Your Tooth Hurts, But Your Dentist Won’t Help You

Tooth sensitivity is one of the most common complaints that brings people to the dentist. Unfortunately, the response of most dentists to this problem is very limited and often ineffective. They will look at your tooth for decay, chips, or cracks. But if they don’t find these things, they may simply say that there’s nothing wrong and tell you to use a desensitizing toothpaste, which may or may not help.

But there are many causes of tooth pain that most dentists will ignore or fail to address because it’s outside their area of expertise. Here are few of the more common ones.

Receding Gums

Your dentist might notice receding gums and tell you that this could be a cause for your sensitivity. They may even refer you to a periodontist or oral surgeon for a gum graft surgery to cover your roots.

Metal Fillings

If you have metal fillings in the sensitive teeth, your dentist will likely examine them for decay around the edges, a common cause of failure in these fillings. But if there’s no decay, your dentist will probably declare the fillings fine.

Unfortunately, metal fillings are not fine, even if they’re supposedly functioning perfectly. Metal expands with heat and contracts with cold, and it’s a great conductor of temperature changes. Your metal fillings can be causing pain in your teeth even if there’s no reason to suspect cavities around them.

We can replace metal fillings with more attractive ceramic ones that are more like your natural teeth in their response to heat. They will insulate your teeth and won’t cause painful pressure when drinking hot beverages.

And, as a bonus, they’ll also look much better.

TMJ

Your tooth might not have anything wrong with it that causes pain–the pain may be coming from a defect in your jaw system. In TMJ, your jaw may put pressure down on your teeth unevenly. Many dentists will shrug their shoulders or make a guess at the cause, but we approach this problem with scientific tools.

Using a technology called Tekscan, we will be able to precisely measure the forces of your bite, and tell exactly where the bite forces are excessive. This may point right at the tooth that is sensitive and allow us to adjust your bite to alleviate pressure and eliminate pain.

If your current dentist has been telling you that your tooth is fine, even though it continues to hurt, you may need help from another dentist. Please call (912) 234-8282 for an appointment with a Savannah neuromuscular dentist at Beyond Exceptional Dentistry.