Home cure for sensitive teeth
Sensitive teeth may improve with desensitising toothpaste and gentle care, but persistent pain needs a dental examination.
The short answer
Sensitive teeth often improve with gentle brushing, a desensitising toothpaste, and avoidance of the trigger, but the cause still needs checking if symptoms persist.
What is the direct answer?
What does this question mean?
Sensitivity occurs when exposed dentin allows hot, cold, sweet, or acidic stimuli to move fluid inside microscopic tubules toward the pulp. Recession, enamel wear, erosion, cracks, decay, and recent dental treatment can expose dentin.
What can you do next?
Brush with a soft-bristled brush and fluoride toothpaste without scrubbing the gumline. A toothpaste containing a desensitising ingredient can be used consistently, and acidic drinks should not be held against the teeth.
When should you seek dental care?
See a dentist for one-sided, worsening, spontaneous, or lingering pain, or when sensitivity comes with a cavity, crack, swelling, or a loose filling.
What should you ask the dentist?
Ask whether the sensitivity comes from recession, erosion, decay, a crack, or the pulp, and whether fluoride varnish, bonding, a filling, or another treatment is appropriate.
Frequently asked questions
Can this be managed at home?
Brush with a soft-bristled brush and fluoride toothpaste without scrubbing the gumline. A toothpaste containing a desensitising ingredient can be used consistently, and acidic drinks should not be held against the teeth.
What is the main reason to get an examination?
See a dentist for one-sided, worsening, spontaneous, or lingering pain, or when sensitivity comes with a cavity, crack, swelling, or a loose filling.