If our teeth hurt or our gums bleed, we know at once that we’ve got a dental problem. What if our palate hurts? Is it a dental problem or something else? In fact, both variants are possible, so let’s figure out what can be wrong.
A palate is the partition between the oral and nasal cavities. It is fully covered with mucosa but is divided at the soft and hard palates. The soft part is closer to the throat, the hard part is closer to the teeth. The palate has its important functions like any other body organ.
Functions of the Palate:
It distributes air circulation and helps switch from nasal to oral breathing without mixing the airflows.
It determines the speech and voice of a person. The palate is an active participant of oral speech and if there are any pathologies, the speech won’t be clear.
Prevents food from getting into the nasal cavity or interfere with breathing.
Provides ventilation of the middle ear.
Dental Causes of Pain in the Palate:
Mistakes in dental treatment. A part of the root can be left in the osseous tissue and get inflamed spreading, over the palate to the gum.
Deep caries. Sometimes it ruins not only the enamel but the dentin too. If not stopped, it will spread to the palatal bone.
Pulpitis. It is one of the most severe complications of caries. Bacteria gets into the nervous endings of a tooth and causes severe pain that can spread onto the palate as well.
Periodontitis or osteomyelitis. It is an acute inflammation of tissue, periodontal in the first case, osseous in the second.
Any other dental diseases or oral manipulation complications.
Non-Dental Causes of Pain in the Palate:
Mechanic traumatization of the mucosa. In adults, this usually happens because of some hard foods with sharp edges like chips or crackers. In children it can be different things because the small ones like to put stuff in their mouths.
Angina or other throat diseases. If it touches the tonsils, it spreads over the soft and hard tissues of the palate.
Neuralgia. Mostly it is an inflammation of the trigeminal nerve.
Congenital anomalies and defects of the palate.
Is It Possible to Treat This at Home?
You can take some analgesics with a local action. Remember that if the pain lasts more than two days, a visit to dentist is necessary. These can be gum disease symptoms or something much worse, especially if the discomfort increases and fever develops. It is better to consult a specialist that to treat the dangerous complications.