Stress for instance can bring on toothache ...and stress relief can heal it. In fact, toothache itself is of course a big stressor and feeling helplessly exposed to it can increase it. Here are several real-life illustrative examples and hopefully helpful advice

Toothache can be triggered by continuous stress leading to bruxism

(found in a German health food magazine and translated by © 2008 Healing Teeth Naturally)

Toothache often is due to tensions triggered by continuous stress which can become particularly intense when one has been "clenching/gritting one's teeth" well into the night. In this case, the jaws press upon each other continuously with up to 400 g of pressure (a phenomenon which when happening in one's sleep is referred to as bruxism). Advice: eat your supper in as relaxed a mood as possible - and when the boss throws another tantrum, chew gum (or become self-employed!).¹

Stress lowers the effectiveness of one's immune defenses

My friend Gary has a bridge covering a root-canalled front tooth (i.e. filled with mercury amalgam). When he is under stress, he tends to get a serious toothache in this place which eventually gets resolved by the formation of an abscess. As a dentist explained (and for once, this dentist was right in my opinion), since the root-canaled tooth is "dead", the body will attempt to gradually decompose the dead material it is made of (i.e. tries to get rid of) via bacterial lysis. This process is normally held in check by a healthy immune system, which under stress, however, will be less effective, allowing the slumbering "subacute" infection to flare up.²

Conversely, stress reduction (induced by meditation) has been shown to benefit teeth and gums via the triggering of beneficial salivary changes.

Thoughts can heal toothache near-instantly!

Real-life story no.1:

I once had a very bad toothache while being alone at my place where I had no pain killer. In desperation, I called my best friend (although even the simple act of talking hurt) and rode my bike to his place, with the toothache threatening to completely overwhelm me every so often. I finally called him two thirds of the way from a street phone and implored him to come and meet me with a pain killer since I couldn't make it to his place without it. He promised to set off immediately. I hung up and to my surprise, the toothache simply drained from the tooth in c. two seconds! In fact it hardly recurred so I actually didn't need the painkiller when he arrived about 15 minutes later. I.e, the near-instant total relief of a very serious toothache was due to the relief and certainty I felt that soon I would be helped! I assume what happened at that moment is that the body created its own chemicals needed to stop the pain completely. I was free of the pain as soon a I knew help was coming, i.e. was confident (and likely visualized and felt the relief) that the pain would be over.

Real-life story no. 2:

A friend of mine had a bad toothache (under a bridge) which not so surprisingly, he couldn't get under control using  the old standbys salt water and tea tree oil. But by just going to see the dentist he already felt relief - without actually receiving any treatment.

Real-life story no. 3:

See the following "On dental pain, secondary gains & the power of the human mind".

On dental pain, secondary gains & the power of the human mind (interesting psychological observations)

Once when the pain of a lingering toothache restarted in a very unpleasant manner after not having rinsed with brine for a while, and continued in spite of renewed continual salt water treatments, even depriving me of sleep, I experienced (again) the psychological and "mental" side of toothaches.

While in pain, I had been given lots of caring attention. When the significant other involved finally left to do some errands and shopping, I immediately told myself, now that the "audience" had left, "'nuff of that nonsense" (meaning the pain!). And lo and behold, the pain disappeared in a second without coming back!³ And after two more rounds of sleep, I was OK. In other words, a part of me had recreated the painful sensation because it enjoyed the extra caring I received while in pain!

Energy (meridian-based) therapy can heal toothache

See EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) for toothache relief and EFT healing testimonials. EFT has even helped heal "emotional" toothache, i.e. dental pain whose origin was felt to be emotional.

How to use the power of your thoughts and mind to stop your tooth pain

Judging by the examples quoted above, it would seem to help to visualize oneself (if possible) already relieved and at peace. It would also seem helpful to simply and firmly tell the toothache to leave, and mean it (which I think will be a rather difficult feat for most incl. myself...).

Also compare Emotions, Stress and Caries Development and On psychological issues creating gum disease.

Footnotes

1 More "serious" advice at Healing Bruxism and background information and additional advice at Bruxism.
2 More on the dangers of root canal treatment.
3 For more on what has been termed "secondary gain" (in the above example: getting extra attention as long as I was in pain), see for instance On (subconscious) reasons and (conscious) remedies for self-sabotage.

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