Dental Crown Tooth Pain: Why Your Crown is Causing Toothaches and What to Do

Dental crowns are a reliable and long-lasting solution to repair and protect a severely damaged tooth. Since a crown goes over the damaged tooth, it effectively improves the tooth’s strength, stability, shape, size, and color (tooth-colored crowns). While the crown is supposed to protect your natural tooth, the tooth isn’t exempt from further damage.

There’s still a risk of experiencing infection, discomfort, and other dental concerns. Keeping up with excellent dental hygiene and habits will protect the integrity of your crown and underlying tooth. Let’s learn about dental crowns, what can cause pain in a crowned tooth, and what to do about it.

What is a dental crown?

A tooth crown is a tooth-shaped dental appliance or cap placed over a natural tooth. The crown is customized to cover the entire visible part of the natural tooth, restoring its size, shape, function, and color.  A crown is ideal when tooth damage is too significant to repair with a filling, inlay, or onlay. Concord Woods Dental Group offers dental crowns near you.

Reasons for toothaches under a dental crown and what to do

Dental crown toothaches can happen due to many factors, including:

• Crown placement procedure

Immediately after crown placement, it’s normal to experience minimal pain, sensitivity, soreness, or swelling around the crowned tooth. The discomfort should fade away in a few days. The dentist will also likely give you medication to manage the symptoms. You can also use cold therapy to manage the symptoms. However, contact your dentist immediately if the pain is severe, worsens, or persists beyond two weeks.

• Infection or decay under the crown

While a crown contains artificial materials that can’t get infected, the underlying tooth is still susceptible to infections. It can cause increased pain or sensitivity, especially when biting. You can also experience swelling or an abscess near the painful tooth.

If this happens, you should seek dental care to address the problem and prevent long-term complications like tooth loss. A root canal procedure can help to remove the infection. Then a dental filling and a crown can be placed to strengthen and protect the tooth from further damage. Tooth extraction can be done if the tooth is extremely decayed.

• Ill-fitting crown

If you’re experiencing pain when eating or biting down, especially shortly after getting the crown, it could be that the crown isn’t installed correctly. In such a case, you should notify our dentist near you immediately for an adjustment. A well-placed crown should look, feel, and function like your natural tooth without causing any discomfort.

• Damaged crown

A cracked or loose crown or tooth can cause sensitivity or pain, especially when exposed to extreme temperatures or biting down. It’s best to consult your dentist immediately if your crown has cracked or feels loose. The dentist will clean the tooth and place a new crown to prevent further damage.

• Receding gums

Gum recession is a common symptom of severe gum disease. It happens when the gums pull from the teeth, creating pockets. Gum recession can also occur due to bruxism, tobacco use, aggressive brushing, and poor dental hygiene. Receding gums can expose the crowned tooth, causing sensitivity or pain. It can also affect the nearby bone and connective tissues, causing the tooth to loosen or fall out. You should seek treatment to treat the receding gums and prevent tooth loss.

• Bruxism

Grinding and clenching your teeth can put too much pressure on the crown, resulting in pain and crown damage. In such a case, the dentist can create a customized night guard to reduce the effects of sleep bruxism.

Home remedies for dental crown pain

While the primary option should be to call your dentist, you can consider the following home remedies for tooth crown pain as you wait for professional help:

• Take over-the-counter medication.
• Apply a toothache gel.
• Rinse your mouth with warm saltwater or hydrogen peroxide.
• Apply an ice pack on the cheek against the painful crown.

Schedule an appointment today with our dentist in Concord, MA

Are you interested in dental crowns in Concord, MA? Schedule your dentist appointment at Concord Woods Dental Group today.