Symptom guide
Toothache: Causes, Home Care & When to See a Dentist
A toothache is your tooth's only way of asking for help — it has no volume control, so mild niggles and serious infections can feel confusingly similar. Here's how to read the pain, calm it tonight, and know when it needs a dentist.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Vernica Agarwala, Cosmetic dentistry specialist
Understanding it
What's actually happening
Tooth pain almost always means something has reached the nerve-rich layers beneath your enamel. Enamel itself can't feel anything — so by the time a tooth hurts, decay, a crack or gum infection has already travelled past your tooth's outer defences.
The character of the pain is a clue. Short, sharp twinges with cold or sweet usually mean exposed dentine or early decay. A deep, throbbing ache — especially one that wakes you at night or worsens lying down — points to an inflamed or infected nerve. Pain on biting suggests a crack or an abscess forming at the root.
Common causes
What's usually behind toothache
Deep decay
A cavity that has travelled through enamel and dentine towards the pulp — the most common cause of real toothache.
Cracked or fractured tooth
Often invisible to the eye; classic sign is a sharp pain on biting that releases when you let go.
Abscess
Infection collecting at the root tip or in the gum — throbbing pain, sometimes with swelling or a bad taste.
Gum infection
Inflamed or infected gums can ache in a way that feels like the tooth itself.
Trapped food
Something wedged between teeth can cause surprisingly convincing 'toothache' — always worth a careful floss first.
Sinus pressure
Upper back teeth share nerve pathways with your sinuses; a heavy cold can masquerade as tooth pain.
Your action plan
What helps at home — and what shouldn't wait
Home care that genuinely helps
- Rinse with warm salt water (half a teaspoon in a glass) to clean and soothe the area
- Floss gently around the painful tooth — trapped food is the easiest toothache to cure
- Take an over-the-counter painkiller as per its label; never place an aspirin against the gum, it burns tissue
- A cold compress on the cheek helps if there's any swelling
- Avoid very hot, cold, sweet or hard foods on that side until you're seen
- Sleep with your head slightly elevated — throbbing worsens when you lie flat
See a dentist if…
- Pain lasting more than a day or two, or getting worse
- Throbbing that wakes you at night
- Swelling of the gum, face or jaw — or fever with tooth pain (see us urgently)
- Pain on biting that keeps returning
- A bad taste or a pimple-like bump on the gum near the tooth
Severe swelling, fever or trouble swallowing? Read the emergency guide and call us now.
At the studio
How we treat it
First we find the actual cause — an examination and X-ray tell us whether it's decay, a crack, gum trouble or an abscess. Early decay may need only a filling; pain from an infected nerve is ended definitively (and comfortably) with painless root canal treatment, which saves the tooth itself.
Straight answers
Toothache — your questions, answered
Trapped-food and sinus-related aches can settle. Pain from decay or an infected nerve doesn't — it may pause for days or weeks when the nerve dies, but the infection continues silently and returns worse. Any toothache that lasts beyond a day or two deserves an examination.
Keep reading
This guide is educational and doesn't replace an examination. Medically reviewed by Dr. Vernica Agarwala — last updated July 2026.
Dealing with toothache?
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