Teeth hurt on one side, top and bottom

Toothache in medical practice is otherwise called dentalgia. It is a specific reaction to various provoking factors (traumatic injuries, diseases of the teeth and gums, jaw defects and abnormalities in its structure). The most common cause of toothache in patients of all ages is caries. In some cases, the pathological reaction is based on factors not related to oral health. If your teeth hurt only on one side, you may need the help of not only a dentist, but also highly specialized specialists (for example, a neurologist, cardiologist, and even an otolaryngologist).

Characteristic features of unilateral dentalgia

A sharp toothache, for example, on the left side can act as a symptom of a heart attack. If it is aching in nature, there is a high probability of trigeminal neuralgia. In these situations, self-medication is strictly prohibited due to the risk of complications. Therefore, at the first symptoms of dentalgia, you should consult a doctor.

Unilateral toothache usually occurs suddenly. It has a widespread course, when all dental units of both jaws are affected. It is also highly intense.

The pathological process can be provoked by inflammatory tissue pathologies, diseases of the vascular, nervous or cardiac systems. In most cases, patients note the appearance of acute, sometimes throbbing pain. Much less often they go to the doctor with dull pain.

Almost always, discomfort negatively affects people’s quality of life and their psycho-emotional state. They cannot eat or sleep normally, which leads to problems with the digestive tract and central nervous system.

A sleep disorder is diagnosed in almost 90% of patients with widespread dentalgia, since the pain syndrome intensifies at night. During rest, the functional activity of the adrenal cortex decreases. In addition, the natural synthesis of so-called steroid hormones, which have analgesic properties, is reduced.

If the cause of dentalgia is dental disorders, the discomfort intensifies after direct contact with cold or eating excessively spicy or hot foods. It is enough just to open your mouth in frosty or windy weather for the pain syndrome to sharply intensify.

Psychosomatic dentalgia is often a consequence of stressful situations and strong psycho-emotional experiences. To eliminate discomfort, it is often enough to eliminate the provoking factor. Some patients benefit from sessions with a psychotherapist or taking mild sedatives.

Teeth hurt on one side: reasons

Teeth hurt on the left side, top and bottom

Each tooth has a separate nerve filament. All nerves are collected together in the upper or lower dental plexus.

Important! If several teeth (above and below) become inflamed due to caries or another disease, for example, on the left side, it seems that all the teeth on the left side hurt. This happens because inflammation affects not only the nerve endings directly in the teeth, but also the alveolar branches.

If your teeth hurt on the left side above and below, but the tooth enamel is healthy and no caries is observed , then the cause may be a hilar cyst. In this case, if the cyst has formed on the upper tooth, all the upper teeth hurt .

The eruption of wisdom teeth often causes a lot of discomfort. Sometimes the temperature even rises. There are difficult cases when the wisdom tooth has just begun to grow, and the person is already experiencing pain , and all the teeth on the left side hurt, so it is difficult to determine the cause.

Note! If, in the presence of angina, an unpleasant sensation appears in the shoulder joint, and the teeth on the left side of the lower jaw also hurt, this is a harbinger of a heart attack. You need to call a doctor immediately!

Teeth hurt on the right side, top and bottom

The right side, like the left, can become inflamed even due to caries of one tooth . Violation of the enamel, eating cold or hot food leads at first to simply unpleasant sensations, and then, when an unfavorable temperature environment approaches the nerve endings, all the teeth on the right side hurt .

If your teeth are healthy, but you have a cold or stress , then these two serious reasons can also cause discomfort. Hypothermia or a nervous disorder is quite capable of causing aching pain in the entire jaw or locally .

Another common cause of this condition may be inflammation of the gums, diseases such as gingivitis or periodontitis. In this case, throbbing pain on the right side is felt if the gum is inflamed on the right.

A disease such as inflammation of the trigeminal nerve brings a lot of trouble. In this case, the teeth hurt on the right side, above and below, and on the left side .

Several other diseases not related to tooth decay can cause such unpleasant sensations:

• Frequent inflammation of the middle ear is dangerous due to complications that can lead to meningitis. But it is no less dangerous when, due to a developing infection, for example, in the right ear, the teeth on the right side, above and below, hurt .
• Also dangerous is sinusitis , which causes fever and headaches. In especially difficult cases, teeth hurt on the right side or left .

Dental factors provoking unilateral dentalgia

Regardless of the degree and specific localization of dentalgia, diseases of the oral cavity are its most common cause. Discomfortable sensations may be the result of the carious process. If several adjacent dental units are affected simultaneously, dentalgia will be perceived by the patient as pain spreading throughout the entire jaw and always on one side. However, he will not be able to say exactly where it hurts.

Complicated types of caries

With a complicated version of caries, a pathological cavity does not simply form. It usually contains necrotic tissue, food debris, and bacterial plaque. The so-called peripulpal dentin is also damaged - this is the bone tissue that surrounds the pulp of the dental unit.

If a dentist diagnoses a patient with a superficial or medium caries process, the pathology can quickly transform into a complicated form. Moreover, in almost all cases it spreads to adjacent teeth.

Caries is considered a slow-growing but progressive dental disease. In the absence of timely and high-quality treatment, it can lead to complications. As a rule, no more than 3 years pass from the formation of the so-called chalk stain to severe tissue damage.

Acute pulpitis

Acute pulpitis is considered one of the most painful ailments of dental etiology. It is characterized by the spread of pain. Therefore, if primary symptoms occur, you should consult a doctor to exclude involvement of the pulp and directly periapical tissues in the pathological process.

Pulp is commonly understood as connective tissue, which is localized in the dental canals. It has a loose structure and a large number of blood vessels. Due to the many nerve endings, its defeat is always accompanied by severe discomfort. The pulp provides nutrition to the tooth from the inside.

When the pulp is inflamed, the following symptoms may appear:

• periodic pain syndrome, which increases sharply at night;
• increased sensitivity of enamel;
• after removal of the provoking factor, discomfort persists.

In the case of pulpitis, the pain is usually localized throughout the jaw and intensifies each time after direct contact with food. With the purulent nature of the disease, discomfort increases only when heat is applied to the affected area. The use of cold helps reduce its intensity.

Ignoring the symptoms of pulpitis can lead to the development of complications and complete loss of a dental unit. Treatment is carried out exclusively by surgery. The dentist performs a complete resection of the neurovascular bundles and pulp tissue.

Apical periodontitis

This disease is manifested by inflammation of periodontal tissue. They are localized between the root of the tooth and the immediate alveolar plate.

Periodontitis is characterized by inflammation of the periodontal tissues located between the tooth root and the alveolar plate and holding the tooth in the bony alveolus.

Not only the carious process can provoke a pathological process. Often, the disease is caused by injuries and minor injuries, as well as improper use of medications. Sometimes pain occurs after treatment when the materials or drugs used (for example, arsenic) penetrate the periodontium.

A characteristic symptom of the apical variant of periodontitis is local pain. It appears exclusively in the affected area. As it progresses, the discomfort becomes widespread. The pain can radiate to neighboring teeth, as well as to the temple, ear, or jaw.

The clinical picture of pulpitis and periodontitis is almost identical. However, an important difference between the latter is the appearance of severe pain during tapping of the tooth.

Necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis

Gingivitis is another common oral disease. It is characterized by inflammation of the gum tissue.

Gingivitis on its own rarely provokes pain. Unpleasant sensations are concentrated in the gum tissue. We are talking about itching and severe burning, tingling, and increased dryness of the mucous membranes. The course of certain types of gingivitis can provoke a pain syndrome that spreads to several dental units, but only on one side.

The table below details their main features:

Other dental causes

Among other common causes of toothache, doctors name:

• traumatic damage to molars and gum tissue;
• inflammation in periodontal tissues;

• tooth abscess, cystic formations;
• perimaxillary phlegmon;

• eruption of so-called wisdom teeth;
• cracks in dental units.

Poorly treated caries can cause severe discomfort. We are talking about those cases when, after visiting the dentist, pieces of necrotic tissue remain in the tooth. They can act as a cause of re-infection.

What is aching pain?

Increased dental sensitivity, or hyperesthesia, is pain that affects one or more upper or lower dental units. In dentistry, there are three degrees of increased sensitivity:

• the patient's teeth ache from hot, cold food or from air entering the mouth;
• unpleasant sensations occur when exposed to chemical irritants (sweet, sour foods) (we recommend reading: why do sweets hurt your teeth?);
• pain occurs even when touching the diseased unit.

Already at the first stage of development of pathology, you need to consult a doctor, because hyperesthesia can lead to the formation of generalized caries. Discomfort will gradually increase, causing the patient to refuse certain foods and even daily oral hygiene. The front teeth and their edges especially suffer from this disease: sometimes it seems that all units hurt at once.

Neurological causes

This category includes causes associated with central nervous system dysfunction. Diseases of this kind are usually diagnosed in patients of the older age category. However, in the presence of a number of unfavorable factors, they can also appear in people 30-40 years old. The cause of the disorder is usually eliminated after taking sedatives or tranquilizers. However, these types of drugs are not recommended for use on a regular basis. Their help should be sought in exceptional cases.

Trigeminal neuralgia

This medical term usually refers to damage to the trigeminal nerve. This is a paired cerebral nerve, which is responsible for sensitivity in the cheek and lips, ensures the functioning of the organs of vision and smell. The main causes of trigeminal neuralgia are mechanical compression, when its processes are compressed by growths or spasmed muscles, and irritation.

Also, the pathological process can progress after recent acute respiratory viral infections, acute respiratory infections or influenza. As a result, after another severe hypothermia, the corresponding symptoms appear.

The pain syndrome in this pathology is localized on one side of the face, but has a wide area of ​​irradiation. Discomfort can manifest itself in the area of ​​the teeth, neck, eye sockets, sides of the nose and temples. Its severity is always high, which affects a person’s quality of life. He cannot eat or sleep properly, move or work. The duration of each pain syndrome varies between 1.5-3 minutes.

Not only degenerative and dystrophic changes in the cervical spine are among the main causes of neuralgia. The pathology also develops against the background of ENT disease, increased nervous excitability and frequent hypothermia. Nerve damage is possible due to compression by a neoplasm, including a malignant one, or changes in the blood vessels.

Cluster syndrome

Cluster headache is a cyclical disorder. In this case, the person experiences severe headaches. They are localized mainly on one side of the face, but can spread to the cheeks, nose, forehead, teeth and jaws. The discomfort is so strong that there are known cases of suicide attempts when people could not cope with it.

The attack always appears suddenly and can last from 10 minutes to 2 hours. Their number per day can vary from 2 to 10. The attack has the following clinical features:

• cutting pain in the eyes, as if they were being pierced with a sharp object;
• lacrimation;
• nasal congestion, mucous secretion;
• swelling of the eyelids;
• increase in heart rate;
• decreased quality of vision;
• subconjunctival hemorrhage.

With cluster syndrome, the duration of toothache is the same as the headache. Upon completion of the next attack, dentalgia goes away on its own. No special correction is required.

After alternating attacks of cluster headaches, a period of calm begins. At this time the person feels well. This period can last from 6 months to 3-4 years.

What to do if your tooth aches

To find out why your teeth are hurting, you need to identify additional symptoms. If you have fever, redness and swelling, you should immediately consult a doctor. Such symptoms indicate that an infection is developing in the body, which can lead to serious consequences.

It's better to go to the dentist first. If the dentist does not find any dental problems, you will have to see a therapist. After examination and questioning, the therapist can refer the patient to a specialist: a neurologist or cardiologist.

As soon as the doctor determines the cause of the aching pain in the teeth, he will prescribe treatment aimed at eliminating it:

• For caries, pulpitis, and periodontitis, therapy is usually limited to removing damaged tissue and filling.
• If pain occurs after prosthetics, the dentist will install a new prosthesis for the patient.
• If a tooth hurts due to problems with the heart or nervous system, drug treatment is prescribed.

Sometimes additional medical procedures or even surgery may be required.

What you can do at home

Sometimes you have to wait several days or even weeks to see a specialist. It is simply impossible to endure painful sensations for so long, so you have to look for ways to get rid of them.

The doctor must find out why the patient’s teeth ache and determine the course of treatment. Therefore, therapy at home comes down to taking painkillers and using anti-inflammatory drugs . The most effective analgesic drugs are:

If there is noticeable inflammation and swelling, it would be useful to rinse the mouth with antiseptic drugs. You can purchase a ready-made solution at the pharmacy, for example, Miramistin, or make a homemade mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide.

In case of severe inflammation, it is better not to use such traditional methods of treatment as rinsing the mouth with herbal decoctions or applying garlic to the sore gum. By resorting to them, you can aggravate the disease by introducing infection into the affected tissues.

Pathologies of ENT organs

Unilateral dentalgia may be a consequence of diseases of the ENT organs, which is due to the structural features of the oropharynx, nasopharynx, and ears. We are talking, first of all, about adenoiditis, otitis media and sinusitis. The help of an otolaryngologist to exclude and differentially diagnose ENT diseases will be required in cases where unilateral dentalgia is combined:

• nasal congestion, when the patient loses the ability to breathe fully;
• headaches;

• the occurrence of discharge from the ears (a clear symptom of purulent otitis media);
• high temperature;

• pain in the ears;
• sore throat;
• copious purulent discharge from the nose.

When the inflammatory process in the paranasal sinuses or middle ear acts as a provoking factor for unilateral dentalgia, the pain goes away on its own after it stops. Broad-spectrum antibiotics (macrolides, cephalosporins, penicillin medications) are used for treatment. Additionally, anti-inflammatory and antibronchoconstrictor drugs (Fenspiride), as well as drugs to stimulate the motor function of the respiratory tract (Sinupret) are prescribed.

Toothache as a sign of a heart attack

A heart attack is a cardiovascular pathology. It is also one of the clinical forms of ischemic disease. The mortality rate for heart attack is more than 60%.

Intact toothache on the left side of the jaw is considered one of the precursors of vascular pathology. It occurs 12-24 hours before an attack. Along with dentalgia, patients complain of headache, shortness of breath, nonproductive cough and changes in the normal heart rhythm.

The main symptom of a heart attack is considered to be angular pain. It appears 10-20 hours after the first manifestations. The duration of the attack itself varies from several minutes to an hour. To stop it, you need to take a Nitroglycerin tablet.

Health care

The occurrence of dentalgia is a signal to seek medical help. If toothache appears above and below, you should not self-medicate. You need to make an appointment with the dentist. If the pain syndrome does not allow you to sleep and do your usual activities, it is better to contact the emergency clinic.

At home and only as an emergency measure, non-narcotic analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are allowed. The most popular drugs from these groups, their approximate dosage are presented in the table below.

The dosages presented in the table are advisory in nature and selected for adult patients. For children, these indicators are calculated individually and only according to the instructions included with the drug.

What to do if a symptom appears

What to do if your teeth hurt on one side, top and bottom? The recommendations are simple, but they are first aid to alleviate the patient’s condition.

If there is no fever and there is no visible damage to the tooth enamel and gums , it is necessary to take measures that will calm the inflamed nerves.

There are medications, but they have side effects . Therefore, a warm foot bath, rinse and sedative can help if you have a one-sided toothache for an as yet unknown reason.

When there is a fever, damaged teeth and inflamed gums are clearly visible, and one side of the teeth also hurts , it is necessary to relieve inflammation in a simple but effective way - rinsing. Room temperature water with soda and salt, tincture of chamomile, calendula, oak bark are the simplest old and effective remedies .

Photo 2: If a unilateral toothache occurs, you need to take a painkiller and urgently go to the hospital to make a correct diagnosis. If the cause of the pain is not in the teeth, only a specialist can determine this. Source: flickr (Karo Shaginyan).

Preventive actions

It is easier to prevent any disease than to subsequently engage in long-term and energy-consuming treatment. This rule also applies to dentalgia. To prevent toothache, experts give the following recommendations:

1. Teeth should be brushed twice a day. For this procedure, it is important to choose the right brush and paste. After each meal and whenever possible, you should rinse your mouth. Both ordinary water and special solutions are suitable for these purposes.
2. We must not forget about the existence of such assistants as irrigators, dental brushes and floss. These devices allow you to reach hard-to-reach places. As a result, bacteria and plaque will not accumulate, which prevents the risk of caries.
3. You need to visit the dentist every six months. This approach allows you to notice the problem at an early stage of development and immediately eliminate it. This helps to prevent complications of the pathological process later.
4. You should give up bad habits. Tobacco smoke is considered the most dangerous. It can change the composition of saliva, which only further contributes to the accumulation of plaque.
5. It is better to minimize the amount of overly sweet and soft foods in your diet. The thing is that sugar is a favorable environment for the life of pathogenic flora. Soft foods do not allow teeth to naturally cleanse themselves of plaque.

Dentalgia is a very common and at the same time unpleasant phenomenon. It can unbalance any person and significantly worsen the quality of his life. Dentalgia prevents you from eating and sleeping properly, working, and doing household chores. If your teeth hurt on one side, you should not self-medicate. It is necessary to seek help from a dentist as soon as possible. After identifying the cause of the pain, he will prescribe appropriate treatment or refer you for consultation to specialized specialists.

Causes of aching pain due to increased sensitivity of teeth

More often than others, people with increased enamel sensitivity suffer from aching pain. With such a dental defect, even harmless external influences lead to painful sensations:

• improper oral care;
• sour food;
• dental procedures.

With improper oral care, aching teeth most often occurs. If you regularly remove plaque with a harsh abrasive paste, the enamel will be damaged. Microcracks form on it, through which food and other irritants penetrate into the pulp and provoke aching pain.

Another reason for aching teeth lies in the consumption of sour foods. Typically, sensitive enamel reacts even to cold and hot, but only increased acidity provokes severe pain.

Less often, unpleasant sensations occur after professional cleaning or enamel whitening. Moreover, this is explained not by the fact that the enamel suffers less from dental procedures, but by the fact that a good dentist will not perform classical cleaning or whitening on a patient with increased enamel sensitivity.