Question: What causes pain when I bite down on a tooth?
Explanation: Pain on biting localises the problem to the periodontal ligament or a fracture, rather than the pulp alone. Common causes include a cracked tooth, a high filling or crown, a periapical abscess extruding the tooth slightly, a periodontal abscess, or a failed root canal. The pattern is informative. Pain on releasing a bite suggests a crack. Pain on direct pressure suggests periapical inflammation. Pain on lateral pressure suggests periodontal involvement. Diagnosis requires bite testing on individual cusps, percussion, palpation, and radiographs.
Related Questions:
Why does the dentist tap my tooth?
Percussion tests the periodontal ligament. A healthy ligament is not tender to tapping. Inflammation from a periapical abscess or a high restoration makes the tooth acutely tender. Comparing the response with adjacent teeth localises the problem quickly and reliably.
Can a high filling cause biting pain weeks later?
Yes. If a restoration is even fractionally high, the tooth is repeatedly overloaded. The periodontal ligament becomes inflamed and increasingly tender over days to weeks. Adjusting the occlusion resolves it. It is a simple correction that is frequently overlooked.
What does pain on releasing a bite mean?
It is highly suggestive of a cracked tooth. Biting closes the crack. Releasing allows it to spring open, causing sudden fluid movement in dentine tubules and a sharp jolt of pain. Dentists reproduce this deliberately with a bite stick on each cusp in turn.
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