Teeth, Sensitive to Touch

Background

You are familiar with a full-blown toothache with swelling, and the bottom line for that is see your dentist. Another important area, and one that can save you thousands of dollars and a lot of grief, is to understand mild to moderate dental pain associated with pressure or temperature sensitivity.

When you see the dentist and tell them you have sensitive teeth, they will tap on the tooth/teeth to see if that elicits sensitivity. If it does, they will get an X-ray. If there is an infection in the root or gums, or a cracked root, they will appropriately recommend (ugh!) a root canal.

But what if the X-ray is normal and there is not visible evidence showing an overt infection? It that situation, many if not most dentists will recommend a root canal (or several root canals) anyway. The good news? You may not need it!

Dental pain, including sensitive teeth, is often caused by tight face muscles. When severe or chronic, there will be a knot in the belly of the muscle, like the tender knots in your shoulder muscles when your Honey gives you a shoulder/neck rub. These are called trigger points that refer pain and even sensitivity to the teeth, without your feeling pain in the muscles. But if you feel around your face, you can find the tight and tender muscle and release it. For the bottom teeth, it is easy, as it usually is a face muscle over the jaw just below the tender tooth. For the four bottom front teeth, it may also be a neck muscle under the jaw. For the upper teeth, the pain comes from other face muscles, including over the temples, over the jaw joint (in front of the ears) and elsewhere (see Trigger Point Dy Needling for a map of some of these).

Also, see Muscle Pain for more info. Release the muscle and the pain often goes away — without any root canal surgery!

Treatments

See Muscle Pain for general treatment advice you can do on your own.

Find a massage therapist or other practitioner who does what is called "Myofascial Release" and ask them to look for and release any tight facial muscles that may be referring dental pain.

The topical pain creams discussed under Neuropathy can also be very helpful. Apply them over tender face muscles 2-3x a day for a month. Relief is usually seen by two weeks.

If you have multiple sensitive  teeth and no obvious cause on X-ray/exam, it is worth using Sensodyne toothpaste for sensitive teeth.

More Information Online

Pain Free 1-2-3 (my book on pain).