Once upon a time, my friend was really worried about his brother. For some unknown reason, he would just become unconscious momentarily and almost met with an accident during such an episode. Naturally, they consulted different doctors and he underwent many a test, MRI, CT scan and what not. Can you take a wild guess what caused such a dangerous situation for him? Tooth issues, (my mouth fell down the same way your jaw has dropped), I know it sounds exaggerated and a bad tale, but it’s the truth none the less. That was the day I realized we cannot really afford to take any pains lightly, recurring issues even as small as a tooth is all interconnected with the grand scheme of our health.
I don’t know what is it about our dental health that it generally lists pretty low in our health concerns but did you know that toothache can be a simple sign of a bad tooth and also a huge symptom of serious conditions related to heart and lung. Tooth fairy caught your tongue instead of the tooth, huh!
A normal toothache if left untreated will cause enormous pain, requiring pulling out a tooth altogether or burn a hole in your pocket by requiring root canal procedures, and capping or replacing a tooth. This reason has never been daunting enough to usher us through the doors of a dental clinic, I know but sometimes toothache can be caused by underlying issues that can prove more dangerous or even fatal. So here’s why you should never ignore a persistent toothache:
- Any toothache due to cavity, cracks, left untreated for long can result in abscess or infection. This infection when ignored will not only impact your dental hygiene but can travel within the body causing infection elsewhere, and in few worst-case scenarios can cause brain damage as well.
- Were you aware that toothache can also be sometimes a symptom of a heart attack? Yes, there is a connection between our jaws and hearts. A toothache combined with jaw pain can sometimes be a symptom of heart woes.
- Not just that but gum diseases can affect your lungs too, by inhaling the infection, and it can also worsen any existing lung disease and even inflammatory conditions like asthma.
- Arthritis which can impact any jaw in the body can also result in that jaw pain you have been ignoring for some time.
- Cancer manifests itself in various ways. One of the signs can be persistent tooth pain. Long occurring tooth pain can be hinting towards skin cancer and even lung cancer.
So you see, yes a simple tooth problem will not kill you, but there is no way for us to ascertain what is a simple toothache and what is being caused by some underlying major issues, till the time we bring in the specialist.
So simply a dentist is a necessary evil. Dentists don’t take offense at that, but you drilled in my mouth and hence I get to call you that. And with the festive season coming to an end in some time, the coming time will be a good time to visit one.