Dental Crown Sensitivity

When you get a new dental crown, you may be surprised to find that it feels a little bit funny. It may even be painful, but in most cases of dental crown sensitivity, it is just a slight discomfort that comes along when you bite or encounter hot or cold sensations. This is a fairly normal occurrence, and can be caused by a number of things. We will now go over what can provoke dental crown sensitivity, how it can be managed, and what you need to do to end it.

Bite tenderness

Bite tenderness is the kind of dental crown sensitivity that only manifests itself when you bite or chew. Usually, it means that the crown is too high, or that it is pushing on the nerve, or that it is not covering the dental nerve enough, and thus every time the crown touches something, a pain reaction is sent from the dental nerve to your brain. This kind of sensitivity will not get better on its own, and you need to go and have the crown adjusted to the proper length or position, and this will make the sensitivity go away, too.

Underneath the crown

If there is a tooth stub or just the roots left underneath the dental crown, then you may be seeing some problems from that. These teeth, especially if they are still alive are more sensitive than other teeth, and can cause some problems. If the tooth has just recently started to act up, and was fine before, then it may have become decayed or damaged, and you may have to get it filled, root canaled or even removed to stop the pain.

Buffering

Aside from giving you back normal chewing function and serving an aesthetic purpose as well, dental crowns also act as a buffer between the dental nerve and the outside world. The dental nerve does not like to be exposed ot the elements, it likes to be insulated beneath layers of hard and soft tissues. When a tooth goes missing, the dental nerve can become exposed, and if the crown is not properly insulating the nerve, then the nerve can start to “act up”. This typically will come in the form of sensitivity to hot or cold, or to air movements or pressure, and will manifest itself as a sharp, jabbing pain that goes away. Make sure you deal with it and have a dentist look at this problem, as they can easily fix this problem, and you do not have to live with occasional tooth pain for the rest of your life. 

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