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Question:
Mouth Throbbing: I have had pain in my right front tooth for three months.
I have had xrays and checkups but can not find any reason for the pain. Now I have throbbing in my entire mouth.
Can stress cause you to have these feelings? I am a very nervous anxious person. ...Visitor from NY
Answer:
Yes, indirectly stress can cause tooth pain.
What happens is that during periods of stress you may be clenching and grinding your teeth
together (the "grin and bear it" philosophy taught to many of us at an early age). If there are any prematurities in the bite (areas which touch first or harder than other) then these are the teeth that will start to hurt and feel the additional forces created with the grinding. Later all the teeth
may hurt along with the muscles that move the jaw and the jaw joint itself.
As the nerves in these teeth are stimulated by touch or heat and cold, they send out signals to other nerves which lead to the brain. The signal between nerves are called neurotransmitters and are made up of molecules which the nerve makes. The depletion of these molecules makes the nerve work harder
and to start to add different less complex neurotransmitters to the signal . The additional neurotransmitters send more of a pain message than a touch message to the brain. As a result the initial touch message is changed and interpreted as pain, even when a soft touch is physically created . Due to
any residual neurotransmitter the pain message may be present even without a stimulus.
In time all of the teeth will be affected along with the muscles that move the jaw, and the jaw joint itself. This can lead to chronic headaches. There are many ways of treating this condition, and often a combination of treatment is needed ranging from behavior modification, physical therapy and occlusal splints. The occlusal splint will (when designed properly) change the forces applied to the teeth and muscles. This allows for some of the teeth and muscle fibers to rest while other teeth and muscle fibers
absorb the force of the grinding. Unfortunately the total elimination of the grinding habit is often not obtained however the destructive forces are controllable.
Editorial Staff
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