Jumping made my upper molar ache—but it wasn’t a cavity
My treated molars should have been cavity-free, yet jumping, running, or shaking my head in the shower made an upper molar throb. The pain felt different from a cavity, but I started fearing decay under an old crown.
Search result that solved it
If jumping hurts, inflammation in the maxillary sinus could be the culprit. Upper molar roots are close to the sinus, so a nasal infection can cause tooth pain.
— Yahoo Answers
I’d had a two-week head cold, and the tooth pain showed up and disappeared in that same window. Because it was mild, I waited out the cold and the tooth pain vanished too.
If your pain is bad, don’t self-diagnose—see a doctor. ENT is the right specialist for sinus issues.
Maxillary sinusitis basics
The sinus above upper molars can get infected from a cold or from dental issues (caries, periodontitis). When that cavity gets inflamed, pain can present as toothache, headache, or eye pain. Some dentists focus only on teeth and may miss sinus-driven cases; ENT is the right place when it’s nasal in origin.
A dentist blog even ranked “tooth pain that isn’t tooth-caused” and sinusitis was #1.
My cavity-care kit
I use Concool gel (no abrasive) per my dentist’s advice. Drugstores near me don’t stock it, so I order on Amazon—700+ reviews. Gel spreads fast when brushing.
Downside of no abrasive: coffee drinker here, so my teeth stain after a few months. Concool sells an abrasive version (“Repairio”), and Amazon’s 歯 白く search turns up this bigger, cheaper tube with more reviews:
Concool costs about 2–3× a basic paste (Ora2/Clinica/GUM are ~¥300). I had mild sensitivity and used Sensodyne; Concool also has desensitizing agents, so I treat it as an upgrade (about 1.4× Sensodyne). Some reviewers use it as a post-brush finisher, like a gentler Listerine.
I quit Listerine for a while because rinsing after brushing felt like a chore, the big bottle hogged sink space, and older flavors were too harsh. The purple flavor is now popular—700+ reviews on Amazon: Purple Listerine search
Fun aside: someone turned an empty Listerine bottle into a cap-launcher toy that shoots PET bottle caps 4–5 m. I kind of want to buy a purple bottle just to build it.
Cap shooter instructions
Takeaway: sinus flare-ups can mimic dental pain. If the pain is strong, see a pro (ENT for sinus, dentist for tooth) instead of suffering—or drilling the wrong thing.
