3 things,

Cavity, Root Canal, or Wisdom tooth.

Wisdom teeth are gone thankfully. Not sure if it's a cavity but I do feel like...a tiny hole from a previous filling...guh!

i had one during the summer and cold water was stopping the pain temporarily

Is it something that's been bothering you for awhile? It might sound odd, but my sinuses have caused my teeth to hurt.
If it does turn out to be needing a root canal, have fun >.< Wisdom teeth, my ass. What's so wise about 'em.

Like...the pain is rare. I haven't had it happen in months and it's usually not that intense as it is now. I got all wisdom teeth removed back in college.

That kinda sounds like my sinus related pain. Try taking something for that and see if it helps. Benadryl, if nothing else right now, might help you sleep, too.

Time to get a ice skate..

Feel bad for you. But when teeth are in pain its never a joke. So better to go to the doctor in any case.

Sounds like exact symptoms I have had with my root canals. ^^;
you should go see dentist, because sometimes the infection can get so bad that it eats all the nerves inside tooth. Then you won't feel pain but might have other symptoms.
Even if it's just bad cavity, go check it out! so it won't have change to evolve further.

as person who has had 5 root canals done, I can say that the operation doesn't hurt. So don't worry~! :3
It might ache few days after the operation, but that ache is nothing compared to the pain that you suffered before going to the dentist.

It was wisdom teeth for me. I had this headache all the time, my jaw would pop when I opened my mouth. Eventually I got tired of snacking on pain killers. So I went home from college told my mom "next break I want them out."

So I got a consult, got them pulled. Turned out the really large problem was that one was impacted sideways and had an infection under it. End result they pulled all four cleaned up the infection and I was high on codeine for a few days.

Went back to work and school 2 days later because it wasn't too bad but ivtold my boss at the sandwich shop I refused to play with thebslicer or knives because I was still a smidge off.

Nothing like spacing out on the cash register and explaining to other college kids I was high on painkillers from surgery. We always got a good laugh out of that.