March 14, 2021
Are you compelled to pass hot and cold stuff because they hurt your teeth?
Most probably you have sensitive teeth. Cavities also tend to create the same symptoms, so consult your dentist about it.
Dentin Hypersensitivity or tooth sensitivity is a condition where you feel pain or irritation in the teeth when exposed to hot or cold temperatures, even air.
The condition can affect one single tooth, a couple, or even all your teeth at the same time.
Sometimes it is temporary, following a dental treatment such as scaling, crowning or bleaching, etc.
Main Causes Of Tooth Sensitivity
Enamel Erosion
It erodes dentin and exposes the nerves beneath to cause sensitivity. The reasons are:
1. Chipped, Broken, or Cracked Tooth
While chipped and broken teeth are discernible even to the naked eye, cracks are difficult to find, even in X-rays.
Cracks or a break around a filling can be fixed up with a new filling or crown. However, when a crack reaches into the pulp, one may need RCT before putting a cap or crown.
However, a deep crack that extends into the root of the tooth requires extraction.
2. Worn Down or Loosened Dental Fillings
Even after a fresh filling, you might feel pain while biting down. The fillings have to fix or redone.
3. Cavity
Cavities are the decay of the structure by bacteria. They eat away part of the teeth and expose the dentin and the nerves to extreme temperatures.
4. Clenching, Bruxism, or Anger
Clenching is a general grinding of the dentures over one another, intentionally or unintentionally.
Grinding the teeth wears away the enamel. Bruxism is mostly found in children who clench their teeth while sleeping.
Also, if a person gets angry often, it is accompanied by grinding unknowingly.
5. Recent Treatment
Dental treatments such as professional cleaning, whitening, putting a crown, and eliminating deep or grinding for putting dentures, can inflame the nerves to cause sensitivity.
This can cause discomfort with hot and cold foods for a few days. But if it does not go away for a long time, consult your dentist right away to make sure everything is fine.
6. Long-Term Usage of Mouthwash
Some over-the-counter mouthwashes have an acidic pH.
In case the enamel is eroded just a little, the acids from the mouthwash further scale the dentin layer to reach the nerves.
Instead, use fluoride-based mouth rinses as a safer option.
Also Read: Dental Implants vs Dentures
Gum Recession
If you use brushes with hard bristles, and brush your teeth too much or do it very rigorously, it will cause your gums to recede.
The upper gums will move upwards and the lower gums move downwards. It causes sensitivity, which may occur in one or two teeth or the entire mouth cavity.
Tooth Erosion
Your teeth erode slowly with time. It may be due to age or lifestyle habits such as eating hard nuts, acidic foods, or forceful brushing.
Tooth Sensitivity Treatment in Kirkland
Home Remedies
1. Brushing
Use soft-bristled toothbrushes to prevent and cure sensitivity. Throw away your hard bristle brush and replace it with a medium or soft version.
It erodes the enamel. Also, if your teeth cleaning device has become too old, discard it.
Thirdly, do not move the brush in the same direction. Use clockwise and anti-clockwise movements, so that teeth do not erode from one place.
2. Foods
Do not consume acidic foods. Avoid acidic and sour foods for a month or two or till the sensitivity subsides.
3. Desensitiser Paste
Apply an over-the-counter or dentist-recommended toothpaste specific to this problem.
Take a pea-size amount of paste on your index finger and apply it all over the teeth.
Leave it on for at least five minutes and then rinse. It will cover the secondary tubules of the dentine and will not be able to reach the nerves.
The hot and cold sensations will subside in a few weeks.
Clinical Remedies
If you do not feel any relief even after following all the above suggestions, consult your nearest dental clinic.
At Kirkland Premier Dentistry, we have many solutions for the sensitivity problem.
Depending on the dental condition, we do the fillings or maybe a root canal treatment in Kirkland, in very severe cases.
Extreme gum recession can be remedied with gum grafting.
Outlook
Well, tooth sensitivity affects millions of people in America. It almost always affects a group of teeth rather than a single structure.
Yet, if you are suffering from discomfort in only one, it indicates a more serious issue. Make an appointment with the weekend dentist.
