What Helps Tooth Pain Caused By Sinus Infection
The key to completely resolving tooth pain from sinus infection is to clear up the sinus infection. Once the inflammation of your maxillary sinuses goes down, the pressure on the nerves to the maxillary teeth should subside as well, ending the sinus-related toothache. In the meantime, pain relief measures used to manage the pressure from your sinus infection may also help with the discomfort, including the use of:
- Over-the-counter pain relief medications,
- Nasal sprays, and
- Over-the-counter decongestants.
If your sinus infection is actually caused by a dental issue, only resolving the dental issue will resolve your sinus pain and toothache long-term.
Sinus Infection Tooth Pain
Sinus tooth pain is fairly common, according to dental experts at the Mayo Clinic. Sinus infection tooth pain occurs when the fluid that builds up in the sinus cavities during a sinus infection puts pressure on your upper teeth, which are close to the maxillary sinuses.If you have sinus tooth pain, you may need to see a doctor to manage your sinus condition.
Sinus infection tooth pain might occur suddenly and usually feels like a dull ache, like something pressing down on your teeth. Or you might notice tooth sensitivity when chewing. Sinus infection tooth pain also can occur if you dont have a full-blown sinus infection. You might notice tooth pain similar to sinus infection tooth pain if you simply have a bad head cold and sinus congestion rather than a full-blown sinus infection.Some conditions that can cause pain in the upper teeth may be confused with sinus tooth pain. Even if you think your tooth pain is related to your sinuses and should be treated by a doctor, see a dentist to rule out dental problems including:
- Tooth Damage: A fractured or decayed tooth near the sinus cavity has similar symptoms to sinus tooth pain.
- Tooth Grinding: Tooth grinding can cause pain similar to sinus tooth pain.
- Gum Disease: The early stages of gum disease can also cause pain similar to sinus tooth pain.
Can Teeth Problems Cause Sinus Infection
Sometimes, a tooth infection can lead to a sinus infection, called odontogenic sinusitis. Odontogenic sinusitis can be caused by trauma, infection, decay, or abscess in the maxillary teeth, with infection spreading from the teeth to the maxillary sinuses. This can happen when the roots of the teeth are very close to, or even protruding into the maxillary sinus. This proximity would generally not be an issue unless the tooth becomes infected.
Sometimes recurring sinus infections can even be a sign of tooth decay. When tooth decay causes a sinus infection, its called Maxillary Sinusitis of Endodontic Origin . In some cases of MSEO, the patient may not feel sensitivity or discomfort in the teeth, so it can be difficult to diagnose.
If problems of the teeth are causing sinus infection, simply treating the symptoms of sinus infection wont resolve the issue. If the source of the infection is with the tooth, you will have to have a dentist or endodontist provide treatment. If the sinus infections persist after managing dental issues, its a good idea to consult an ENT.
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Can A Tooth Infection Spread To Your Sinuses
While a sinus infection and tooth pain normally arise in that order, a tooth infection can, in fact, lead to sinus inflammation pain. In rare cases, bacteria, viruses, or fungi in a tooth abscess can spread to the brain and create life-threatening complications.
For this reason, we often recommend erring on the side of caution when it comes to sinus infections and tooth pain if you think the tooth pain youre experiencing goes beyond what youd expect during a sinus infection, consult your dentist.
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Why Do Sinus Infections Cause Tooth Pain
The sinuses rest just behind the facial bones around your eyes, forehead, and cheeks. There are four of these air-filled pockets. Their role is to help warm the air that you breathe. They also help to filter out potential pathogens and debris.
Mucus is produced in your sinuses. It is meant to drain through your nose. Occasionally, something happens that stops this process. Colds and allergies are the most common reason for the sinuses to become clogged.
Filled and inflamed sinuses produce pressure in the mouth. These tend to press on the nerves that supply feeling to the top back teeth.
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What Is The Connection Between A Sinus Infection And Sore Throat
The trouble is that a sore or scratchy throat can be attributed to a number of different causes. For clarification, sinusitis presents symptoms that are often easy to identify, including nasal pain and inflammation. Other signs linked to sinusitis include:
- Teeth pain
- Face tenderness, including near the eyes and ears
- Sinus pressure
- Thick yellow or green mucus
- Redness or swelling in the face and nasal passages
- Itchy ears and throat
Nasal Saline Washes And Topical Nasal Corticosteroids
Additional treatment options include nasal saline washes, which help move thick secretions from the nasal passages, and topical nasal corticosteroid sprays that reverse inflammation and swelling. The latter also effectively shrink and prevent nasal polyps. Corticosteroid sprays do not get absorbed into the bloodstream and can be used for extended periods without the risk of dependency.
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What Are Sinus Toothaches
Sinus toothaches occur when pain from a sinus infection radiates into your teeth. One of the most common signs of a sinus infection is an aching pain in the upper rear teeth, which are situated extremely close to your sinuses. This pain is the result of swelling in the sinuses, which puts pressure on the roots of your teeth.
Sinusitis is a minor problem if you get it treated early. This early treatment can prevent the infection from worsening and putting more pressure on your teeth. But you need to know the difference between a sinus toothache and pain from a problem with your teeth.
What Is A Sinus Infection
A sinus infection can create pressure and pain in the mouth and cause a sinus tooth pain. Specifically, this is due to pressure and pain in the maxillary sinuses located behind the cheek bones. Sinus tooth pain is often confused with other causes of tooth pain, including gum disease, tooth decay, or an impacted wisdom tooth.
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How Do I Fix The Problem
To get rid of your sinus toothache, youll need to clear out the mucus and reduce the inflammation in your sinuses. Once the inflammation goes down, there wont be any more pressure on the nerves leading to your teeth. It may be best to try one of these non-medical, and more affordable or even free solutions, prior to visiting your doctor or an urgent care clinic:
- Sleep Your body needs downtime to repair itself, especially if your sinus infection is the result of a cold. Be sure to keep your head elevated so you arent trapping mucus in your sinuses.
- Hydrate Drink plenty of fluids, like sugar-free juice and water, to hydrate your sinuses. Try to avoid coffee, as this can make symptoms worse.
- Breathe in steam Steam can open up your nasal passages and allow mucus to drain. Take a hot shower, breathe in the steam from a homecooked meal or sip some warm, caffeine-free tea. Do this a few times a day for the best results.
- Apply compresses Warm compresses and towels can be applied to the face to soothe pain.
- Use saline rinses Its best to use distilled water, but you can also boil and purify tap water for the same effect. Then, flush your nose with a neti pot, nebulizer or another safe device.
- Tweak your diet Spicy foods like horseradish, garlic, black pepper and chili peppers can thin mucus. Certain spicy foods can make things worse, so proceed with caution. If youre not a fan of spiciness, try peppermint.
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The Connection Between Sinus Infections And Toothaches
The simple answer is yes, a sinus infection can make your teeth hurt. To understand why, its a good idea to learn about the anatomy of the face. Your sinuses are essentially large cavities in the back of your head that are connected to your nose and jaw. When you dont have a sinus infection, these cavities help keep your nose and inner ear clean and functional. You dont notice your sinuses when theyre doing their job correctly.
Unfortunately, when something goes wrong in your sinuses, its impossible to ignore. A sinus infection can lead to inflamed, sensitive sinuses that react with pain to everyday activities. Since the upper jaw and the sinuses are basically side-by-side, pain in the sinuses can radiate outwards into the upper jaw, particularly in the back teeth. Toothaches and sinus infections are a common pairing for many.
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When Systems Go Awry
But with illness, that drainage system can stop functioning properly. Congestion, for instance, prevents the sinuses from draining through the nose. And the mucus that develops during illness is thicker and heavier than usual. This creates a situation in which higher quantities of thicker mucus must travel down your throat. We call this post-nasal drip, a condition that poses its own set of symptoms, including:
- A cough that is frequently worse at night
- Nausea caused by excess mucus entering the stomach
- Bad breath and/or an unpleasant smell in the nose
- Frequent throat clearing, spitting, or swallowing
- Sore, itchy throat
As mentioned earlier, a scratchy throat can be the result of many different causes, including mold exposure, tonsilitis, and allergies. The best rule of thumb is this: if youre suffering from the symptoms of sinusitis, your throat discomfort is likely the result of post-nasal drip.
Sinus Infection And Toothache: Any Connection
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on Sep 17, 2021.
Yes, a sinus infection can cause a toothache. In fact, pain in the upper back teeth is a fairly common symptom with sinus conditions.
The sinuses are pairs of empty spaces in your skull connected to the nasal cavity. If you have sinusitis, the tissues in those spaces become inflamed, often causing pain.
The largest sinuses are a pair above the back teeth of your upper jaw. The roots of the upper teeth are very near or may even extend into the sinus cavity. Consequently, inflammation in the sinuses might cause pain in nearby teeth. Similarly, damage to or infection in a tooth may lead to persistent sinusitis.
If you have a toothache, first consult your dentist for an exam. He or she will look for possible dental causes for the toothache, such as gum disease, cavities or other infections.
If your dentist rules out a dental cause for the toothache, consult your doctor. He or she will consider whether a sinus condition or another medical problem is causing pain.
© 1998-2022 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research . All rights reserved. Terms of use.
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Overlapping Symptoms With Sinus And Tooth Infection
It can be hard to distinguish between the symptoms of a sinus infection and a tooth infection. With a sinus infection, you might commonly experience:
- Pain in the face or behind the eyes
- Headaches
- Discharge from tooth or gums
- Foul taste in the mouth or persistent bad breath
- Pimple-like sore on gums
- Discolored tooth
In addition, more symptoms might cross over. A sinus infection can put pressure on your tooth, leading to a toothache. Infections can also spread from your tooth to your sinuses.
How Your Sinuses Can Cause Tooth Pain
Below youll find a dental x-ray. I outlined the floor of the maxillary sinus so that you can see how close it comes to the roots of your upper molars.
On the left side, it looks like the sinus floor goes below the roots of the upper molars. Usually this isnt the case, and that illusion can be attributed to overlap as we are seeing a two dimensional image of a three dimensional object. However, it does give you a pretty good idea of why sinus infections can make it seem like you have a toothache in your upper molars and premolars.
Want more details on how a tooth can cause a sinus infection? Then read this article: Can a Sinus Infection Be Caused by a Tooth?
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Can A Sinus Infection Cause Jaw Pain On One Side
It is a common condition that affects the sinuses. On one side of the jaw, there is more inflammation in the nasal cavity, which is known as sinusitis. Colds and allergies are the most common causes of sinusitis. In addition to causing inflammation in the cavities that surround your cheeks, the condition can also cause pain on either side of your jaw.
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What Is A Sinus Toothache
Tooth pain is not something that you might like to hear, and bearing the pain can be very difficult. If you have a sinus infection, developing tooth pain might be the worst thing you can imagine. Toothache and sinus infection can have a close relationship and are referred to as sinus toothache.
What is a Sinus Infection?Sinuses are the hollow spaces in the bones above the upper jaw that are filled with air. The main purpose of sinuses is to produce nasal mucus.
In certain situations, the sinuses get clogged with the fluid. Bacteria and germs start populating in the clogged fluid and cause a sinus infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , 9 out of 10 adult sinus infections are caused by viruses, and the remaining are caused by bacteria.
The symptoms of sinus infections include:
- Stuffy nose
One of the most unexpected and gruesome symptoms of sinus infection is tooth pain.
Sinus Infection ToothacheBecause the sinuses are not inside the mouth, it can be hard to believe that sinus infections can cause tooth pain. The maxillary sinuses are in proximity to the roots of the upper teeth. When a person experiences sinus infection and inflammation, the brain processes that the pain signals are coming from the teeth.
Its not easy to deal with a sinus toothache, knowing that the culprit is your sinus and not the tooth. The best way to relieve a toothache from a sinus infection is by eliminating the mucus to minimize the pressure in the sinuses.
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Can A Tooth Abscess Cause A Sinus Infection Or Heart Disease
When it comes to what brings patients into our Grosse Pointe dental office for oral surgery, its not always about the pain. A tooth abscess is often the first sign of a tooth infection or fracture. A tooth abscess may also cause a sinus infection or headaches, which are also key indicators that you may need a tooth extraction or root canal.
If you have an abscess on your gums, you should seek dental treatment as soon as possible. Abscesses will eventually lead to tooth and gum pain, as well as sinus infections. Further, studies have shown that drainage from the sore may contribute to heart disease.
Following are several things you should know about tooth abscesses and their relationship to sinus infections.
Sinus Vs Regular Toothache
Many symptoms of a regular toothache are similar to those of a sinus toothache. However, sinus tooth pain is primarily felt in the upper molars, affecting several teeth instead of only one. If youre having pain in these teeth, and its coupled with some of the symptoms listed below, its likely that your toothache is due to a sinus infection. You may also feel a bit under the weather or have a fever.
A toothache caused by dental concerns will likely be the only source of pain, and it could be more intense and focused. Pain from a sinus toothache will intensify with certain types of movement. Jumping up or bending over may make the pain worse. This is because the sinus pressure shifts as you move and is felt more in your teeth. The pain may subside when youre sitting or lying down.
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Can A Toothache From A Sinus Infection Indicate A Dental Issue
If you pay attention to your oral hygiene, you know that unexpected dental pain usually means its time to make a dentist appointment. However, a sinus infection is one of those rare cases where it may not be obvious whether you should see a dentist or not. How can you tell if tooth pain is caused by a sinus infection, a cavity, or both?
In order to decide whether to see the dentist or not, its important to pay attention to the symptoms youre experiencing. For example, if you have a severe cold accompanied by jaw pain but both resolve themselves within a matter of days, you probably dont need to worry about contacting your dentist. However, if your dental pain remains long after you recover from your sinus infection, its a good idea to make an appointment sooner rather than later.
Its also important to note that dental symptoms can be caused by sinus infections, but persistent sinusitis can also be caused by dental issues. If you have unexplained aches in your teeth, unresolved sinus issues could be at play, and vice versa. If you have frequent sinus infections, let your dentist know. They may request an x-ray in order to look for dental issues that could be caused by your sinuses. Theyll also be able to check for gum disease, cavities, and other problems that could be making the issue worse. If they are unable to find a connection, they may refer you to a sinus specialist for further investigation.
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