Toothaches in Evanston, IL

Tooth pain is not something to sit on. It is often your body telling you an infection is spreading, and that kind of toothache needs same-day care. Call us right away if you notice any of the following:

• Severe or worsening pain that OTC medication won't touch
• Visible swelling in the face or gums
• Fever alongside the tooth pain
• A broken or knocked-out tooth
• Pus drainage around the tooth or gum

Each of these points to infection or trauma that needs prompt treatment, and none of them improve by waiting. Seek emergency care if facial swelling affects your breathing or ability to swallow, or a high fever comes with severe pain, since those go beyond what a dental visit can handle.

If you are not sure which category you fall into, call and describe what you are feeling. We hold time in the schedule for urgent toothache visits, and we would far rather check you over and find nothing serious than have you tough it out at home.

The pain can ease for a while, but that is not the same as the problem being resolved. Tooth pain often fades in and out, and a quiet stretch usually means inflammation has settled down temporarily rather than that the decay, crack, or infection behind it has healed.

There is one pattern worth understanding. When a severely painful tooth suddenly goes quiet, it may mean the nerve has died, which is more serious because the infection is still present. Without a live nerve there is nothing left to send you a pain signal, so the infection can keep working its way into the bone around the root while you assume the worst is over.

Always have persistent tooth pain evaluated, even if it has calmed down by the time of your appointment. The encouraging part is that toothaches are highly treatable, and the sooner we identify the cause, the simpler and less expensive the fix usually is.

Act quickly and handle the tooth with care. Pick the tooth up by the crown, never the root, and rinse it gently with water if it is dirty. Do not scrub it, do not dry it, and do not wrap it in a tissue or cloth.

First make sure it is a permanent (adult) tooth. Never put a knocked-out baby tooth back in the socket. Replanting a baby tooth can damage the permanent tooth developing underneath, and a young child could swallow or inhale it. Call us instead.

If it is a permanent tooth, ease it back into the socket and hold it gently in place. Otherwise, keep it in milk or saline, because a tooth that is allowed to dry out becomes much harder to save. If you have neither, spit into a clean container and keep the tooth in that saliva. Reach our office or an emergency room within 30–60 minutes for the best chance of saving the tooth.

Call on your way so we can have everything ready before you arrive. We keep room in our schedule for urgent care. See our traumatic injuries page for more guidance.

Lying down increases blood flow to your head, which can ramp up tooth pain and pressure inside an inflamed tooth. Being flat also removes the natural drainage that gravity provides when you're upright, so a toothache that felt manageable all afternoon can turn into a steady throb the moment your head hits the pillow.

Distraction plays a part too. During the day there is plenty competing for your attention, and at night there is nothing at all, which leaves the pain a lot more room to be noticed.

Prop your head on an extra pillow so it stays elevated, and take pain medication before bed if you need it rather than waiting to be woken by the pain. These steps make the night more bearable, but they do not treat whatever is causing the toothache, so call us as soon as the office opens.

Yes. The roots of the upper back teeth sit very close to the sinus floor, so sinus pressure and infection can refer pain to those teeth. It feels like a genuine toothache because, as far as the nerves involved are concerned, the trouble is coming from the same neighborhood.

A few clues point toward the sinuses. Sinus-related pain tends to affect several upper teeth at once rather than one specific tooth, often arrives alongside congestion or a cold, and may worsen when you bend forward or lie down. None of these clues settle it on their own. A spreading infection in an upper back tooth can ache across several teeth too, so only an exam can tell the difference.

The two can look very similar, though, and you can have both at once. If sinus congestion accompanies your upper tooth pain, Dr. Andre Amarante can examine the teeth and take digital X-rays to help determine whether the cause is dental or sinus-related, so you are treating the right problem instead of guessing.

The exam and digital imaging come first, and that is not a delaying tactic. A toothache caused by a small cavity and a toothache caused by an infected nerve call for very different treatment, and until we know which one you have, any figure we gave you would be invented.

Once Dr. Andre Amarante has a diagnosis, he explains what he recommends and what it involves, and you get a clear estimate before treatment starts. We work with most insurance plans, and if you are insured we will tell you what your plan is likely to cover before you commit to anything.

If you are paying out of pocket, or the treatment is larger than you budgeted for, tell us and we will look at the options together. Payment plans spread the cost over time, and our in-house savings plan helps patients without dental insurance. See our financing options for flexible payment plans.