Toothache is one of the worst pain to feel. Most of the times pain is manageable through out the day, but the moment you started to sleep; head hits the pillow, the pain spikes.
There are several physiological and psychological reasons:
The Postural blood - Whenever, we are in standing and sitting position, the blood flows towards the lower body. And when we lie down the blood redistribute evenly throughout the body. Sudden postural shift causes more blood rush towards the head and face so it feels sever pain.
The trapped pressure - The tooth is hard rigid structure, it does not expand even on the inflammation when blood vessel expand and presses against those rigid walls. Then localized pressure get trap and cause pain.
Daytime Distraction - During the day, our brain is engaged in too much activities like conversation, chores, and entertainment. So, our brain slow down the intensity of pain signals. This is cognitive phenomenon known as stimulus gating. At night whenever we are truing to sleep, brain don’t have anything to focus on making us actively aware of every pain signal.
Late-night snacking- If we have caries and we eat the chocolates, hot and cold beverages before the bed, it can aggravates the tooth pain.
Teeth Grinding- Many people unconsciously grind their teeth at night. Because of this caries, fractured tooth get irritates the socket and structure around the tooth.
These are some temporary relief tips may be beneficial:
- Elevate your head with pillow
- Over the counter pain relief drugs.
- Use night teeth guard for the teeth grinding problem
- Salt water rinse.
Have you ever noticed the this type of tooth pain ? What do you guys think which reason is most common to cause the pain?
MBH/DB