Pain Primer
If you've ever experienced dental pain, you know it isn't
something to be taken lightly. That's why it's so important to understand
the basics
of tooth pain, so that you can take quick action at the first sign of
trouble, possibly nipping the situation in the bud and preventing an
all-out episode of severe discomfort. First, it's helpful to understand
a little about how your mouth and jaw are wired. The nerve fibers connected
to your teeth are different than those in the rest of your body: although
they can send pain signals to your brain, they do not send highly specific
location signals as do other body areas. So, although damage may exist
only in a back left molar's nerve, your brain may think your entire lower
jaw is affected. Further, there are a number of different kinds of dental
nerve fibers, each producing a different kind of pain sensation. This
makes it difficult and confusing to specifically pinpoint the cause of
the pain. And once begun, dental pain can affect a single tooth, or the
entire jawbone, muscles, jaw joints, face, head, and neck…even
transmitting from one area to another and creating secondary pain.
Professional
Pain Killers
Obviously, recognizing and diagnosing this kind of pain is
not an easy job. It requires a comprehensive knowledge base of all the
relevant variables,
astute diagnostic skills, and years of experience recognizing the clinical
manifestations. Yet, it's one of the most critical jobs your dental health
provider can do for you. After all, no one wants to be in pain, and no
medical professional wants their patient to be in pain. But even more
importantly, such pain can be a latent sign of a moderate to serious
condition, and can escalate rapidly to seemingly unmanageable proportions.
That's why we encourage our patients to call us at the least sign of
discomfort… tooth sensitivity, aching jaws or face muscles, chronic
headaches, or any other kind of oral pain. The sooner we see you, the
sooner we can identify and arrest any problems.
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