How to Sleep With a Toothache?
Learning how to sleep with a toothache can help you rest more easily when you have a dental issue. After all, few things are as frustrating as trying to fall asleep when your mouth is throbbing in pain. When you lie down at night, blood rushes to your head, often making a mild daytime toothache feel significantly worse.
If you want to know how to sleep with a toothache, this guide covers the best sleep positions, home remedies, and medications to help you get through the night until you can see a dentist.
Adjust Your Sleep Position
The way you rest your body can have a major impact on the severity of your tooth pain. To sleep with a toothache, try elevating your head or sleeping on the opposite side:
- Elevate your head: Prop yourself up with extra pillows or a wedge pillow. Elevating your head while resting can reduce blood pressure and pooling in the head, which helps alleviate the throbbing sensation of a toothache.
- Sleep on the opposite side: Avoid putting physical pressure on the painful side of your face. If the right side of your mouth hurts, try to sleep exclusively on your left side to minimize localized pressure.
Home Remedies for Nighttime Relief
If you wake up in the middle of the night in pain, there are a few natural remedies you can try without having to leave the house.
- Warm salt water rinse: Before getting into bed, swish a mixture of warm water and salt around your mouth. Rinsing with warm salt water draws fluid out of swollen tissues, helping to reduce gum inflammation and wash away oral bacteria. This is especially helpful if your pain is stemming from gum irritation or a minor infection.
- Acupressure: Applying physical pressure to specific nerve points can temporarily distract your brain from dental pain. The LI4, or Hegu, acupressure point is located in the fleshy web of muscle between the base of the thumb and the index finger. Massaging this area is a traditional technique used to relieve facial and dental pain.
Over-the-Counter Medications
When natural remedies aren’t enough, over-the-counter solutions can take the edge off so you can finally rest.
- Oral Painkillers: Standard pain relievers are often the first line of defense. Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that reduces inflammation to effectively relieve dental pain.
- Topical Numbing Gels: Products that create a protective coating over the tooth or gum can be highly effective. Kank-A Mouth Pain Liquid contains 20% benzocaine, a local anesthetic that numbs oral pain on contact.
Important Safety Warning for Parents: The FDA warns against using over-the-counter benzocaine products on children under two years old due to the risk of methemoglobinemia. Methemoglobinemia is a rare but serious condition where the amount of oxygen carried through the bloodstream is greatly reduced.
Quick Reference: Nighttime Toothache Relief
| Remedy | How It Works | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|
| Head Elevation | Reduces blood pressure in the head | Throbbing pain when lying down |
| Salt Water Rinse | Draws out fluid and reduces bacteria | Gum inflammation and mild irritation |
| Acupressure (LI4) | Stimulates nerve pathways to distract from pain | General facial and dental pain |
| Topical Benzocaine | Numbs the nerve endings on contact | Localized, sharp tooth or gum pain |
What to Avoid Before Bed
To prevent your toothache from flaring up right before you try to sleep, avoid the following triggers:
- Sugary snacks and drinks: Eating sweets before bed is a recipe for disaster. Oral bacteria feed on sugars to produce acids that erode tooth enamel and accelerate tooth decay. Tooth decay occurs when this acid dissolves the hard outer layer of the tooth, known as the enamel.
- Extreme temperatures: Ice-cold water or hot tea can irritate a “hot” or inflamed tooth. Stick to room-temperature beverages if you are thirsty during the night.
- Hard or crunchy foods: Chewing hard foods can physically aggravate a broken or infected tooth, sending sharp pain signals to your brain right before bed.
When to See a Dentist
While these tips can help you figure out how to sleep with a toothache, they are only temporary fixes. Plaque is a sticky film of bacteria that constantly forms on teeth and contributes to ongoing dental infections. If your pain is keeping you awake, causing facial swelling, or is accompanied by a fever, you should seek professional dental care immediately. Only a dentist can diagnose and treat the root cause of your pain.
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Monday - 9:00am–5:00pm
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Tuesday - 8:00am–5:00pm
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Wednesday - 8:00am–5:00pm
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Thursday - 8:00am–5:00pm
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Friday - 8:00am–5:00pm
