Why do my teeth hurt when it’s cold outside?
Very cold weather can be damaging to the body, making our lips chapped, drying and cracking our skin, and even causing us to suffer from tooth pain or sensitivity.
Many of us wonder if teeth also have winter blues because many notice that they usually feel a sudden toothache or sensitivity during the colder seasons.
For this reason, it is certainly a must to learn more about treating cold weather-related tooth pain.
What can I do to avoid tooth pain during the winter?
Here are some useful tips, so you and your loved ones can enjoy your favorite winter activities without worrying about tooth pain:
- When you go outside, have a hot beverage with you. This can greatly ease tooth pain as the teeth are warmed up with your hot beverage of choice. Hot water will do as well.
- Wear a scarf over the mouth when you’re outside.
- As much as possible, consider breathing in and out through the nose. Breathing through the mouth will only bring the cold air directly in contact with the teeth. Please be guided that abrupt changes in temperature can trigger a toothache.
- You should rinse with a fluoride-based oral rinse at least 2 times a day. For those with cold-sensitive teeth, fluoride-based toothpaste and mouthwash can be of great help.
- Use desensitizing toothpaste if you have sensitive teeth. This helps restrain the sensations which can cause the pain linked with sensitive teeth.
How do Seasonal Allergies affect Oral Health?
Dry Mouth: With a stuffy nose caused by allergies, you’re likely to breathe through your mouth instead of through your nose. This is one way allergies can cause a dry mouth. As well as this, many anti-allergy medications and antihistamines can cause a dry mouth. In turn, dry mouth can increase the chances of cavity development, gum disease formation, and even halitosis (bad breath).
You have to keep in mind that a dry mouth causes oral problems because a dry mouth lacks the proper flow of saliva, which plays an important role in washing away harmful bacteria. For this reason, dry mouth is something you’d want to avoid or get treatment for from a dentist as soon as possible.
Tooth Pain: Thanks to sinus pain caused by seasonal allergies, you may also experience tooth pain. It’s not uncommon to also experience tooth sensitivity to hot and cold substances in particular.
To alleviate tooth pain caused by allergies, taking an anti-allergy medication could help. However, be informed that, as mentioned earlier, some anti-allergy medications can cause a dry mouth.
If you notice your tooth pain is still persisting regardless of taking an anti-allergy medication, take a trip to the dentist to ensure this is not tooth decay or general tooth sensitivity, not due to seasonal allergies.
Your dentist will provide you with the best possible treatment or suggest using a special toothpaste to aid with your tooth sensitivity.
Bad Breath: As you may already know, a sore throat is another symptom of seasonal allergies due to postnasal drip. A sore throat from allergies can certainly cause bad breath that can’t be cleared up through any amount of brushing, flossing, or use of mouthwash. This is because the source of the foul smell is within your throat.
How Can I Keep My Oral Health at its Max During Allergy Season?
If your allergies already have begun, treat it as soon as possible. If over-the-counter allergy medications or home remedies are not working for you, consult a doctor. A doctor may prescribe allergy medications or an allergy shot to alleviate your symptoms before other problems occur.
Also, drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated helps avoid dry mouth symptoms. In turn, this will help alleviate bad breath to an extent. Drinking plenty of water is more vital than ever when you’re sick or experiencing allergy symptoms. Here’s a couple of more tips:
Don’t neglect your oral health routine. As always, brush your teeth twice a day, floss, and rinse with mouthwash. Especially if you’re experiencing tooth sensitivity or a dry mouth, continuing to upkeep your oral health routine will ensure a lessened risk of cavity development and a reduction of harmful bacteria.
Gargle a warm glass of water containing a tablespoon of salt. Having antibacterial properties, gargling with salt water can help treat allergy symptoms as well as break down plaque and harmful bacteria in the throat and mouth to reduce symptoms of bad breath, a sore throat, and dental caries.
Can Allergies Cause Sore Teeth?
When allergy season comes around, it can be a nightmare for most people. Nobody likes getting hay fever. And when you’re besieged with a slew of allergy symptoms—sore throat, itchy eyes, stuffy nose—it can be pretty unbearable. If that wasn’t enough, you might have one more reason to despise spring allergies: sore teeth. One question remains, however: how can allergies cause sore teeth?
Well, in a way, yes. But it’s probably not the way you expect it to be. At first, the signs might feel like a typical tooth decay-induced dental issue. Before you’re tempted to over-brush your teeth or catch up on the floss, however, it’s important to note that sore teeth from allergies might not be a tooth problem. It might not even be a dental health problem. However, none of the pain comes from your teeth, but somewhere closer despite what you feel.
So how can allergies cause sore teeth? Let’s take a closer look.
Can allergies cause sore teeth? Yes, thanks to sinus congestion
When you get painful teeth from spring allergies, it’s not the same thing as getting short-term gingivitis during puberty. Instead, it’s more of a collateral pain coming from another part of your body. And when you have allergy symptoms, what’s the one part of the face that’s affected most of the time? That’s right—it’s your sinus cavity.
When you suffer sinus congestion or sinus inflammation, you’ve probably felt something akin to intense pressure in the center of your face. Sometimes it even creeps across your eyebrows. Understanding why you feel a sense of tightness along the area when you have an allergy might help to know how the sinus cavity works.
In a nutshell, the sinus cavity is where nasal mucus is made. That’s right, the stuff that lines your nasal passages. If you look at the sinus, you’ll find that it’s also covered with tissues where the mucus is secreted. These tissues are called the mucosa.
When you get hay fever or spring allergies, these tissues get inflamed and secrete more mucus than they’re supposed to. As it does, your sinus cavity begins to constrict, causing pressure to build up. But while it’s common to feel the pain from this pressure on your face, sometimes you can feel it in your teeth, too.
How to find relief from sinus-related tooth pain
Before you reach for the antihistamine, take note that not all cases of tooth pain are allergy-related. To tell the difference, determine where the pain is coming from. If you can feel pain mostly near your upper molars, that’s a surefire sign that it’s one of those allergy symptoms. If that’s the case, you can take an over-the-counter antihistamine to see if your toothache is allergy-related. You’re more likely to find relief right after.
If your toothache affects more than just your top molars, however, you might want to head to the nearest dentist to get those teeth checked. You want to eliminate the possibility of tooth decay as soon as possible. Otherwise, left untreated, it might lead to something worse than sore teeth. So while allergies can cause sore teeth, don’t hesitate to ask your dentists when in doubt.
