Tooth or teeth sensitivity after drinking wine

November 2, 2012 7:27 PM

After I drink white wine, one of two back molars (each with a filling), I'm not sure which, is sensitive when I chew food. My dentist says the fillings are intact, and the x-ray shows nothing, but if I want a crown, she can do that. Two questions: One, why does white wine bother the tooth more than, say, whisky? Two, is it really up to me to decide on a crown?

You are not my dentist.

When I say "is sensitive," I mean I've been chewing only on the right-hand side of my mouth for a few weeks, with occasional forays to the left when it's nothing crunchy, which is not always successful re avoiding pain. I've tried eating crunchy stuff to determine which tooth is bothered, but the pain, while acute, is fleeting. Neither tooth is sensitive to cold. One reacts badly, (very occasionally) to brushing, but again, I can't tell which.

Searching "wine tooth" in google gives me conflicting info (wine hurts the tooth vs. wine helps toothache). Could it be the temperature of the cold wine? I drank icy water all this summer. A substitute tipple, whisky, I mix with cold water. Would that sufficiently dilute sugar that affects a tooth? Is sugar the problem? When I eat ice cream, I have not noticed an effect on my teeth.

Any ideas? I'd like to get the dentist to tell me more than "you can get a crown," but after two visits - one to investigate, one for a cleaning, when I brought the subject up again - I got nothing. Her assistant did tell me to use Sensodyne.

Again, you're not my dentist. I just want to understand so I can partner with a dentist to fix the problem, which I hope is short of a crown on one or two teeth. That's a very expensive solution, and I have no insurance.

Possibly relevant factor 1: my alcohol consumption has been more or less the same - maybe a little less lately - for years. Twice a week I drink a bottle of white. Please don't suggest that I stop; I enjoy my alcohol, and much prefer wine to the less-affecting (toothwise) whisky. Possibly relevant factor 2: I had a good amount of dental work done ca. 2009 after years of avoiding dentists but while flossing and brushing diligently, which I've continued while I see my dentist for regular cleanings.

posted by goofyfoot to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

Knowing nothing else about this: white wine is more sugary than whisky. If anything, I'd expect alcohol to hide the pain. What does a caramel or a Snickers bar do?
posted by Rat Spatula at 7:49 PM on November 2, 2012

sensitivity to temperatures could mean you need a root canal, which doesn't *always* show on x-ray. have you seen an endodontist? they do these assessments only, so they can often give an answer where a dentist can't. that would be my suggestion. I wouldn't just do a crown because you've been given the option to. it's good that you're wary of that. you want to preserve the tooth if at all possible, and sometimes sensitivities last a long time and then go away of their own accord.
posted by FlyByDay at 7:55 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't know why you're experiencing sensitivity, but I wonder if the reason wine bothers you but not whisky or ice cream is because wine is quite acidic.
posted by Specklet at 7:56 PM on November 2, 2012

Try drinking a cold Sprite or something and see if it's similar? It will be sugary and cold.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 7:57 PM on November 2, 2012

Your body hurts when you drink white wine. I think "please don't suggest I stop" is unnecessary; your body is telling you what it thinks you should do.

This article on Dentine Hypersensitivity might be helpful:

"Although the majority of individuals reported that cold was the major stimulus for pain, other causes such as toothbrushing, hot, and sweet stimuli were reported as well"

It could be that the sweetness of the white wine, plus prolonged exposure (two bottles / week), is what's bringing the pain.

Also, from the article:

"Some examples of acidic foods are ... wine whose acids can remove smear layers and open dentinal tubules. Toothbrushing with abrasive toothpaste may abrade the dentin surface which may open up dentinal tubules if combined with erosive agents. One recommendation for patients is to avoid toothbrushing for at least two to three hours after consuming the above mentioned acidic foods or drinks."

So, if you're drinking wine, it makes the teeth more susceptable to abrasion for a while afterwards, and it may be that this period is overlapping with when you brush, which in turn causes more damage because the teeth are vulnerable.

tl;dr: drink less of the stuff that's hurting you, and stop drinking well before tooth brushing time.
posted by zippy at 7:59 PM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: What does a caramel or a Snickers bar do?

Crunchy stuff often hurts. Soft stuff doesn't always hurt. Tho of course at this point, I'm shy of chewing on the left side of my mouth.

sensitivity to temperatures could mean you need a root canal, which doesn't *always* show on x-ray.

I'm not sensitive to temperatures, which is why this is all so mysterious. Ice cream doesn't bother me, and I've drunk water colder than white wine since this started.

My dentist has referred me to an endodontist when she advised a root canal (once, her recommended endodontist was raided by the feds when I was in the waiting room, but that could happen to anyone, right?)

Specklet, that's an interesting idea. Off to google relative acidity.

And will read the Dentine Hypersensitivity article. Which topic my dentist might have said something to me about! I'll ask her.
posted by goofyfoot at 8:25 PM on November 2, 2012

So I had an incredibly sensitive tooth recently. It turned out that my bite had changed enough so that the top molar was hitting the bottom molar directly in the middle of a filling (even though the filling was fine), which caused sensitivity. Further, anything that could normally cause sensitivity would set the tooth off, even though the cause originated with the changed bite. The dentist just did a quick filing of the teeth so that they didn't hit each other improperly, and it has been much better since then.

Did your dentist check your bite? This is probably the easiest next thing to check after using sensodyne etc. Certainly better than getting a crown.
posted by nasayre at 8:50 PM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: nasayre, I wondered about that! My upper left molars have points in the back, which hit directly into the center of the lower molars. Where the fillings, my dentist assures me, are intact.

I will ask her to check my bite. And to slow down and talk to me for a minute. She needs to allow time for consultation, and I need to insist on it.
posted by goofyfoot at 9:29 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

I strongly suspect that the answer is that you are conducting electricity with your fillings.

The following is a somewhat speculative scenario which may not be right in every last particular, so bear with me.

You drink wine and the acid in it bonds with the metal of the filling, since metals are fairly free with their outer valence electrons and an acid is essentially an unpaired or weakly paired proton (H+) in search of a free electron. This results in a very thin residue layer on the filling. Then you chew some food and disrupt the residue, which means you're moving electrons around, or conducting electricity. If the process of chewing and swallowing means you end up with less acidic residue on your tooth than you had before, you've probably carried away some electrons from your filling, and your deeper tissues (such as the nerves in the root of the tooth) are paying the deficit. This hurts because electricity is the medium that nerves use to send and receive information.

Here's an article on a similar phenomenon, but in reverse.
posted by perspicio at 9:46 PM on November 2, 2012 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I suggest brushing with Sensodyne for two weeks and then seeing if the tooth is still sensitive.
posted by Dansaman at 11:13 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

I experienced a similar sensitivity with drinking white wine or lemonade, and I think it was the acidity as well. My dentist didn't find any cavities but said that it probably was the gum between the teeth that was sensitive and maybe slightly inflamed. She put some cream on it, and that stopped the sensitivity for several weeks. It has since come back, but since I rarely drink white wine or other acidic things it doesn't bother me much.
posted by amf at 5:13 AM on November 3, 2012

What Dansaman said, I had a bout of tooth sensitivity some years ago that had no outward signs to explain it. Brushing with sensodyne for about a year seemed to have solved it. Now, about 10 years later I have no sensitivity like that and no other dental issues in the interim.

But I'd still look into the shifting of your bite situation. Teeth do move over time, for various reasons. It's entirely possible yours are applying pressures in areas the didn't before.
posted by wkearney99 at 6:45 AM on November 3, 2012

I've had tooth sensitivity issues with filled molars. It was due to cracking of the teeth over time caused by the fillings acting essentially like a splitting wedge. The end result was root canal + crown. They were never horribly painful and there was never a rush to get the work done, but it was nice once they were fixed. This might be why your dentist isn't pushing you to get the work done.

Note: Cracks in teeth don't necessarily show up on x-rays but do sometimes show on macro-photography. My dentist had to submit both x-rays and photos to my insurance company to get reimbursed.
posted by tommasz at 9:57 AM on November 3, 2012