What to do if your teeth ache? Beware of dentin hypersensitivity

We will see that some elderly people do not eat sour things because eating sour things will cause toothache. In fact, this is a manifestation of dentin hypersensitivity. You should go to the hospital for treatment in time. Long-term toothache will cause more serious dental diseases.

1. Dentin hypersensitivity can occur due to various dental diseases that damage the integrity of the enamel and expose the dentin, such as wear, wedge-shaped defects, tooth fractures, caries, and periodontal atrophy that leads to dentin exposure. However, not all teeth with exposed dentin will show symptoms. It is usually related to the duration of dentin exposure and the speed of reparative dentin formation. Individual teeth with intact enamel can also become sensitive.

2. The pathogenesis of dentin hypersensitivity is still unclear. The main manifestation is irritation pain, which can occur when brushing teeth, eating hard objects, or stimulating sour, sweet, cold, hot, etc. It is especially sensitive to mechanical stimulation.

3. Currently, the effective treatment for dentin is to block the dentinal tubules. (Dentin contains many small tubes that go from the pulp cavity to the enamel, called dentinal tubules) Commonly used methods are:

1. Fluoride: Fluoride ions can reduce the diameter of dentinal tubules, thereby reducing hydraulic conduction.

2. Strontium chloride can be added to toothpaste for use, which is convenient and safe.

3. Silver ammonium fluoride: This drug has the effect of blocking dentinal tubules, promoting the remineralization of teeth, improving the demineralization resistance of teeth, preventing dentinal tubules from opening again, and making the drug effect last longer.

4. Silver iodide This uses silver nitrate to coagulate the protein in the hard tissue of the tooth to form a protective layer. The reaction of iodine tincture and silver nitrate produces new silver iodide which is deposited in the dentinal tubules, thereby blocking the conduction.

5. Resin desensitizers are used by dentists

6. Restorative treatment: For those who do not respond to repeated desensitization, filling surgery or artificial crown restoration may be considered.

If you suffer from dentin hypersensitivity for a long time, don’t resist going to the doctor and think that the dental hospital is a scary place. You should change this fear. If you go to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible when the dental disease is still relatively mild, you will suffer less and preserve the integrity of the teeth. It will only benefit and not harm the protection of teeth, so why not do it!