Tooth pain like contractions

[vitahelp]

I went to the dentist 3 weeks ago with an aching pain radiating into my face & head. The dentist did X-rays but couldn’t see anything. He told me it was potentially a dying nerve but in the early stages. Thankfully the pain went away a few days later.

But this week it returned and over the weekend it has become excruciating. What is odd about it is that it comes in waves, it reminds me of labour pain in the sense that it starts off slowly then increases in intensity for 5 minutes reaching an unbearable point, then starts to fade off and eventually goes completely. It then returns 20-30 mins later and goes through the same cycle.

Obviously I’m grateful the pain isn’t continuous (it’s easily the worst pain I’ve ever felt) but I can’t understand why it would come and go like this. Is it when the nerve is triggered somehow?

I’ll be calling the dentist in the morning but just want to see if anyone has had a similar experience.

@amylou8 thanks for sharing. It’s an odd to thing to want but I really do hope it’s the same for me, at least it can be treated and dealt with fairly easily.

@Pushkinia thanks for sharing more information. As awful as I’m sure it had been, it is good to know you have found a way to live with it and continue your day to day life. I suppose it’s a bit like migraines in that sense. It’s a shame they couldn’t identify the trigger for the compression but I suppose wouldn’t necessarily change anything if you knew.

@CarPoor thats interesting that X-rays don’t necessarily give the full picture. I hope the dentist can see something tomorrow..

This is weird..the tooth in the area I think this is coming from usually reacts badly to cold water/ice cream etc. It’s been like that for about a year but I never thought much of it. Anyway when I use my water flosser I have to avoid that tooth as it causes an awful pain that lasts a few seconds. I just tried using it on the tooth as an experiment and felt nothing..however now a few minutes later an attack is starting. It’s as tough the cold was fine but it warming up was the issue.

How can it be that the tooth has desensitised itself to cold now?!

Yes, absolutely as you describe. Was a dying root in the tooth. Never known pain like it. Needed a root canal.

And anything warm was agony, cold was fine, exactly as you say.

That's the opposite of what OP is saying. When the nerve is dying, cold helps as it reduces the swelling. Laying down is worse as it increases the blood flow.

If teeth are sensitive to cold, it's usually a sign of a health nerve which isn't protected well enough. A fracture for example.

I did have this but 2 outcomes: first was Bells Palsy but would never have known until my face fell (you’ve got 2 days to get steroid from 111 or a and e) and the other time the pain was the same but it was a dying nerve. No decay or whatever showed up until weeks after the awful tooth pain despite an X-ray.

I had a similar issue with the pain, it was constant and felt like it was pulsating, Emergency dentist said it was root canal and gave me antibiotics, along with nurofen mixed with cocodamol, pain went away after 3 days, new dentist this week confirmed that the infection has cleared

Hope u can get yours sorted

Absolutely everything you are describing, OP, is how my TN presented itself. I had the ''toothache' that felt like labour pains, that build and came in waves. I had to avoid a tooth or two with even cold water when brushing my teeth or it was complete agony.

I could eat and drink, but then 2 mins later I'd get an attack.

If ibuprofen helps, it's not TN.

Mine has a definte cause - I had an MRI and it did show a nerve being compressed by an artery in my brain. I'm on meds which work 95% of the time and which have limited (acceptable) side effects. So no brain op for me.

Raise this with the dentist. They took one of my molar teeth out due to thinking it MIGHT be something to do with that tooth, then replaced a filling in a neighbouring tooth too. And this was after I'd described it in detail and explained that I couldn't pinpoint where all the pain came from, only that the tooth sensitivity was worst there.

Antibiotics won't have cured the problem. It will come back unless the tooth is treated with root canal or extraction.

This is really classic, we sometimes chase the pain around until we realise there are no teeth left to be causing the toothache...

@MrsMorton Waves! I remember you commenting on my posts when my TN hit and I was asking what it could be and how to get help with it.

Hope you're managing with it ok? Nice to be remembered

If you hold cold water in your mouth does the pain subside? Nerve tooth dying creates gas which builds then releases inside the tooth and cold makes the gas shrink and relieves pain.

I’m at the dentist now waiting to be seen. Typically I haven’t had an attack yet today..however the area in question feels very tender this morning, almost bruised like I’ve had a dental trauma. I haven’t felt this before so not sure what it means, especially with the absence of the severe pains - could the nerve have died or does it not work like that?

@EthicalNonMahogany It’s hard to say, since the pain is in such short waves where all I can do is lie down and hope it stops soon. I am finding the whole area less sensitive to cold though, despite the fact that tooth used to react quite badly to cold before all of this started.

Update - it was an infected nerve. She removed the filling and then removed the infected part of the nerve, then did a Biodentine nerve preservation. Apparently this is a fairly new treatment being used as an alternative to root canal.
I'm relieved to know what it was now and to have been treated so quickly. She warned me I will be in some pain for the next few days bur that it shouldn’t be agony like I’ve had over the weekend.

That’s good to hear @vitahelp I hope it all calms down over the next few days. At least it’s put your mind at rest!

Glad you got it sorted OP!