Whitening my teeth has caused severe pain

[NamelessGem]

My dentist prescribed me a whitening treatment a few days ago, she warned there may be some sensitivity but to carry on with the treatment (10 days)

I’m on day two and last night woke up several times with the worst toothache Iv ever had - it felt like a high voltage shock to one tooth.

I have had a few hygienist appointments lately and they’ve left me with pain - and gaps in my lower teeth where the pain is coming from - I did have a build up of plaque there but after x rays and several dentist check ups my dentist has always been really pleased with my teeth.

I am not going to continue the whitening treatment, is there anything that will relieve this pain ? I can think eat or drink anything without pain - even room temp water! Talking hurts as the air gets to my teeth too 😭

Sensodyne toothpaste?

Buy Sensodyne Pronamel toothpaste & rub it into the affected tooth / teeth - this was advised by my hygienist for when my teeth are sensitive

Ahh brilliant Thankyou, I do remember her saying something about toothpaste now ! Will try this now :)

Time, just time. You mentioned some plaque - this may be due to an aggressive descaling before treatment. You may feel that you are taken to the brink of pain and sanity by the zingers and the fact that you have no idea when the next one will hit! Otc painkillers are the go, use them.

I know it's awful. It will get better, it may take months, but it WON'T be forever. Just ride it out. You'll get there and will feel normal again.

And, yes, discontinue the treatment.

My son Is trying the same treatment and he finds it unbearably painful. He has stopped the treatment. Calling it sensitivity is a massive understatement imo.

On the pain with hygienist visits, might be worth a visit to a private practise for an exam and some advice around gingivitis and periodontal disease. They can prescribe rinses or even prescription antibiotics and more frequent cleans if required. The NHS dental system is ok but not known for rigour with anything deviating from the norm.

FYI, if you are taking certain medications, e.g. birth control or antidepressants, dry mouth and poorer oral health can result.

@picsinred
I am with a private dentist. Am not on any medications for anything either, Thankyou for your advice though :)

@cushioncovers yes I have to agree ! I am heavily tattooed and have given birth, plus had wisdom tooth problems (now extracted) and this is unbearable pain.

Just to add - my top teeth are ‘sensitive’ but it’s completely manageable, my bottom front teeth however are in agony!! Have tried the pro relief toothpaste and it’s feeling ok for a moment but there’s still an underlying throb !

The good news is that the sensitivity (ha ha that they call it this - it really does feel like electric shocks to the nerve) will go within a couple of days, if you stop the treatment and keep using the sensitive toothpaste. After a few days you can restart the treatment again, if you want to. It doesn't do any harm to stop it for a bit - obviously your teeth won't get any whiter whilst you take a rest, but they won't revert back to their old colour either. By taking pauses like this it takes longer to achieve the full whitening effect, but the treatment works just as well - it just takes a greater length of time.

I stopped this treatment - my teeth were painful and the solution made my stomach feel really unsettled.

I tried it too, but it caused unbearable pain. Not just sensitivity - full on pain constantly. I think it's because my enamel is thin. I had to give up.

Sensodyne.
Fill your tooth tray with it and put it on for as long as you want.
The sensitivity does lessen but the first week was the worst.

I find Sensodyne makes my teeth worse actually. I find Colgate Pro-Relief much more effective (and my dentist agrees).

The pain will ease in a day or two. But yes it's horrendous. I will never have my teeth whitened again because it hurt so much afterwards.

@hundredmilesanhour

I have Colgate pro relief, my dentist has glass bowls full of samples and I have taken two each time 🙈🙈

Sensodyne rapid relief, brush with it and smear it on

There are some amazing over the counter tooth pain treatments in boots, have been life savers for me! Really strong, numb in seconds. Head to dental aisle and you’ll see a stash. 😊 one that was amazing, can’t remember name but looks like a tiny Carmex tube. Good luck!

Hey Namelessgem

Your post popped up on my Google feed for some reason and having read through some of the replies, felt the need to contribute.

Sensitivity is expected when you have whitening treatment but there are a few ways around it.

You can try taking a day off from your whitening treatment - so don't use the gels today and resume tomorrow. On your days off you can use one of the sensitive toothpastes that the others have posted - I tend to recommend to my patients colgate pro relief or sensodyne rapid relief. So before you go to bed, you can use those toothpastes (don't rinse after) and then smear a little inside the whitening trays and wear them for the night.

That usually does the trick

As someone suggested, those two toothpastes can also be used like a cream - rub a little bit onto the teeth for almost instant relief!

I hope that helps and I trust you'll be happy with your results!

Jumping on this to say that sounds completely normal. I have extremely healthy teeth (no fillings at 35!) and yet I find both whitening and the hygienist really painful. I am currently trying to gear myself up to do a night with the molds on as my teeth are getting stained, but I can’t bring myself to do it.

I think they can reduce the amount of active ingredient in the gel so that it’s more bearable (though that didn’t help me!)

Hi, I'm going through whitening at present. The pain does ease, honestly ! But I agree with the above comment, you can also put sensodyne in your trays a short while after removing them for a couple of hours, I've tried it and it does help :) I've got 2 weeks left to go. Good luck, it'll be worth it x

It's called sensitivity because it's dentine hypersensitivity. That's the name of the condition

Fill the tray with sensitive toothpaste and go to sleep with it in. If you find one doesn't help try another, different people get on better with different toothpastes. And keep using it if it does help

If you want to try again I would start with shorter periods of time. Wearing them for say 2 hrs in the evening while you watch tv, it will take longer but can have reduced sensitivity, and then you can rub on sensitive toothpaste at night

Its completely normal but not pleasant. Especially if you've had a lot of calculus build up on your lower teeth, when it's removed it exposes dentine tubules which have previous been blocked and so you get increased sensitivity. The gaps are where the calculus was and has now been removed, your teeth are probably extra sensitive due to the recent hygienist visit