How To Relieve Pain After A Dental Cleaning

Have you ever had a dental cleaning, and afterwards your teeth were very sensitive? Whether you had a simple cleaning, or a deep cleaning, patients complain about their teeth being sensitive after the procedure. But what causes the sensitivity, and what exactly can be done about it? The first topic that must be discussed to understand why this happens is the basic anatomy of a tooth.

The above picture is showing a cross section of your tooth. It may seem a bit confusing at first, but let’s go over individual parts together.

Enamel: Enamel is the protective layer that forms the outside portion of your crown (the portion of your tooth you see inside your mouth). It helps protect the inside layers of your teeth from contaminants. When you develop a cavity this is usually the first layer that is affected before the cavity gets too large and infiltrates the inside portion of your teeth.

Dentin: Dentin is the second protective layer that guards our nerve tissue inside our teeth. The layer is composed of small tubules that can lead to tooth sensitivity of exposed to the outside environment.

Pulp and Nerve Canals: This is a chamber that holds all the blood vessels and nerve tissue that supplies the tooth. This is typically what is removed when someone has a “root canal” performed.

Root: This is the outside portion of the tooth that is typically embedded underneath your gum tissue. It normally cannot be seen inside the mouth.

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With this basic knowledge let’s see why someone gets sensitive after their dental cleaning.

Cleaning performed on teeth that have exposed dentin.

Remember that dentin was the second layer of protection guarding the pulp chamber from infiltration of contaminants. Unfortunately, this layer is very sensitive and when instruments compress on this layer to clean it, this portion of the tooth can become even more sensitive. The picture below a patient who grinds and bruxes their teeth, and how these patients are prone to having dentin exposure.

Cleaning performed on exposed roots:

Remember that the root portion of your teeth are supposed to be embedded underneath your gum tissue. These roots are some times exposed in patients with gum recession, or severe grinding habits. When a dental cleaning is performed, and the roots are thoroughly cleaned and debrided, they can become very sensitive. It is normally this portion of your teeth that cause the sensitivity after your dental cleaning. The picture below denotes exposure of the root of an upper canine. Again, these areas tend to get very sensitive after a dental cleaning.