There are few conditions that can be as painful as a toothache, which is clinically known as ontalgy, or ontalgia. The worst types of toothache are very serious dental emergencies, and some actually been known to turn tragic on the basis of the pain alone - hence our assertion that this is one of the most painful conditions in the universe.

Unknown to many of us is the fact that a toothache is typically not an illness of itself. Rather, it is usually a sign of an underlying dental problem. Therefore the key to dealing with a toothache properly would be to understand what is likely to be causing it.

One likely cause of a toothache is a tooth infection. Indeed, most tooth infections manifest through toothaches initially; this being the body's way of telling you to do something before further damage is done to the tooth. Choosing to ignore such toothache may lead to a situation where the toothache abates for a while, but you can be sure that it never quite goes away: it only goes 'under' only to re-emerge worse. So for this type of toothache that is caused by tooth infections, the best solution is simply to have the underlying infection resolved, rather than trying to cope with the pain.

The second likely cause of a toothache is the emergence of 'wisdom teeth' - these being a type of teeth that emerges in a person's adulthood. In most cases, the toothache that follows the emergence of wisdom teeth tends to go away on its own after a few days. So the first course of action, about it, is to take a potent painkiller; in the hope that it will eventually go away. If it doesn't, medical intervention may be necessary; for there is no knowing whether it couldn't be a case where the emerging tooth is badly presented.

The third likely cause of a toothache is injury, or rather 'impact' to the tooth, which results in it being cracked or otherwise broken - and ultimately which manifests as pain. The solution here depends on how bad the impact is. The tooth could be repaired, or if it is beyond repair, extracted to get rid of the pain.

The fourth likely cause of a toothache is jaw disease; where it is not the tooth itself that is infected, but rather the jaw (which is the bone onto which the tooth is based). Getting rid of this type of toothache is often a question of dealing with the underlying jaw disease.

The fifth likely cause of toothache is exposure of the tooth root. This can be in turn caused by wearing out of the tissue surrounding the tooth root. The wearing out of the tissue surrounding the tooth can in turn be caused by infections that are left unattended for too long. This exposure of the tooth root can cause particularly excruciating toothache - the sort that sees the people afflicted of it writhing on the ground, and similar extremes.