Grass pollen, tree pollen, weed, and mold spores are still elevated in our area and a local dentist says that’s bringing people into his office; they are confusing sinus pain with a toothache.
Here’s how you can tell the difference and what to do...
“It’s fairly common, especially, late fall, early spring when seasons are in full bloom,” Dentist Mitch Dang with Beechnut Dental Care said. “Infection of the sinus can press down onto maxillary teeth, especially toward the back molars, and that can cause some pain. Often people think, ‘Oh, I might have a toothache.’ Yeah, but in reality, it’s just a lot of pressure in there.”
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Dang said the sinus cavity and your back molars are right next to each other.
Inflamed sinuses might push down on your molars and cause pain. In his office, they use a 3D scanner to get a good image of when this happens.
However, if you can’t see the sinuses on a scan, the way to detect sinus problems and not an infected tooth, is it usually comes along with a stuffy nose, runny nose, and/or headache.
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Without those symptoms, it may in fact be an infected tooth. Which means, it’s important to get to a doctor and diagnose what’s causing pain.