Flash dental pain is something we’ve all experienced, most commonly after consuming hot and cold food and drink. But when is sudden dental pain something to worry about?

Learn the causes and next steps to take when sudden dental pain occurs.

Gum recession

Your gums are soft tissue covering the bone and the root of a tooth, protecting the nerve endings of each individual tooth. Gum tissue can start to recede due to overbrushing your teeth and as a result of gingivitis (mild gum disease).

Once they start to recede, the portion of tooth exposed is vulnerable to dental infections and cavities, and you may experience intense pain. This is because the part of the tooth covered by gum tissue (dentin) is much more fragile than teeth which still have their enamel in tact. Once the gum tissue protecting the dentin is gone, your teeth become more sensitive to infections and decay.

What to do: if you're using a manual toothbrush with hard bristles, this could be contributing to your gum recession. Switch to an electric oscillating brush that will provide a gentle clean. If you find you consistently have bleeding or bright red gums, these symptoms indicate gum disease, which will need to be treated by the hygienist. In many cases, a simple scale and polish to remove plaque and tartar is all that’s needed.

Enamel erosion

Your diet has an enormous impact on the condition of your enamel. A high-sugar and carbohydrate diet creates acid attacks in your mouth, which go on to gradually gnaw at your enamel. As your enamel starts to wear thinner and thinner, you might experience a sharp pain when you bite down to eat harder foods.

What to do: if you’ve spotted white spots and small cracks, or your tooth teeth appear more translucent, book an appointment to speak to a dentist to ensure there isn’t a cavity forming. A remineralising toothpaste containing hydroxyapatite can also help to reintroduce essential calcium to weakened areas of the tooth.  

Hydroxyapatite is a jack of all trades, helping to reduce sensitivity and restore a healthy gloss to teeth that have suffered a minor degree of demineralisation. The best part? It’s biocompatible, forming 90% of our enamel.

Decay

Decay can sit on your tooth enamel silently for quite some time before inflicting pain so intense that it prevents you from going about your day. If you do experience a severe level of pain, it’s likely that the decay has created a cavity, and that it’s time to see a dentist. This type of dental pain won’t go away on its own, and the longer it’s left untreated, the worse the damage to the nerves inside your tooth will be.

What to do: contact a dentist for an emergency appointment. Intense dental pain that stops you from working or sleeping is a medical emergency and should be treated as such. The sooner you are seen, the more chance you have of holding on to the tooth in one piece after tooth-saving root canal treatment has been performed.

Cracked tooth

What appears to be a minor crack could be the source of your dental pain. If you’ve sustained a crack all the way down to the nerve pulp within the tooth, you may find it really hurts to bite down when you eat (even onto foods that aren’t particularly very hot or very cold).

What to do: if you’ve sustained any injury to the face (no matter how minor) have it checked by a dentist – you may need an X-ray to establish if there is hidden damage there, which could go on to cause major problems weeks later without treatment.

Two of the biggest culprits of cracked teeth are ice and pencils –  we see it all the time as dentists! So, resist the temptation to bite down on these if you can.