A nagging pain that isn’t solved by toothpaste for sensitive teeth? ‘This’ could be the cause.

Hello.

I’m the director of Seoul Bardi Dental Clinic.

Does one of your back molars feel sore every time you chew?

If you’re reading this, I imagine you came here while looking for a solution to a similar concern.

Many patients think, since it doesn’t hurt that badly, they can just put up with it for a while~ and don’t take it too seriously,

or they use toothpaste made for sensitive teeth and try to endure it~

However, soreness caused by a crack cannot be resolved with toothpaste alone.

Molars bear the greatest force when we chew food,

so they are a part of the tooth where tiny, invisible cracks can easily form.

Today, I’ll explain how to respond to a crack in a molar,

and through a real treatment case, show you the process of saving a natural tooth.

Signs that appear when a molar cracks A nagging pain that isn’t solved by toothpaste for sensitive teeth? ‘This’ could be the cause.

Even if a tooth cracks, in the early stages it often isn’t easy to see, and the pain may be minimal.

However, as the crack gradually progresses, you may feel soreness or a sharp pain when eating certain foods.

In particular, if you feel a sudden pain when biting down and then releasing, you should strongly suspect a crack.

If you think it’s just a sensitive-tooth symptom and leave it alone, you may need more extensive treatment later,

so if the discomfort keeps recurring, make sure to get a detailed examination

and confirm the location and depth of the crack.

Why do cracks form so easily in molars? A nagging pain that isn’t solved by toothpaste for sensitive teeth? ‘This’ could be the cause. The most common cause is excessive chewing force.

If you habitually grind your teeth or clench your jaw, or if you enjoy hard and chewy foods,

continuous pressure is placed on the teeth, making cracks more likely to form.

Also, the area around old resin fillings or inlays may weaken and create gaps.

Sometimes patients ask me questions like this~

Bone heals well on its own, so if a tooth is cracked and you leave it alone, doesn’t it just heal by itself??

Well.. if teeth could really be put in a cast like bones so the cracked area could join back together, that would be wonderful~

But unfortunately, teeth do not regenerate on their own like bone or skin. ㅜㅜ

Once a crack forms, the ongoing force makes it gradually deeper and wider,

so it is more important than anything else to detect it early and take appropriate action.

A patient case where a cracked molar was treated with root canal therapy A nagging pain that isn’t solved by toothpaste for sensitive teeth? ‘This’ could be the cause.

A patient who recently visited our clinic said that the very last molar on the upper right (#17)

hurt so much every time they chewed that eating was difficult.

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At first glance, there didn’t seem to be a large cavity,

but upon closer inspection, a fine crack was observed running across the chewing surface.

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Fortunately, the X-ray suggested that the crack had not completely extended down to the root,

so after discussing it with the patient, we began root canal treatment to try to save the natural tooth.

Treatment method A nagging pain that isn’t solved by toothpaste for sensitive teeth?

For the root canal treatment, we first performed cavity preparation.

The term may sound unfamiliar.

Simply put, it means making a small opening (hole) in the crown of the tooth so that we can safely reach the nerve canals hidden inside.

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Looking inside the tooth through this opening, the crack was deeper and more clearly connected than it had appeared from the outside..

It was a situation where, if left alone, it could extend to the root and split the tooth in half..

To relieve the patient’s pain, we carefully removed the contaminated nerve tissue,

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and thoroughly disinfected the inside of the nerve canals, where bacteria may have entered, over 2 to 3 sessions.

Fortunately, at each visit, the patient said that the feeling of soreness had noticeably decreased now.^^

After confirming that the pain had completely gone, we tightly filled the cleaned nerve canals with a biocompatible material.

And to prevent the cracked tooth from opening further or breaking,

a crown treatment was performed to cover the entire tooth.

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For a tooth with a crack, the most important reinforcement is securing it firmly with a crown.

Treatment result

Two weeks after finishing treatment, the patient came in for a follow-up.

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Fortunately, they said they were eating comfortably without any pain~

Since they had even been considering extraction, I think their satisfaction was even greater.^^

A cracked molar is not something to simply watch. Quick action is the right answer.

If you don’t miss warning signs like soreness when chewing, and come to the dental clinic quickly like in this case,

root canal treatment and a crown alone can be enough to preserve your tooth for a long time.

Are you perhaps still thinking it’s probably fine and eating on only one side?

Before it gets any later, check the condition of your tooth through a detailed examination.

Thank you.

▼Check the clinic location▼

A nagging pain that isn’t solved by toothpaste for sensitive teeth? ‘This’ could be the cause.

Go to make a reservation call
02-481-4278

| This post was written directly by Seoul Bardi Dental Clinic for the purpose of providing medical information in compliance with Article 56, Paragraph 1 of the Medical Services Act’s advertising regulations. The information provided is for reference only, and we recommend visiting a medical institution to receive guidance from medical professionals for symptom assessment and accurate management methods. All procedures/surgeries performed at the dental clinic may carry risks depending on the individual (inflammation, bleeding, swelling, etc.). Please make decisions after sufficient consultation with medical staff in advance. The treatment cases in this post were photographed with the consent of patients who completed treatment at our clinic, and the before-and-after photos were taken under identical conditions. |