Tooth sensitivity can be a real pain (pun intended). From stopping you from having ice-cream when its hot, to the cold wind stirring up the pain when you walk outside in winter.
Tooth sensitivity can happen to you due to a variety of reasons such as cavities, gum disease, weak enamel, improper brushing action and grinding your teeth. If you are suffering from sensitivity it is best to see your dentist to rule out any cavities or disease.
Call us on (03) 9459 6300 or make an appointment online to get a proven treatment for sensitive teeth from one of our gentle dentists.
However, if you want to try some home-based treatments for sensitive teeth, our list of the top 5 home remedies includes:
Sensitive Teeth Remedy 1. Listen to your body
Awareness of grinding or clenching your teeth. Whether it’s while you are playing sport or at the gym, driving, working or just thinking, lots of people tend to take out their stress on their teeth which in turn puts too much force on them and can cause sensitivity.
Check out our guide to easy exercises to help relieve muscle pain from teeth grinding.
Alternatively, you may need to consider a night-guard for grinding or clenching at night. Night guards are essentially a mouthguard that you can wear at night to protect your teeth from the stresses that your jaw and TMJ dysfunctions can put them under.
Call us on (03) 9459 6300 or make an appointment online to see if a night-guard will help you protect your teeth and relieve the sensitivity in your teeth.
Sensitive Teeth Remedy 2. Look at your toothbrush
Swap your toothbrush for one that is rated "soft" or even "extra soft".Over brushing or an improper action can lead to scrubbing your teeth too hard and therefore sensitivity. Be gentle to your teeth and use a soft bristle toothbrush, a circular motion instead of a scrubbing action
Sensitive Teeth Remedy 3. Watch what you eat and drink
In short: avoid acidic foods.Soft drinks, acidic foods can wear away the enamel and therefore expose the inner dentine or the root surface which can cause a lot of sensitivity. Avoiding acidic foods, or drinking through a straw can help against tooth erosion and keep the teeth strong.
Sensitive Teeth Remedy 4. Take care of the gaps between your teeth...
...by flossing. Flossing helps clean in-between the teeth and keep plaque away from the gums, this helps reduce gum disease. With long term gum disease, the gum recedes and the root surface of the tooth is exposed which is not covered by enamel and can cause sensitivity.Be careful of bush lawyers telling you that you may have cavities in your teeth that are causing your teeth sensitivity. While cavities can cause many problems, your tooth sensitivity is likely the result of a different dental issue.
Sensitive Teeth Remedy 5. Try using a sensitive toothpaste
If all the other causes of sensitivity have been ruled out by your dentist, the use of a sensitive toothpaste as well as a soft toothbrush can help against sensitivity.
Sensodyne and Colgate Pro-Relief toothpaste are the most obvious and commonly used sensitive toothpastes that you can look for on your supermarket shelves. There are other options and you should try the various options from the different brands to see if any of them work for you.
Sensitive Teeth Remedy 6. Visit a gentle dentist
If you have tried all of these remedies and more, but your sensitive teeth are still bothering you our gentle dentists can help. There are a few proven treatment options to relieve you of your sensitive teeth.
Your treatment options range from tooth mousses to fillings or even a root canal in some progressed situations.
The other advantage of visiting a dentist to treat your sensitive teeth over any home remedy, is that a dentist can actually treat the underlying problem.
You see, if your roof is leaking and you paint over the water stains in your ceiling, you might hide the problem - but it will come back over and over. Home remedies might just have the same effect, whereas seeing a dentist will help you understand where the leak is and how to fix it with a more permanent solution.
Call us on (03) 9459 6300 or book an appointment online to get proven treatments for your sensitive teeth from our caring and gentle dentists.
