Sensitive teeth

[SimonTheSailor]

What causes sensitive teeth ?

Over the last week most of my teeth have seemed to become sensitive to heat/cold/pressure.

I have the old type fillings in a lot of teeth. A check up a year and a half ago was ok. I'll go back again shortly.

First I noticed was I was chewing a chocolate and a pain shot through my teeth. Then any cold drinks or hot drinks cause distress.

It doesn't seem like one tooth, I could understand if a filling was fidget, but seems like a whole row causing pain.

[J4CKO]

Do you use Sensitive toothpaste ?

[cuprabob]

Just watch a Sensodyne advert

[oldbanger]

Receding gums can cause sensitivity. Or you may have a deep hole/abscess - the pain can spread right across the mouth in my experience

Edited to add https://www.m.webmd.boots.com/a-to-z-guides/recedi...

Edited by oldbanger on Sunday 29th October 22:11

[SimonTheSailor]

No not normally. Only just started a couple of nights.

How can putting some paste over your teeth make a difference though ?

[MitchT]

Don't know what causes sensitive teeth but Sensodyne does seem to help with general over-sensititvity. The main Issue I have is that if I've been out on a cold day my teeth start to hurt shortly after going back into a warm environment. The pain takes about 20 minutes to reach full strength, at which point it's like having excruciating toothache in every tooth, and this lasts for about half an hour and then wears off gradually over the course of about another 20 minutes. If I take Panadol Extra the pain is usually gone within five minutes so I always make sure I have some to hand.

[Yipper]

SimonTheSailor said:

No not normally. Only just started a couple of nights.

How can putting some paste over your teeth make a difference though ?

The paste temporarily dulls the nerves with potassium or blocks the teeth holes with strontium / calcium for a few hours.

[adamInca]

I had this and my dentist prescribed me some tubes of extra flouride toothpaste (double what you get in off-the-shelf stuff) which seems to have sorted it

[rex]

Sensitive teeth can be caused by a number of things. Receding gums, occlusal overload, failing restorations (like fillings or crowns) acidic diet, cracked tooth. Things that initiate the pain can be hot or cold fluids, cold air, sweet foods or biting. You will need to see your dentist to determine the exact cause and appropriate treatment.

Sensodyne has good science behind it and works by either making the nerve less responsive or blocking the tubules that have a nerve at the end to stop the sensitivity.

Long and short of it is see your dentist.

[SimonTheSailor]

Yes thank you, I will see the dentist again.

In fact, it was a sweet that caused the initial pain and last time I was at the dentist he suspected a potential fractured tooth.

[Du1point8]

I use this on the recommendations of my dentist, not sure if its possible to get in the UK.

http://www.colgateprofessional.com.au/products/col...

It remineralises teeth somehow and I was told it would help protect against cavities and it helped sensitivity.

[guindilias]

Sensodyne Repair and Protect - it's the daddy. Have a google for "Novamin".
Oddly, the US version doesn't contain it, but the Canadian one does, as does the UK version. Not approved by the FDA yet apparently.

[Ted2]

If it is just weak enamel and you don't have a cavity or cracked tooth then like others, I can highly recommend Sensodyne Pronamel. I've had weak enamel on some of my teeth for a long time and drinking stuff like fresh orange juice with high acidity would have me bouncing off the ceiling with tooth pain but Pronamel cures it and I can eat and drink whatever I want. It's one of those rare things that actually does what it says on the label. My dentist told me why it worked once but I don't remember the specifics - something about not having a chemical called "SLS" in it which all the other toothpastes have, iirc.