Image

The Relationship Between Dental Discomfort and Sinus Infections

Image

The Relationship Between Dental Discomfort and Sinus Infections

The most common symptom of sinusitis is pain. Since you have multiple sinuses behind the nose and around the eyes, any of them can hurt, causing you to experience facial pain. The swelling and inflammation also causes your pain in your sinuses with a dull pressure, causing you to suffer a headache. You may feel pain between your eyes, in
By Paul Mallouk, D.D.S.

The most common symptom of sinusitis is pain. Since you have multiple sinuses behind the nose and around the eyes, any of them can hurt, causing you to experience facial pain. The swelling and inflammation also causes your pain in your sinuses with a dull pressure, causing you to suffer a headache.

You may feel pain between your eyes, in your teeth and upper jaws, in your forehead, or on either side of the nose.

Why do you also experience a toothache?

Generally, any harm in the maxillary sinuses and/or paranasal mucosa tends to refer pain to the upper teeth. People experience sinus infection-related tooth pain when fluid builds up in the sinus cavities during the infection, causing pressure in the upper teeth that are in close proximity to the maxillary sinus.

How the pain feels like.

Sinus infection tooth pain tends to occur suddenly, and is felt in multiple teeth as a throbbing, aching, or dull pain. In some cases, you can experience some pressure below the eyes that increases when you lower your head, cough, sneeze, or apply pressure over the sinuses. The dull ache feels like something exerting a force down on your teeth. You may also experience some sensitivity when chewing.

This kind of pain can occur even when you don’t have a bad case of sinus infection. For instance, you can experience similar pain when you have a bad head cold, or a mild case of sinus congestion.

Other side effects of a sinus infection include:

● Congestion that forces you to breathe through the mouth
● This promotes a dry mouth
● Diminished saliva production increases the risk of dental health problems like gum disease, bad breath, and tooth decay

More about nasal/sinus toothaches.

A “sinus toothache” is often associated with a history of sinus problem, nasal congestion, or upper respiratory infection. The condition can be diagnosed through a number of tests, including MRI, sinus x-rays, or a visual nasal exam. It is fairly easy to manage by treating the cause of the infection and relieving pressure in the sinuses. You can inhale warm air or drink plenty of water to thin the mucus, or treat it with decongestants, antibiotics, and antihistamines.