As anyone who has suffered from toothache will know, it can be one of the most excruciating types of pain. It often strikes suddenly, and apparently randomly. However, with good dental hygiene and regular visits to the dentist most people should be able to avoid dental pain. Toothache is a very broad term that covers both tooth pain and gum pain . It is different from other facial pains such as neuralgia or nerve pain .
Some people also suffer from sensitive teeth which can make life very uncomfortable.
In western countries, dental procedures are relatively pain free, and in the main do not cause disruption to our lives. In days gone by , treatment was a little barbaric and certainly nowhere near the dental standards of today. However, the first anaesthetic was in fact developed by the dentist Horace Wells in 1844, to minimise pain for his patients.