What Causes Sensitive Teeth?

Many people have just a couple of teeth that are sensitive, or that flare up from time to time. Sensitive teeth are no biggie, then right? Wrong! Just because a toothache is not constant does not mean that there is no dental problem.

Sensitive teeth

We define sensitive teeth as teeth that either react with api to certain otherwise normal stimuli that they should be well able to handle (little bit of cold or hot, spicy food, the pressure of biting or chewing). There are specific triggers (only to heat, only to cold, only to pressure, etc) but usually the tooth is just one of the ones that “acts up” from time to time. Tooth pain with sensitive teeth is usually less intense than toothache in general, but it does mean that there is a problem, as simply eating or drinking should not cause pain.

How to stop sensitive teeth

The way to stop sensitive teeth is to go to the dentist and make an appointment. The root causes for your dental hypersensitivity need to be known. You might have an infection that is causing some problems. You may have some sort of growth or cyst near the nerve that is harmless (or not) that needs to be removed. You may have worn out enamel, or enamel that has been eroded. You may have a nerve that has been pushed up or switched places because of a trauma or some other problem. You need to make sure what the cause of the problem is and treat it. Usually, when the enamel wears away and the nerve is too close to the surface and is exposed to the elements is when we get these kinds of problems. The solution is to remineralize the tooth. Tooth enamel is made out of calcium and fluoride, and when these elements are leached out of the enamel, it wears away, exposing the cementum. There are many kinds of fluoride gels, foam fluoride, fluoride ointments and fluoride pills you can eat to replenish your bodies natural reserves. These can be the solution to the problem of fluoride deficiencies, and of tooth sensitivity. But sometimes this is not enough, and actual dental work needs to be done, and you may need a root canal, an extraction or some periodontal care to make sure that everything works out fine.

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