What could cause constant pulsatile tooth pain?

Question

Hi doctor,

I have constant pain in my front tooth. I have not had any trauma to it as I am aware and I take good care of my teeth. I do not have gum disease. There may be a tiny bit of gum recession due to over-brushing. The ache is constant. I do not get any pain from cold or hot food or drinks. When I eat the pain seems to disappear, but it is present when I am not doing anything. I can feel it as pulsatile pain.

Please help.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

The tooth pain you are experiencing is indicative of pulpitis that is there is inflammation of the living part of your tooth. It may or may not be irreversible. It would be clearer if you could answer a few more questions. When did the pain start? How long has it been? How long does the pain last? Does it last all day? Do you have any pain in biting hard food or biting even normal food? Is there any sensitivity to sweet foods? The way to go forward in such a case where there is no obvious tooth decay, or gum disease, or history of trauma is to take a small X-ray (IOPA - intraoral periapical radiograph) and eliminate any of the problems listed above along with any root problems.

Occasionally, there is no evident reason such as injury or trauma, but over some time, an accumulated insult to the tooth can cause such pain. The next step is to check the tooth vitality and the response to the pulp vitality test. This can be done by a dentist to check the response time. Another probable reason could be sinusitis. However, that pain is more generalized. There are more complex reasons as well, but we start from the simplest and eliminate them one by one.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.