Emergency dental symptoms
Sharp, shooting tooth pain: what causes it and how to stop it
A sudden electric jolt through a tooth is the nerve firing at full volume. What sets it off, and how long it lasts afterwards, tell you whether it is a quick fix or a tooth that needs treating today.
Clinically reviewed by Dr Ibraheem Ijaz, Principal Dentist · GDC 301711 · Last reviewed April 2026
What sharp, shooting pain is telling you
The nerve inside a tooth carries two kinds of fibre. Fast fibres sit at the edge of the pulp, right where the dentine starts, and fire when fluid shifts in the dentine tubes: that gives the sharp, shooting, electric pain you can point to. Slow fibres sit deep in the middle and fire when the pulp itself is inflamed: that gives the dull, throbbing ache that is hard to locate. So a sharp, shooting pain has one useful thing to say. The nerve is alive, and the problem is at the dentine, not yet at the heart of the tooth.
Exposed dentine.
Decay.
A cracked tooth.
Early pulpitis.
Irreversible pulpitis.
A wisdom tooth coming through.
Not a tooth at all.
Telling a cracked tooth from an inflamed nerve
These two account for most sharp pain that keeps coming back, and they are treated differently, so it is worth knowing the signs. They can also be the same tooth, because a crack left long enough inflames the nerve beneath it.
| Cracked tooth | Inflamed nerve | |
| Trigger | Biting, especially letting go; sometimes cold | Cold, then hot; eventually nothing at all |
| How long it lasts | A second or two | Getting longer each week, then constant |
| Pattern | Comes and goes for months, food-dependent | Steadily worse over days |
| Wakes you at night | Rarely | Often |
| Usual treatment | Crown | Root canal or extraction |
Pain that needs to be seen today
Call today, seen within days.
Same day.
A&E or 999.
Settling sharp pain in the meantime
- Take the triggers away: lukewarm drinks, chew on the other side, and breathe through your nose on cold days.
- Rub sensitive toothpaste onto the tooth after brushing and leave it there.
- Ibuprofen and paracetamol as directed on the packet, together if you can take both. Ibuprofen also damps down the inflammation in the nerve.
- Plug any hole with a temporary filling kit from a chemist so air and food cannot reach the dentine.
- Rinse with warm salt water after meals. Skip whitening strips and acidic drinks until it is sorted. More in our guide to temporary fixes before your appointment.
How we track down a shooting pain
The emergency examination is £30 including X-rays and takes about 15 minutes. Sharp pain has an awkward habit: it is often felt in the wrong tooth, and sometimes in the wrong jaw, because the nerve branches serving the upper and lower back teeth are poorly separated in the brain. So we test the tooth you point to, its neighbours, and the tooth it bites against. A puff of air across each tooth finds open dentine. A cold test, with the seconds counted, shows whether the nerve is healthy, inflamed or past recovery. A bite test on each cusp finds a crack, and a bright light shone through the tooth shows where the crack stops the light. We tap each tooth for tenderness and take a digital X-ray for decay under fillings and infection at the root. If every test is normal and the pain is skin-triggered and electric, we say so and write to your GP, rather than treating a healthy tooth.
Treatments that stop the pain for good
- Exposed dentine. Fluoride varnish, or a thin bonded cover of white filling over the worn area.
- Decay or a leaking filling. Cleaned out and refilled the same visit.
- Early pulpitis. The cause is removed and a soothing lining placed under the new filling. The nerve settles over the following weeks, and we check it has.
- Cracked tooth. A crown to brace the tooth, with a temporary crown first. Our cracked tooth guide explains why a filling is not enough.
- Irreversible pulpitis. Stage 1 of an emergency root canal removes the nerve and ends the pain that day, with the treatment completed at a second visit. Extraction is the alternative.
- Wisdom tooth gum flap. Irrigated and dressed, and the tooth biting on it adjusted or removed.
All fees are put in writing before treatment starts. Evening (after 6pm) and weekend visits carry an additional out-of-hours charge.
| Treatment | Fee (from) |
|---|---|
| Emergency examination including X-rays | £30 |
| White filling or bonded cover | £150–£220 |
| Silver filling | £120–£160 |
| Emergency root canal stage 1 | £200 |
| Completed root canal treatment | £450 |
| All-ceramic crown | £750–£1,000 |
| Extraction | £120–£260 |
What happens if sharp pain is ignored
Sharp pain turning into a dull ache feels like an improvement. It is the opposite. It means the inflammation has moved from the edge of the nerve to its core, and the tooth has crossed from a filling to a root canal. When the ache then fades, the nerve has died, and the abscess that follows a few months later is the point at which extraction starts to be discussed. A crack follows its own path in parallel, lengthening with every bite until it reaches the root. Sharp pain is the stage at which a tooth is easiest and cheapest to save, which is a strange thing to say about something so unpleasant, but it is true.
Questions, answered
Common questions
Why does cold trigger sharp pain in a tooth?
Cold makes the fluid in the tiny tubes of the dentine contract and shift, and the fast nerve fibres at the edge of the pulp fire in response. If enamel or gum is missing, or decay has opened the tubes, cold reaches them directly.
Can sharp tooth pain come and go?
Yes, and a crack is the usual reason. It only hurts when you bite on that cusp in that direction, so it can vanish for weeks between attacks. Pain from an inflamed nerve tends to get steadily more frequent rather than fully disappearing.
Will desensitising toothpaste help sharp tooth pain?
For jolts from exposed dentine, yes, after about two weeks of use. For pain from decay, a crack or an inflamed nerve, no, because the tubes it plugs are not the problem.
Why can I not tell which tooth is hurting?
The nerves from the upper and lower back teeth converge before they reach the brain, so the pain is often felt in the wrong tooth or even the wrong jaw. That is why we test neighbouring and opposing teeth rather than only the one you point to.
Is sharp, shooting pain in the face always a tooth?
Usually, but not always. Electric-shock pain set off by touching the skin, shaving or a cold wind, with nothing found in the mouth, can be trigeminal neuralgia, which is treated by your GP or a neurologist. We check the teeth first because that is the common cause.
Does sharp tooth pain mean I need a root canal?
Not if it stops within seconds of the trigger. That nerve is healthy or only mildly inflamed and usually recovers once the cause is fixed. Root canal is needed when the pain lingers, hot sets it off, or it starts on its own.
In pain? Don’t wait
Same-day emergency appointments, seven days a week.
£30 emergency examination including X-rays. Call now and a real person answers, or grab a slot online.
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