Over the past few months I have been having pain under one of my bottom front teeth. It is not the tooth itself but around the gum area under the tooth. My dentist says that all my teeth and roots are healthy & sees no problems. I do have some tooth & gum wear from heavy brushing as a kid, but not a whole lot.

Over the past few months I have been suffering from depression, which did cause mouth sores and geographic tounge (which I almost have beat http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif ). I was also doing some major grinding at night during my depression, along with very bad nightmares.

Any ideas? Could it be just sore from the grinding & me poking at it?

The pain kind of scares me, but it makes me feel better that my dentist says he is not going to do anything major to it because he does not see any problems.

Thanks for your thoughts in advance! mikess

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Hi, Mikess! I can't diagnose your exact problem, but my thought, after reading your post, is that you need to get a night guard. Grinding your teeth at night is very hard on your teeth, and the pain you're having now could be a result of that grinding, since your dentist doesn't see anything major wrong. You have two options: go to your dentist and have him make you one...this isn't real cheap. I used a night guard for a long time. A friend of mine suggested I go to a sporting good store; buy a regular mouth guard. You have to take it home, dip it in boiling water for maybe 30 seconds; pull it out of the water (I used tongs), and before it cooled too much, put in on your upper teeth: bite down, and it will conform to the shape of your teeth. You can buy these night nights for like $3.00, and they work as good as one's you have made at your dentist, for much more. A friend of mine spend good money on getting a mouth guard for her son, made by her dentist; then she found out about buying a similar one at a sporting goods store(which she bought and now uses herself); and she told me both of them looked almost the same. Plus, they last ages. To clean them, just scrub daily with your toothbrush and toothpaste. This will take the pressure off your teeth, and maybe your pain will heal in time. Good luck to you, Mike! Debbie