Help! Have tooth sensitivity to cold out of nowhere!

[Xenbuf]

Hey, I have been doing great with my braces for awhile now...until today. Yesterday, I was fine but today, if I take a sip of anything cold, I want to scream. The pain is short and intense. The only tooth that hurts is what we call my "pushed back tooth". It is in top, front and was really pushed back. When I first got braces, I did not have a bracket on the tooth. Instead I had a bunch of different coils pushing the teeth next to it apart. Two weeks ago, they put a bracket in the pushed back tooth. It has been very sensitive in general since but not like this.

I just had a cleaning before they put on the bracket. So I am not sure if the bracket is causing this pain or something else? I don't have an appointment until August and I am not sure what to do. Has anyone out there had sensitive teeth since getting braces?

[sablequeenie]

Hey there, I don't know if our situations were exactly the same, but I can definitely relate to your dilemma...

I'm braced to bring down in an impacted canine that had never grown in on its own. At my last adjustment at the end of May, they attached a bracket to the canine, which since my oral exposure surgery in December had surfaced into the arch enough to start to bring down more. A few days later, I started noticing extreme sensitivity in the tooth area as well; not just to cold, but to open air on it period! Naturally, like you I was terrified and about a week later went back into my ortho to get it checked out. She looked at it and told me that with teeth that haven't been moved in a long time/at all are suddenly bracketed, it can expose gums/nerves that have never been exposed before faster than regular braces treatment does, which can cause sensitivity. It's actually one of the reasons why she told me impacted canine teeth can't have thick wires applied to them at first; the tooth would move too fast and risk too much nerve/root damage to not just that tooth, but the surrounding as well. Ultimately she told me the sensivity should die down in about a week or so as the gums start to hug the tooth more and get used to it being moved, and lo and behold, she's right; a month a half later, I don't feel a thing!

I don't know if this helps your sensitivity, but she did tell me if the sensitivity lingers longer than two weeks to go back into the office to get an X-ray, so that would be my recommendation if yours doesn't clear up soon. Best of luck!

[Xenbuf]

Thanks for replying. I went to the dentist today and she said basically the same thing. The tooth has moved so much that I have probably exposed roots and nerves. She did do an x-ray but said everything in that regard is good. She painted a ton of fluoride over that sensitive area and while the pain hasn't gone away, it is dampened down. She also wants me to use a fluoride rinse three times a day and use Sensodyne toothpaste. She told me to rub the toothpaste on my gum in between brushing.

So that is where I am at. Glad to hear your sensitivity went away! Gives me hope!

[Winkos]

You can also "paint" the tooth with Sensodyne at night after brushing your teeth to help with the sensitivity.