{"id":13289,"date":"2026-08-30T06:19:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T06:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/toothache-at-night-what-to-do\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T06:19:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T06:19:27","slug":"toothache-at-night-what-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/toothache-at-night-what-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Toothache at night: why it gets worse and what to do"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Toothache that is bearable during the day often becomes unbearable at night. There is a physiological reason: lying down increases blood flow to the head and pressure rises inside the tooth&#8217;s rigid chamber. Inflamed pulp is extremely sensitive to pressure. And at night there is nothing to distract you, so the pain feels stronger.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What helps until your appointment<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sleep propped up.<\/strong> Raising the head reduces pressure and often helps surprisingly well.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cold on the outside.<\/strong> A cold compress on the cheek, 15 minutes at a time. Reduces swelling and numbs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Painkiller.<\/strong> Ibuprofen works better than paracetamol for toothache because it also reduces inflammation. Follow the dosage on the packet.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Salt-water rinse.<\/strong> A teaspoon of salt in a glass of warm water, rinse gently.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Clean the area.<\/strong> Food trapped between teeth can itself be the cause \u2014 try carefully with floss.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What not to do<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Do not put aspirin on the tooth.<\/strong> It does not act locally, it burns the mucosa.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Do not apply heat.<\/strong> A warm compress dilates blood vessels and speeds the spread of a purulent infection.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Do not rely on antibiotics alone.<\/strong> They may quieten the pain temporarily but do not remove the cause \u2014 the source of infection inside the tooth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Do not wait for the pain to stop.<\/strong> Pain disappearing often means the nerve has died, not that the problem has resolved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What usually causes the pain<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pulpitis.<\/strong> Deep decay has reached the nerve. Throbbing pain, worse lying down. Needs root canal treatment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Apical periodontitis.<\/strong> The tooth hurts when tapped and may feel &#8220;higher&#8221; than the others.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pericoronitis.<\/strong> Gum inflammation over a partly erupted wisdom tooth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A cracked tooth or filling.<\/strong> Sharp pain on biting.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exposed tooth neck.<\/strong> Brief sharp pain from cold, gone in seconds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>When it is an emergency<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Seek help urgently if:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your face or neck is swollen.<\/li>\n<li>You have a temperature above 38 \u00b0C along with toothache.<\/li>\n<li>Swallowing or opening your mouth is difficult.<\/li>\n<li>Swelling is spreading towards the eye or neck.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are signs of spreading infection that need immediate treatment \u2014 not waiting until morning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What treatment costs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Most often the answer is root canal treatment: \u20ac125\u2013205 under a microscope depending on the tooth, plus canal filling and restoring the tooth. First consultation with imaging \u20ac30.<\/p>\n<p>If a tooth hurts, book an appointment at Unidenta in Tallinn \u2014 the sooner you come, the better the chance of saving it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Night-time toothache is no coincidence \u2014 lying down raises pressure inside the tooth. What helps until you can see a dentist, what not to do, and when it is an emergency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[291],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-useful"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13289\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unidenta.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}