a white filling done on this tooth about 2 months ago and my dentist told me at the time that the filling is very deep and I might have some trouble with this tooth at some point in the future.

I would like to know what are the causes of toothache and why has the pain from my tooth now stopped? Is the pain likely to come back and if so what can I do now to prevent that happening?

Is it normal for a tooth to hurt so badly and suddenly stop after a couple of days? If the tooth does need treatment, what sort of treatment is it likely to need?

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Thank you for your post. There are many different causes of toothache and we would need to see you to assess your tooth clinically, before can let you now what has caused this toothache and what solution we would recommend.

Generally speaking, a very deep filling can sometimes cause inflammation of the tooth pulp (pulpitis) and this can be either reversible or irreversible. If the inflammation becomes irreversible, then the pulp will eventually lose vitality and the tooth will either need root canal treatment or extraction.

Lack of any symptoms now does not mean that all is well with the tooth and you should have your tooth checked as soon as possible.

[Dr Vahid Motahar]

Hi,

Thank you for your question.

There can be many causes for toothache which will not be possible to mention all of them. But from the symptoms you have mentioned and the history of the treatment your tooth has had, it appear that you have suffered from chronic irreversible pulpitis. One of the possibilities for the pain to have stopped can the development of a sinus drainage in such cases, where the pus and collected infection drains through an small channel out of the bone and skin into the oral cavity. The best solution is to have your tooth further examined and assessed and treated with root canal treatment to avoid further pain.