Hello Dr. Hall, I was hoping you could help and provide a little insight. I have been grinding my teeth for some time now while I sleep. My last dental cleaning and checkup was 8 months ago and everything was fine. I have recently been feeling pain from my lower back teeth. The dull pain lasts for 2 secs and then stops. It feels like someone is pulling at my back tooth and letting go. I feel this pain on both sides of the mouth (all back lower teeth). I have never had a cavity before so I don’t know what to expect. Does this seem like cavities? Or could it be something else? could it be from clenching teeth while asleep? What should I do to help my situation, I feel this pulling sensation and it’s very hard to describe. Hope you can help.
\n– Mona from New York<\/p>\n
Mona,<\/p>\n
Your two statements seem to contradict each other. You said that in your checkup everything was fine, but then you said you’ve been grinding your teeth<\/a> in your sleep for some time now. If you have a grinding problem, then everything is not<\/em> fine.<\/p>\n I’m not sure what is wrong with your teeth because I don’t have all the details – like what brings this pain on. And it would be helpful to see the x-rays and actually see your mouth and check things like tooth mobility. But I’m worried that your dental examination may not have been as thorough as it should have been, just from your comment that everything was fine in your checkup. Now I don’t know this for sure, not having been there, but I know this is a common problem in much dental care – a focus on cavities and fillings, and not paying much attention to other important dental problems like TMJ<\/a>, gum disease<\/a>, or occlusion. You get this in budget dental clinics and chain practices. I think you should get another opinion from a dentist who is possibly more thorough.<\/p>\n Having said that, your pain doesn’t sound like it comes from tooth decay. It sounds like the pain some people get when they have gum disease. Or it could be from the trauma of your grinding. I would find out, because either of these problems could be serious. If it’s gum disease, by the time you start having pain you could have significant bone loss. If it’s the grinding, you can literally grind your teeth away, and the solution could be as simple as wearing a nightguard<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dr. Hall<\/p>\n