Most of us, especially the kids, disregard our teeth, not realizing they are live. Each tooth contains known as pulp composed of nourishing blood vessels and nerves. The nerves will die if that pulp is damaged or exposed and the tooth would be infected or abscessed.
What can cause this? A deep cavity, cracked tooth, hard blow to the tooth, for example, biting down a popcorn kernel. “Once the pulp has been damaged or exposed, it can't repair itself”.
Perhaps, everyone is familiar with this nursery song, “This is the way… I brush my teeth… I brush my teeth.” This song is commonly heard at nursery school which teaches all pupils that brushing our teeth is so important.
Research shows, toothache causes drowsiness in several students and affects their studies. Most of them are from nursery, pre-school and elementary stage who get lower grades on their subjects after they suffered from very painful toothache.
Fallacies to Toothache
Never put an aspirin on the tooth or surrounding the gum. Instead, if you want the aspirin to help relieve the pain of a toothache, swallow it with a glass of water. Don't place that tablet on your tooth because your gum may end up with a severe burn or cheek which can last four to five days to heal.
Just because you have a bad toothache doesn't mean the tooth will have to be extracted or you will lose your tooth. It is because root-canal therapy can save abscessed tooth or one with damaged pulp. Root-canal therapy involves making a small opening in the tooth, removing the pulp in the root canal, filling the canal with a material called gutta perch, and then, usually, crowning tooth.
Ways to Ease the Pain and Losing Teeth
- Regularly brush your teeth daily after taking every meal.
- Avoid eating to hard, cold or hot foods. Drink a glass of milk and eat nutritious foods especially fruits and vegetables which are rich in Vitamin C. These can help prevent cavities and infections which cause toothache.
- Regularly consult a dentist once a month
- Take-two aspirin either acetaminophen or ibuprofen. You can also take whatever over-the-counter analgesic you use to relieve headache.
- Do the cold compress. Put a cold compress outside of your cheek if it is swelling due to the toothache problem.
- Hold an ice cube or cold water in the mouth to relieve the pain. But, if you find that it simply, aggravates your sensitive tooth, skip it.
- Elevate or keep your head up because this can minimize the pressure in the painful area
- You can also rinse with a glass of warm water using (1) tsp. of salt to remove any food debris to avoid toothache.
- Flossing is another way to get rid off any food debris which could be trapped within your teeth. The rubber tip on your toothbrush or a toothpick can help remove any stock food, but use any of them with caution.
- Be careful with the hot, cold and sweet foods and beverages because these may aggravate an existing sore and sensitive situation
