Dental nerve pain: Odontoneuralgia

Dental nerve pain: Odontoneuralgia

What is nerve pain?

Dental neuralgia is a disorder that begins with stimulation of the nerve endings located in and around the teeth and in the oral mucosa.

The tooth consists of two parts: the visible part, which is the crown, and the part buried inside the gum, which is the root.

As for the layers of the tooth, they are three: the outer, hard, white layer called enamel, underneath it is a layer called dentin, and in the middle of the tooth there is a soft area that contains nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue, called the pulp.

The dental nerve transmits sensations of cold, heat, and pain, and the intense painful stimulation leads to feeling pain in the tooth and around the tooth along with a spasm in the facial muscles, and this spasm goes away when the inflammation disappears.

How does dental caries develop:

Food accumulation and lack of dental care lead to dental caries.

At first, these caries are simple, but if they are neglected, they turn into larger caries and extend to affect the pulp of the tooth

This leads to injury to the pulp canal, which contains nerves and blood vessels, causing inflammation and damage.

Then, what is called a root canal must be performed, which involves removing the tooth pulp, then cleaning the teeth and closing the space with a filling.

The nerve can be pulled without directly affecting the performance of the tooth, and this treatment is applied to severely eroded and damaged teeth.

In advanced cases, when the pulp is damaged and not treated, the existing germs and dead pulp cells turn into an abscess

An abscess is a pus-filled pocket at the end of the tooth root where the pulp canal ends. This abscess can lead to bone erosion around the tooth root, and can form a swelling that extends to other areas of the neck, head, or floor of the mouth. It can also create a tunnel that extends to the side of the tooth to drain pus.

Causes of tooth nerve pain

1. Inflammation or infection in the roots of the tooth or in the gums.
2. Severe bruises on the face and jaws, which can cause tooth fracture.
3. Teeth that begin to appear through the gums, and do not have enough space to appear and develop normally.
4. It is not unusual for sinusitis or rhinitis to be accompanied by toothache.

Dental caries is erosion of tooth enamel caused by:

1. Food and debris build up between your teeth, especially if you have gaps between your teeth.
2. Poor dental care.
3. The genetic factor may play a role in predisposition to necrosis.

Treatment of nerve pain

When should you see your doctor?

• Severe toothache when chewing.
• Long-term sensitivity and pain when drinking cold or hot drinks.
• Staining on teeth.
• Swelling and pain in the gums.
• The presence of pimples on the gums.
• None of the previous signs may appear, so it is preferable to make periodic visits to the dentist.

It is important if you have symptoms to see a doctor quickly because toothache usually gets worse over time.

treatment:

• When seeing a dentist, the first step in the procedure is to take an x-ray to see the shape of the tooth roots, determine the extent of the infection, and look for any signs of infection in the bone surrounding the root.
• The doctor can use local anesthesia to make the patient more relaxed and work easier.
• A hole is drilled in the tooth, to reach the pulp, which contains dead cells and germs, is removed, and the canal is scraped to ensure that there are no residues.
• After that, the canal is closed.
• Antibiotics are prescribed when signs of abscess, pulp necrosis, or other severe conditions appear.

The following treatments can be used temporarily. These treatments can relieve the pain but do not solve the problem:

• Rinse your mouth with warm water.
• Use dental floss to remove any food debris stuck between your teeth.
• Take a painkiller, but do not apply aspirin or another painkiller directly to the gums because it may burn the gum tissue.
• You can use antiseptic mouthwashes, and solutions that contain benzocaine can temporarily relieve gum irritation.
• If the cause of the pain is trauma, apply cold compresses.