Can a Tooth Abscess Cause Headaches? What to Know

Why a tooth makes your head hurt

The nerves of the teeth and jaws share pathways with the nerves of the face and head. When an infected tooth inflames the tissue around its root, the brain does not always place the pain at the tooth. It can feel like an ache in the temple, behind the eye, across the forehead or in the ear. This is called referred pain.

Upper teeth are the usual cause, because their roots sit close to the sinus and the muscles of the cheek and temple. A lower tooth can send pain up the side of the face too. If your jaw also aches, our post on jaw pain that comes from a tooth covers the same mechanism.

How a dental headache differs from an ordinary one

There is no single test, but these patterns point toward a tooth:

• The headache is on one side, and that side matches a sore tooth
• It gets worse when you bite, chew or drink something hot or cold
• It is worse lying down, because blood pressure in the head rises and the infected tooth throbs more
• Painkillers take the edge off for a few hours and then it comes back
• You have a bad taste, a gum pimple, or a swollen cheek or gum

A headache that comes with a stuffy nose, a blocked ear or pressure under the eyes may be a sinus problem instead, and the two overlap often. We went through telling them apart in sinus infection or toothache. And if the headache comes with clicking or a tight jaw on waking, jaw joint trouble is the other candidate.

Headaches that mean hospital, not a dental clinic

Most dental headaches are miserable and not dangerous. A few are different. Go to an emergency room, and do not stop at a dental clinic first, if a headache comes with any of these:

• Fever with chills
• A stiff neck, or pain when you bend your head forward
• Confusion, unusual drowsiness or repeated vomiting
• Changes in your vision, or swelling spreading toward the eye
• Trouble swallowing, breathing or opening your mouth

A dental infection spreading beyond the jaw is rare, but it is the reason an abscess should not be left to see how it goes. The stages are laid out in when a dental infection is a hospital emergency.

What we do about it

We examine the tooth, take an X-ray, and test it to find which tooth is the source. Pain that seems to be in the head is often traced to a tooth the patient had not noticed. An abscess is treated by removing the source of infection: either a root canal, to clean out the infected pulp (the nerve inside the tooth) and save the tooth, or an extraction when the tooth cannot be saved. Antibiotics alone do not fix it, since they cannot reach the inside of a dead tooth. See what a tooth abscess is and how it is treated and the ADA's page on abscessed teeth.

Once the tooth is treated, a headache that came from it usually settles over the following days. If it does not, the tooth was probably not the whole story, and we will say so rather than keep drilling at it. The American Association of Endodontists has a plain-language guide to dental symptoms if you want a second source.

If it starts on a Thursday night in Beit Shemesh

Our clinic at Harav Kook 28/1 is open Sunday to Thursday 8:00 to 20:00 and Friday 9:00 to 17:00, and Shabbat is for genuine emergencies only. A throbbing head and a sore tooth on Thursday evening is a worse problem than the same pair on Sunday morning, because the weekend is long and the pain does not observe it.

If you are otherwise well, call. We offer same-day appointments through our tooth abscess treatment in Beit Shemesh and our emergency dentist, and Dr. Joel treats in Hebrew and English, so you can describe where it hurts exactly and not approximately. People in Ramat Beit Shemesh are about 2 km from the chair.

The short version: a headache can come from an abscessed tooth, and the way to find out is to examine the tooth, not to take a fourth tablet. Call or WhatsApp our Beit Shemesh clinic on 055-985-8845.