Dental Pain - Is It All In Your Head?

Hello,

The first step in managing or eliminating the discomfort involved with going to the dentist, is understanding its source. In many cases, the myths about dental pain often outweigh the realities and the anxiety caused by these myths further intensifies the pain. Psychological Factors In addition to the perceived pain brought on by intimidating sights and sounds, other factors such as your state-of-mindcan effect the level of discomfort experienced.

A high level of stress and irritability makes it more difficult to control pain. Although the reasons are not fully understood, the effect of anxiety on the body's ability to suppress pain issignificant often requiring that the patient be premedicated with anti-anxiety drugs such as Valium. Physiological Factors Because of the oral cavity's proximity to the brain, as well as the complex nerve structure of the head and neck, dental pain is often more severe than pain in other parts of the body. Of the 12 cranial nerves that control motor and sensory functions of the head and neck, the Trigeminal Nerve or 5th Nerveis responsible for sending pain signals to the brain.The Maxillary Nerve and Mandibular Nerve sections of the Trigeminal Nerve relay pain signals from the upper and lowerteeth.

One of the most trouble some biological factors that dentists must deal with is bacterial infection. In addition to the sensitivity caused by infections, the initial inability of oral infections in the teeth and boney structures to drainresults in the build up of pressure. As bacteria quickly multiplies and produces gaseous toxins, pressure increases and pain results. If an infection is neglected for even a day or two, the pressure can become intolerable