Eye tooth pain

Hi,
I've been experiencing a lot of pain in the area by my eye tooth (which is usually kicked off by drinking something, but can also come at random times) and am wondering if there is something I can do to alleviate it.
When I was wearing braces about 3 years ago, my eye tooth was still impacted into my gums, so it had to be pulled down through oral surgey. I've always had occasional sensitivity since that, which I always relate to the surgery, but it has never been quite this bad. Something else which could be a factor is that after Christmas break I left my retainer at home and wasn't able to wear it for a couple weeks. I've been wearing it again for a couple weeks now though and am still experiencing the pain.
Do you think this is serious? Or will this go away after I continue my retainer usage?

[S D Buck, DDS, LVIM]

your situation is likely to involve the bite. Since the eye tooth was orthodontically moved into place from an impacted position, the final position it is now in has some component of bite trauma which has made is sensitive due to this tooth not being in an ideal position. There are of course other reasons for the pain, but I would have your dentist or orthodontist carefully inspect the bite in two ways; one when you close together and tap in an upright seated position and, two when you chew on your back teeth. If there are large interferences, they can be removed and the tooth will settle down.