I have a severe toothache. What’s wrong with it? Actually this is not uncommon, but even the dentist cannot tell the exact cause before checking your oral condition.

Toothache is torturous, but being blind to the causes is much more annoying. Here I’ll walk you through a few tips to identify the common toothaches and their causes.

How to identify the cause of your tooth pain?

According to the dentists at Shenzhen AKJ Dental Hospital, tooth pain is diagnosed by the position and severity of the pain, as well as the observation of the teeth.

1. Slight pain and sensitivity in the tooth may be caused by the wedge-shaped defects in the root of the tooth or gum recession. People with a lot of tartar buildup may also feel tender pain after tooth cleaning.

2. Tooth pain elicited by hot or cold stimulation could be a sign of tooth decay or dentin defects. Such pain will disappear after the removal of the stimulation.

3. Red, swollen and painful gums are probably an indicator of gingivitis or periodontitis, and it can be relieved by tooth cleaning. Systematic treatment including subgingival scaling is needed for severe periodontitis.

4. Pulpitis, as a result of tooth infection or tooth defects developing into the tooth nerves, has such symptoms as throbbing pain which shows a strong presence while stimulated by hot or cold stimuli, and is aggravated at night. In this case, you cannot even tell which tooth is painful.

5. Periapical periodontitis, an inflammatory lesion around the apex of a tooth root. The diseased tooth can be detected, as it feels “high” or like it is coming out, possibly accompanied with apical abscess or dental fistula.

6. Inflammation of wisdom teeth, that is, the last tooth in the dentition (counted from the incisor, the 8th tooth is wisdom tooth) is surrounded by red, swollen and painful gums. In this case, it is hard for you to open your mouth, chew and swallow food.

The above are a few tips for you to identify the cause of your tooth pain. Hope they will be helpful. Of course, there exist other tooth pains, like pain following root canal treatment, tooth filling, dental crown placement, brace placement, dental implant placement and wisdom tooth removal. These must be treated or lessened as per the doctor’s instruction.

In case of chronic pain which you cannot identify, you’re suggested to go to a professional dental hospital for examination and proper treatment.