Toothaches ruining nights

There’s a familiar human experience that plays out in bedrooms across the world almost every night: a dull, nagging toothache that somehow feels worse when the lights go out and the world goes quiet.

- 

It’s enough to make anyone desperate for sleep and wondering why something that seemed tolerable during the day turns into a tormentor at night. The answer lies not in magic or mystery, but in a mix of biology, physics and simple psychology.Most people don’t notice a small pain when they’re busy. During the day, jobs, conversations, traffic and the general bustle of life provide a steady stream of distractions. Pain signals compete with a thousand other stimuli for your attention. At night, the noise fades. With nothing to divert your mind, the nervous system begins to register every tiny signal more intensely. That makes an ache that barely registered during the day feel far more pronounced in the quiet dark.

Something as simple as body position also plays a real role. When you lie down, blood flow to your head and face naturally increases compared with when you are upright during the day. More blood in the head means more pressure in tissues that are already inflamed. If a nerve in a tooth’s inner pulp is irritated from decay or infection, that extra pressure can transform a mild discomfort into a throbbing pain.