If my jaw hurts does it necessarily mean I have a cavity?!
Question: The lower right side of my jaw hurts when I bite down or chew something. I just noticed it this morning, last night I was fine. Does this mean I could have a cavity or is just a jaw cramp or something?
Answers: The lower right side of my jaw hurts when I bite down or chew something. I just noticed it this morning, last night I was fine. Does this mean I could have a cavity or is just a jaw cramp or something?
No, if you had a cavity you would get a sharp pain in a specific tooth whenever you ate or drank something extremely hot or extremely cold.
If you haven't had any symptoms before, it is likely that you were just clenching your teeth while you slept last night. It's extremely common, many people do it when they are stressed out.
If the pain doesn't go away after a few days, you might want to see a doctor. It could be something common like TMJ, or it could be something serious.
if your jaw hurts then it could be malocclusion trauma, trauma to the location, TMJ dysfunction or just plain stress. Get a diagnosis to get differntial diagnosis.
Hope this helps.
Possible causes of jaw pain:
- TMJ dysfunction
- deep cavity
- lost filling
- clenching or grinding your teeth, especially in your sleep
- dental abscess
- gum infection
- soft tissue lesion
- erupting wisdom tooth
- other...
DON'T guess! Get it checked out by your dentist.
It's probably nothing but pain in the jaw could also signify an abscess (infection). But I doubt that's the case here.