In a recent study conducted by professors of General Dentistry & Oral Medicine at the University of Alabama more than 700 individual dental patients were questioned to try and uncover the boot cause behind the pain they were dealing with – and the answers turned up some pretty shocking results.
Apparently one out of every eight one of these dental patients reported dealing with dental sensitivity as the root cause of their actual pain, a number that shocked all of the professors in the dental students that were involved in the research.
The worst part?
Most of this dental sensitivity could have been avoided all together – if only those individuals had taken a handful of preventative measures.
What is tooth sensitivity and why does it hurt so badly?
Pain stemming from tooth or dental sensitivity is almost always going to be caused by the enamel on the outside of your tooth eroding away (due to a variety of different reasons), leaving the sensitive roots and pain receptors in your teeth overexposed to stimulants.
If the pain is severe, you can take strong painkillers like dihydrocodeine – at least in the short-term. But as soon as you stop popping those pills, the pain will come back. Painkillers treat symptoms not causes.
The cause of the pain is most often enamel – or rather, a lack of it.
Enamel is the coating that protects your teeth, and over time, it gets eroded and there’s no way for your body to regenerate it.
Sure, there are dental procedures that can be done to put “synthetic” enamel back on your teeth (crowns and veneers are perfect example of these kinds of procedures), but even they have to be refreshed every now and again to provide the kind of protection that you need and to eliminate pain completely.
How you can stop dental sensitivity or reverse the trend of enamel erosion completely
Long term, there are a lot of different things you can do to dramatically reduce the amount of dental sensitivity you’re dealing, and we are including four solutions that will help you scrub away the pain ASAP.
- For starters, you have to dial it back on the acidic foods and drinks. Make sure you stay as far away from soda as humanly possible, as it’s going to do everything in its power to crumble your protective enamel and wash it away.
- Secondly, you’ll want to be sure that you get your hands on quality toothpaste. Those that are designed to white or brighten your teeth usually include phosphates. Phosphates are going to make your teeth feel sensitive all on their own, so it might be more advantageous to look for potassium nitrate toothpaste that actively blocks can’t and cold signals that can cause pain in your mouth.
- It’s always a good idea to stay away from over-the-counter bleaching and whitening products, not only because they do not produce the same results as professionally administered solutions but also because they cause teeth sensitivity as well.
- Finally, switch your toothbrush to something a bit softer and you won’t have to worry about teeth sensitivity, pain, or receding gums which can exacerbate an already painful situation.
