What could be causing pain in my tooth? Dentist found nothing?

I went to the dentist yesterday after almost 4 years of not going because of fear. I had pain in a tooth (only while chewing)I felt I may have damaged due to clenching. It's never immense pain just twinges of pain when I chew otherwise I don't notice anything. This dentist was wonderful and thorough. It was the best experience I ever had a dentist. I am very relieved now I found a great dentist who understands my needs.

She did multiple x-rays and looked at my teeth for closely for probably 20-30 minutes trying to find the source of my pain. She didn't find anything wrong with it at all no cracks or anything. She put cold air on it, water, poked and prodded it. I didn't feel any pain when she did that. It wasn't as if she did a quick look and dismissed me. She was genuinely concerned and wanted to help me. She said I may have pain in the tooth from clenching, so she fitted me and gave me a NTI mouth guard to wear at night. I had one small cavity filled somewhere else that I didn't even need Novocaine for and a cleaning. No other work was needed.

My fear/worry is what could I have done to cause this pain in my tooth where the dentist couldn't find anything (I guess outwardly) wrong with it with a thorough examination? Can bad teeth clenching cause tooth pain without there being crack or something that needs work? Will the pain resolve itself? Should I worry about this? How long should I wait before I call the dentist again? Am I worrying too much about this?

I realize I should of asked these questions yesterday while I was there but I was anxious and just taking it all in and it didn't occur to me until later.

Any feedback would be helpful! Thanks!

Hi I will do my best to answer your questions. Tooth grinding (Bruxism) can cause pain due to the immense amount of pressure the jaw muscles exert. This can cause tooth pain, headaches, jaw pain or face pain. Clenching can do the same. All teeth are a bit mobile since they are held in place by ligaments. Pushing on the teeth puts a strain on the ligaments which causes the pain. A night guard or orthotic can help. It takes some time for things to calm down. They might also want to do some neuro-muscular work with orthotics to help realign your bite. Many times clenching and bruxism is stress related and dealing with the stressors is required to correct the condition. Give it some time. The dentist might need to make some changes to the mouth guard to get it fitted right. These things do take time to resolve, so relax a bit and let things heal. Blessings

tooth grinding can definitely cause tooth pain. i had unexplained pain in a tooth for months due to this (one dentist even wanted to crown the tooth!!!) but, with a nightguard and relaxation, it went away!

so, try to relax as much as possible, use the nightguard your dentist made, and wait it out - it really should go away on its own. if it doesn't there are specialists in tmj/grinding etc that you can go and see, but your case (like mine) doesn't sound that bad at the moment.