What Dental Emergencies Can Make Your Face Hurt?

When you call your dentist about a dental emergency, it can sometimes be a little difficult to describe what exactly you’re dealing with. Many of the most common dental emergencies can sort of feel alike, and telling your dentist that your face hurts doesn’t prepare them very well for your appointment.

Of course, your dentist will be happy to work with you no matter your level of knowledge, and they’ll narrow down what you’re dealing with eventually. However, if you want to know more about what could be causing your face pain, here’s a guide to the most common reasons you could be experiencing it.

TMJ Disorder

The Temporomandibular Joints, known as the TMJ for short, are responsible for connecting the jaw to the rest of the face. This momentous task is left to these surprisingly small joints, which means that even minor misalignments (often caused by grinding teeth or heavy impact to the jaw) can cause significant discomfort. This is known as a TMJ disorder, or TMJD.

TMJ disorders can mean a little bit of an ache when opening or closing the mouth, which may feel like pain in your face. Moreover, due to the TMJ’s proximity to the inner ear, patients may also experience nausea or vertigo as a result of TMJD.

Dental Abscess

An abscess is a small, pus-filled lump that can sprout up as a result of infection. These can appear in the mouth as a result of severe gum disease or another sort of infection along the gumline. Abscesses are very painful, so much so that they might make it feel like your entire face hurts.

This infection can be accompanied by a few other symptoms, like fever, cough, or a foul taste in the mouth.

Dry Socket

If you’ve recently had a tooth pulled, or lost it in another way, your dentist may have warned you about a condition known as “dry socket.” This occurs when the wound where your tooth came out isn’t able to clot properly. The result is that your bones and nerves are exposed to outside air, which can be pretty uncomfortable. If you’ve started feeling a radiating pain after a tooth extraction, this may be the culprit.

This is a very abridged list of reasons your face could hurt, mostly limited to issues that could be caused by your oral health. Migraines, sinus infections, and many other conditions can also cause your face to hurt to the same extent. Talking to a professional is the best way to determine for sure what you’re dealing with.

About Our Practice

At Norwood Dental Care, we have been caring for members of our wonderful community for over thirty years. In that time, we’ve learned just about everything there is to know about providing high-quality dental care with respect and empathy. And we never stop learning; we have remained committed to staying at the forefront of oral medicine, and have outfitted our office with cutting-edge dental technology.

If you have any questions about facial pain, we can be reached at our website or by phone at (781) 769-6140.