Persistent Toothache

Does this sound like you?

You have a persistent toothache that’s lasted weeks, months, or even years. Your lingering tooth pain may have appeared out of the blue. Or, the tooth pain started after a filling, months after a root canal, or after a dental cleaning.

And, despite your dentist’s thorough investigation and treatment efforts, which may have included the placement of a temporary filling, root canal therapy, surgical procedures, or extractions, you still have pain.

Many patients tell us their persistent toothache has taken over their life. And not knowing what’s causing it makes it even worse. Some have even been told that the pain is all in their head!

At New York TMJ & Orofacial Pain, we know your persistent toothache pain is real. Our team is led by the top board-certified Orofacial Pain specialists in the New York City metropolitan area who have been diagnosing and successfully treating patients with unexplained, persistent toothaches, for decades.

We recognize that living with a persistent toothache is a struggle. And, although we don’t have the perfect solution one hundred percent of the time, what we can do goes a long way to help you feel better:

We give you validation – we know your pain is real.
We help you understand why you are in so much pain.
We use language that you can easily comprehend.
We offer treatment strategies that you’ve likely not pursued.

Please call 888-560-6674 to make an appointment at one of our three convenient offices in the New York City metropolitan area. If you can’t call, complete this quick form , and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

How We Get To The Bottom Of What's Causing A Persistent Toothache

We believe that a combination of experience, training, empathy, and compassion is the best way we can support you. Here’s what sets our practice apart:

We listen.
We dig for clues to identify risk factors that may be playing a role in driving your persistent toothache.
We have numerous methods that help us correctly diagnose your problem.
We collaborate with other healthcare providers, when necessary, in order to offer you the most comprehensive care.
Once we can pinpoint the cause of your persistent toothache, we will design a treatment plan specifically for you. Your treatment plan may include the following:
- Oral, topical, or injectable medications (or a combination)
- Nerve blocks
- Muscle, tendon, or joint injections
- BOTOX® injections
- Intra-oral appliances
- Strategies to help you control teeth clenching and grinding during the day and/or while you’re sleeping
- Methods to change daytime jaw over-use behaviors and posture problems
- Pain psychology strategies
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Collaboration with your doctors to change or modify medications you might be taking for other conditions
- Supplements and/or diet changes
- Additional dental care

So If you have…

A persistent toothache that came on suddenly, and there is no evidence of a cavity, fracture, abscess, or gum disease that explain it?
A persistent toothache that began after dental work was done despite efforts to make it feel better.
A persistent toothache months or more after a root canal procedure. Especially if it was done to relieve pain in a specific tooth that was waking you up at night and forcing you to take excessive over-the-counter pain medication.

Then you’re in the right place! Call us at 888-560-6674 to make an appointment at one of our convenient offices in Manhattan, Westchester County, or Long Island. Together we can get to the bottom of your persistent toothache pain so you can start feeling better again.

Persistent Toothache – What You Need To Know

To understand why you are suffering from a persistent toothache, you need to understand a few things about pain. There really are only three types of pain:

1. Somatic Pain

Pain that occurs as a result of tissue injury or disease (in a muscle, joint, or tooth, for instance), and it is always associated with inflammation. The pain signals from the inflammation are carried by normally functioning nerves to the brain for interpretation. This is called outside in pain. The pain comes from injured somatic tissue. Most toothaches that respond to dental treatments are due to the inflammation arising from somatic tissues, like the dental pulp.

But there is more complexity. Even though you may feel like you have a toothache, the pain could be coming from an inflamed muscle, joint, glands, or other somatic tissues near or far from the tooth. With time, tissue injury or disease in these body parts can refer pain to your teeth. So, a broad evaluation is often needed beyond the teeth themselves.

2. Neuropathic Pain

Pain that occurs as a result of abnormalities in nerve tissues and not the result of tissue injury. In these situations, pain arises from injury, disease, or dysfunction in the peripheral and central nervous system. In essence, there is a circuitry malfunction within the nervous system. Nerves become sensitized and have a lower firing threshold, similar to what you experience with a sunburn. As a result, pain can be experienced in a tooth, for example, despite the tooth structures appearing normal on x-rays and CT scans. This is called inside-out pain. The pain comes from inside the nervous system itself in the absence of tissue injury.

3. Interpretive Pain

Pain that results strictly due to the brain’s interpretation of incoming signals. In fact, all pain experiences are the result of the brain rendering an opinion. That is why battlefield injuries can occur and not be reported for hours or even days. So, there is no pain until the brain says so!!! This means that everything that has happened in a person’s life, near and far from the pain experience, has the potential to influence a brain’s opinion. In these scenarios, the tissues being examined are normal, and the nerves conducting information to the brain are normal. That is why your dentist has likely told you that everything looks fine and why you are upset.

With the correct diagnosis and the many treatment methods at New York TMJ & Orofacial Pain, we can help you get better. So, if you have an unexplained persistent toothache, tooth pain after a filling, tooth pain months after a root canal, or tooth pain with no cavity, fracture, abscess, or gum disease, it’s time to see the professionals at New York TMJ & Orofacial Pain. To make an appointment, call 888-560-6674 (or form , and we’ll get back to you right away).