# Aiieee! Toothache pain! Why's it so, uh, riveting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972 "2003-11-13T04:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/1 "2003-11-13T04:31:33Z")
Nursing, as I am tonight, an abcessed tooth, I wonder about the discussion this caused with my colleagues today. What evolutionary rationale might there be for toothache pain to be as incredibly intense as it _can_ be? Two of my compadres today maintained that it is the most intense variety of pain one can experience. While I can’t imagine how you’d establish that as fact, I have no strong disagreement. One thought that occurs is that perhaps the majority of people don’t suffer major injuries, but do at some point experience toothache pain of some sort - thus a popular consensus might develop that dental discomfort (in light of tonight’s experience, discomfort seems a pauper of a word) _does_ outweigh any others. But having been burned badly enough to have required extended hospitalization and having ruptured my liver (that _will_ get your attention) and having scrambled my guts up on a steering wheel, and a few other things, I don’t necessarily disagree with my two colleagues assertion that dental pain can be the most intense of all pains. Perhaps my perception is clouded by my temporal perspective; i.e., I’ve got an abcess tonight and the other injuries were years ago. And a late thought occurs - those more major injuries I’ve experienced all put me into shock, which deadens pain, and I don’t think that happens with most toothache misery. So, why did we evolve to experience toothache pain to such a debilitating degree? And, as long as we’re at it, when did dentists begin having anesthetics available for their use (we reckoned today that if I’d had this abcess in Houston in 1845 I’d probably just have to go out and shoot myself). ---
**Author:** ![Ayesha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Ayesha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ayesha)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/2 "2003-11-13T09:03:53Z")
Ringo darlin, I have no answer to your question, however I too am dealing with a tooth ache. /me hands Ringo the Orajel, asprin and tylenol. Feel free, I’m going to go wash my mouth out with Capt. Morgan, for him I’ll even swallow ! Uh was that my out loud voice ? ---
**Author:** ![APOC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@APOC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APOC)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/3 "2003-11-13T09:26:56Z")
I too have been suffering. I’m off on a “Dental Holiday” to Croatia in a week because Dental Care here is so expensive and the quality of the work over there is second to none. (Based on testimony from colleagues , one of who’s own dentist went “damn” when he saw the work). But I gotta know the answer to the question too. Toothache pain is utterly debilitating. The initial searing pain often has me on the verge of physical collapse and then as the endorphans or whatever finally wake their lazy asses up and start to do some neural damping it means that I have one side of my head sheeted in a pervasive numbing pain which renders me unable to talk or even properly focus until the cocktail of naproxen sodium , paracetamol and aispirin I take kicks in. I remember seeing a documentary on field medics ( i believe it was in vietnam) and the consensus on what the most debilatating pain was …toothache. I laughed then but I aint laughing any more. So how did it evolve. Given the fact that the average life expectancy of caveman was around 20 years it is unlikely that decay would have gotten too serious a problem but with their diet I’m sure that dental damage was a significant factor. So what was it that made sense about crippling someone because he didnt floss. I have had serious injuries in the past and have managed to function reasonably okay with other types of pain (i sure dont enjoy it but it doesnt mean I have to stop all activity). Some people say that pain remembered is not percived the same but I tell you I have never literally had to drop to my knees in the middle of a street becasue of the pain from broken ribs or anything else . But a toothache ??? Good God DAAAAAAM. So no answers here but hopefully an evolutionary medico might drop by and enlighten us as to why It was decided to make this the most horrifically terrible pain . Is there an accepted scale of pain ? as in “Oh it hurts about 2.5 kilo owies ?” If there is how does childbirth and toothache compare ? And another question : do other people experience the twinge about 5 minutes before the real pain arrives ? The twinge that means you know you need to stop driving and wait cos its a coming ? Whats the point of that ? Are my teeth really going : _Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah ! We’re gonna hurt YA !_ ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/4 "2003-11-13T10:58:32Z")
Probably for the same reason pinching your finger tip hurts more than pinching your forearm -necessity demands that that area be more sensitive. ---
**Author:** ![APOC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@APOC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APOC)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/5 "2003-11-13T11:23:24Z")
> [@](#): > > necessity demands that that area be more sensitive Nessecity ? Whats so nessecary about a tooth ? I’m not sure that I need my teeth more than my lungs for example. In a sparring session I obliquely fractured a rib and it was threatening to puncture my lung as well as sticking into all my other gooey inside bits. It was sore, real sore. But by your theory I should have been incapacitated completly. I need my lungs and so should the pain not have been equivalent and made me have to at least lie still until I had repaired ? Nope , I had three more fights on that rib. Potentially fatal. It hurt , I knew I had been severly damaged but I tell ya it did not hurt more than this dashed toothache. When this thing hits it immediatley makes me want to hit the fetal position and shut off the rest of the world. I would prefer that reaction to be reserved for something like shattered bones etc. It seems to make more sense to me. I can run from a Mastadon with a broken rib , but when this toothache comes around I will be dropping to my knees in front of any blundering belicose Mammoths in the vicinity. What evolutionary advantage does this provide ? What ? The only people destined to make it out of stone age had to look good smiling in the ‘Class of 0’ yearbook photographs ? Maybe this is more a GQ that an IMHO ? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/6 "2003-11-13T11:29:58Z")
A toothache directly involving what I think was an exposed nerve caused a pain to hit me about every forty seconds. It was so bad that I had to hold onto my chair to keep from falling out. I may have even passed out. It was rough. Whoever wrote _Marathon Man_ had a very good idea for torture. ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/7 "2003-11-13T11:49:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by APOC \* > \*\*Nessecity ? Whats so nessecary about a tooth ? > > I’m not sure that I need my teeth more than my lungs for example. > > In a sparring session I obliquely fractured a rib and it was threatening to puncture my lung as well as sticking into all my other gooey inside bits. > > It was sore, real sore. > > But by your theory I should have been incapacitated completly. > I need my lungs and so should the pain not have been equivalent and made me have to at least lie still until I had repaired ? > > Nope , I had three more fights on that rib. Potentially fatal. It hurt , I knew I had been severly damaged but I tell ya it did not hurt more than this dashed toothache. > > When this thing hits it immediatley makes me want to hit the fetal position and shut off the rest of the world. I would prefer that reaction to be reserved for something like shattered bones etc. It seems to make more sense to me. > > I can run from a Mastadon with a broken rib , but when this toothache comes around I will be dropping to my knees in front of any blundering belicose Mammoths in the vicinity. > > What evolutionary advantage does this provide ? > > What ? The only people destined to make it out of stone age had to look good smiling in the ‘Class of 0’ yearbook photographs ? > Maybe this is more a GQ that an IMHO ? \*\* I doubt a caveman with a broken rib would survive very long, and even if he did his mating rights would be severely restricted by it. At any rate, there would be little point to having increased sensitivity like that since there’s nothing they could do about it as we can today. As to teeth, certainly the increased sensitivity could be coincidental, I don’t pretend to know a lot about dentistry or anthropology. Actually I do the latter, but I believe ther could be some use to the added sensitivity that I am not thinking of right now -perhaps we need it so we can regulate how hard we chomp our teeth, which could lead to tooth damage. ---
**Author:** ![APOC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@APOC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APOC)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/8 "2003-11-13T12:33:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eternal \* > \*\*I doubt a caveman with a broken rib would survive very long, \*\* But Ubermenchen APOC did ! Ha! Cavemen were nancy bois. 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eternal \* > \*\*…since there’s nothing they could do about it as we can today. > \*\* Have to disagree , our nancy boi caveman could have been incapacitated therby reducging the risk of further damage until the repair process had kicked in. Can we really do much more today ? Not really , I was given a wierd drug which identified the site and engouraged a tissue build up to prtotect the lung , I also was strapped up so it wouldnt get worse. In other exactly the same as would have happened if I had just lain in my cave for a while. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eternal \* > \*\*… -perhaps we need it so we can regulate how hard we chomp our teeth. \*\* didnt think of that ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/9 "2003-11-13T13:08:56Z")
Well I’ve never been in a criplling car accident or anything, but I just had a tooth pulled that was making me howl in agony. The most pain I had experienced up until the tooth was getting my spine tattooed. There was no comparison. ---
**Author:** ![DrMemory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DrMemory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrMemory)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/10 "2003-11-13T13:43:57Z")
Is it Safe??? IS WHAT Safe??? …Is it Safe??? Yes, YES, It’s Incredibly Safe!!!.. (Pause)…Is it Safe??? Seriously tho, Oil of Clove… Percodan and Jack Daniels As your Dr. I recomend these things in copius amounts. ---
**Author:** ![APOC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@APOC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APOC)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/11 "2003-11-13T13:59:47Z")
Funny you should mention the Jack. Why is that so instantaneous ? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/12 "2003-11-13T14:03:00Z")
Is there somethings about Jack and teeth I should know about? ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/13 "2003-11-13T14:08:17Z")
I’ll have to agree that toothaches are the worst pain to experience. Even the muscle spasms I had last night were not as bad. I recently had to go through this horrible agony. It was so bad it felt like someone stuck a chisel in my mouth and hit it with a hammer several times. All I can say is thank God for Vicodin. It made life livable and at least I could sleep through the night until I could get to see my dentist. I still had occasional flare-ups, though, and when they occurred I couldn’t think of anything else but to hope for the pain to subside. I ended up having the tooth extracted. My gum is still sore and healing, but it’s not nearly as bad as before. If anyone had to deal with this sort of pain in the days before medicine I’m sure they were driven to go out and kill themselves. I think what makes toothache pain so intense is that it’s concentrated in such a small area, so it stands out more than a pain that encompasses a larger area of the body. I hope all of you out there suffering from this terrible affliction will get feeling better soon. ---
**Author:** ![APOC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@APOC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APOC)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/14 "2003-11-13T14:20:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*Is there somethings about Jack and teeth I should know about? \*\* Whiskey will knock the pain right on the head straight away. Swish and swirl and wait for the relief to kick in. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/15 "2003-11-13T14:20:55Z")
I went through that last week **DWC** , except I didn’t have any vicodin. I won’t lie, there were a couple of times I seriously considered walking in front of a bus. Luckily I was able to ride the pain until the tooth was extracted. My gum at this moment, is still swollen and hurting. ---
**Author:** ![AV8R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AV8R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AV8R)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/16 "2003-11-13T14:58:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ringo \* > \*\*…if I’d had this abcess in Houston in 1845 I’d probably just have to go out and shoot myself… \*\* I know this isn’t MPSIMS, but here’s a factoid I’ll share anyway, from _The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician’s Point of View_ > [@](#): > > \*\*In 1862 Lincoln developed a severe toothache and consulted Dr. G. S. Wolf, who had an office near the White House. As Wolf prepared to pull the tooth, Lincoln asked him to wait. Lincoln “took a container of chloroform from his pocket, inhaled it deeply, and sleepily gave the signal for the dentist to proceed” \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/17 "2003-11-13T15:46:40Z")
> [@](#): > > I think what makes toothache pain so intense is that it’s concentrated in such a small area, so it stands out more than a pain that encompasses a larger area of the body. The thing that amazes me, though, is how profoundly it _affects_ the rest of your body, how so much of your being becomes concentrated on that tiny little area. I had a cavity earlier this year that had eaten through to the pulp; on days when the pain was at its most intense, I swear, I felt so sick and exhausted that I wondered if I was pregnant. Oh well, just had a root canal … yay … no nerves in that tooth _ever again_. Not that any of this really answers the OP’s question. I have no idea why we’re wired to feel it so intensely. ---
**Author:** ![big\_alex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e56c9b/32.png) [@big\_alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_alex)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/18 "2003-11-13T20:17:47Z")
Earache is the same. Worse pain that I’ve ever experienced. Could it be that as it is in your head it is harder to ignore than your foot or elbow? ---
**Author:** ![Titan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Titan2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Titan2)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/19 "2003-11-13T22:43:04Z")
\*\* Alex \*\*,I agree with the “in the head thing”.Just impossible to ignore. Pain in the extremities seem,at least to me,further away so easier to cope with.From someone who’s had searing pain from back problems.There always seemed to be a way to shift your body or something to make the pain less,but what can you do for a tooth? I’m reminded of old cartoons with toothpain sufferers wearing a wrap of sorts around the head. ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aiieee-toothache-pain-whys-it-so-uh-riveting/212972/20 "2003-11-14T00:43:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by APOC \* > \*\* > Have to disagree , our nancy boi caveman could have been incapacitated therby reducging the risk of further damage until the repair process had kicked in. > > Can we really do much more today ? Not really , I was given a wierd drug which identified the site and engouraged a tissue build up to prtotect the lung , I also was strapped up so it wouldnt get worse. In other exactly the same as would have happened if I had just lain in my cave for a while. > \*\* Yikes. Some people in the world today are deprived of the luxury of being able to “take it easy” for an extended period to let a injury heal, you think cavemen had it so good?