Vague Dental Pain

Vague dental pain or diffuse dental pain is the most difficult diagnosis there is in dentistry.  Our Denver Dentists Dr. James DeLapp and Dr. H. Candace DeLapp understand that there may be “many” different causes of this pain… some dental and some non-dental.  Treatment of each of these can be completely different ranging from doing no treatment to extraction of a tooth to some type of medical problem

Pain radiating and involving one side of the face

Pain that radiates …diffuse (not isolated) and seems to involve both upper and lower teeth can be difficult to diagnose.  In addition… remember… “God never said you could only have one thing wrong with you at a time”!.  There could be several overlying issues that fail to localize.  Unfortunately … we  end up waiting until the pain isolate so be can be sure to treat the “correct” tooth or issue.

Differential diagnosis Denver Dentistry

A differential diagnosis is our best “guess” in order or priority… i.e. our opinion. It is based on what we see presenting at that particular time. A decade or so ago one patient had a tooth ache and would call to come in.  By the time he got here his tooth ache went away and he could not tell us if it was on the upper or lower tooth. All the teeth tested vital and no teeth or area was suspect.  Months later he called and they symptom had isolated and the tooth needed a root canal.  This vague pain took “months” to isolate.  Our Denver dentists have had numerous patient with vague tooth ache which we could not identify on a Tuesday afternoon but…by Wednesday morning… it become an area we can treat. This vague pain took only  “hours” to isolate.

Medical causes of vague pain in Dentistry

Our Denver dentist had a physician call with pain on his lower jaw.  He was convinced that it was a back molar but despite testing … no dental diagnosis could be identified.  To make a long story short… we referred him to his physician and his jaw pain was “angina” or a heart problem.  One of the many symptoms patients may have is pain to the lower jaw.  Most of the time it is behind the sternum but it can vary.  Vague pain in this case turned out to be medically related related dental pain.

Two dental issues going on at the same time

Another issue is when a tooth is starting to die (as an example) and the patient “clenches and grinds”.  This ends up masking the location and cause of the pain. We cannot identify which tooth that is painful… it is just the whole area hurts because the clenching and grinding muscle are very sore.  Diffuse pain is “frequently”  and at times… is mostly related to clenching and grinding.  The clenching and grinding are making other dental problems.The key is we tell our patient to call us ASAP if the symptoms worsen or… if the pain becomes localized.

Cracked tooth syndrome

Cracked tooth syndrome can be very difficult to diagnose and to treat. Part of the problem is crack may be microscopic at first then… in a matter of hours…become visible (or not). “Simple cracks” (90%) need a crown and the symptoms get better.  Most frequently (but not always) the hallmark of cracked tooth syndrome is pain on chewing and not a dull vague pain that radiates to other areas. In complex cracks (5-10%) the tooth needs either a root canal or in Dr. James DeLapp case… the tooth is extracted.

Time may be needed

Time may be needed in order to determine your source of pain. Knowledge on what the possibilities are can help you help your dentist to the correct diagnosis

Make an appointment today with our Denver Dentists

Please feel free to call our office an make an appointment today at (303) 694-9740.

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