The five subtle symptoms dentists say you should never ignore

Plenty of dental issues can feel like no big deal, at least at first. The symptoms don’t always hurt and may not even catch your attention. “A lot of times patients don’t realise they have a problem in their mouth because they don’t look so closely,” says Steven Katz, immediate past president of the American Association of Endodontists.

Even a toothache might come and go, Katz says, leading some people to put off dealing with it. And making a dentist appointment for a painless problem – for instance, gums that bleed when you floss – can feel like more of a hassle than it’s worth.

But seemingly minor dental symptoms often signal infections that, if left untreated, can progress into more complex problems, says Richard M. Lipari, a cosmetic dentist in New York. These issues can also require more costly treatment and additional visits to repair. Some changes in your mouth can even be early warning signs of disease elsewhere in the body, Lipari adds.

Below are five tooth and gum symptoms that you may be tempted to ignore but shouldn’t, for the sake of your oral and overall health.

“There’s no amount of pain in your teeth that should be considered normal,” Katz says. The most common cause of a toothache is tooth decay.

It starts when bacteria combine with saliva and food particles to form a sticky film of plaque on a tooth’s surface. The bacteria feed on sugars and starches and produce acids that erode enamel. This decay can eventually lead to a cavity – a hole that can cause pain or irritation if it reaches the sensitive inner layers of the tooth.

About one in three Australian adults aged 15 and over with their own teeth have at least one tooth with untreated dental decay. The concern is what can happen next: as bacteria move deeper into the tooth, an infection can develop at the root, causing sharp or throbbing pain. Over time, it may even spread to the face, neck and underlying bone.

Katz cautions that even if your tooth stops hurting, you shouldn’t ignore it. “A lot of patients think, ‘OK, well, I aggravated something, and it’s gone now,’” he says. But usually, pain that suddenly lets up is a sign that decay has killed the tooth’s nerve. So, the pain can disappear even as the infection gets worse. “That’s when [bacteria] can start to eat away at the bone,” he says.

While a cavity can be fixed with a simple filling, a dental infection typically requires a root canal. During the procedure, a dentist drills into the tooth to clear out the infected pulp and then reseals it and stabilises it with a crown. But if an infection destroys enough bone, the tooth will ultimately have to be removed.

There’s also evidence that untreated dental infections are associated with a higher risk of several conditions beyond the mouth, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and dementia. Bacteria and inflammation around the root of an infected tooth may spill into the bloodstream and reach other parts of the body.

Puffy gums that bleed easily are often a sign of gingivitis, a mild form of gum disease, Lipari says, even if they’re not painful. Like cavities, gingivitis is generally caused by plaque buildup.