Swelling dental emergency
Swelling – dental abscess
1 Do you have any pain at the moment?
A Yes, I have pain all the time
B The pain is occasional
C No pain just swelling
2 For how long have you had the pain for?
A more than a day
B more than a week
C more than a month
3 Can you describe the pain?
A It is a throbbing pain
B It is a stabing pain
C It is a sharp pain
D It is a dull pain
E It is a just a sensitivity
4 The pain you have,
A Is it in the gum?
B Is it in the jaw?
C Is it in the sinuses?
D Is it in the cheeck?
E Is it in the throught?
F is it in the tooth?
5 Is it painful when chewing, closing teeth together?
A Yes
B No
Dental abscess emergency
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Ok, so you got swelling, most likely it is a periapical abscess and usually it refers to the tooth in with infected pulp (nerve) .
Pain is gnawing and continuous, throbbing. The involved tooth is painful when percussed (tapped), and often the teeth cannot close without added discomfort. Hot foods may increase the pain.
If treatment is delayed, the infection may spread through adjacent tissues, causing varying degrees of facial oedema (swelling), and fever. The infection may spread to osseous (bony) tissues or into the soft tissues of the floor of the mouth.
Local swelling and gingival fistulas may develop opposite the apex of the tooth, especially with deciduous (temporary) teeth. Drainage into the mouth causes a bitter taste. Abscesses from lower molars may drain at the angle of the jaw.
A chronic periapical abscess usually presents few clinical signs, since it is essentially a circumscribed area of mild infection that spreads slowly.
What to do
Prompt antibiotic therapy and surgical intervention in more extreme cases are usually successful in limiting the abscess or osteomyelitis, although often not before extensive and permanent damage has been done.
The most common antibiotics is Amoxycillin 250mg 3*daily for 7 days
If you are allergic to penicillins or you had Amoxycillin recently and it did not work you need different antibiotics which are targeting anaerobic bacteria Metronidazole 200mg 3*daily for 3 days is the other option.
Please don‘t forget that you can not use any alcohol while taking antibiotics, cause it could lead to severe nausea and vomiting or worse. And make sure you finish the hole treatment course, even if got a lot better.Otherwise some of bacteria is left and it may become more resistant to the antibiotics you used.
To relieve the pain and discomfort associated with an abscessed tooth, warm salt-water rinses and over-the-counter pain-reducing medication like Ibuprofen 400mg 3-4*day can be used. Bed rest, a soft diet, and fluids may be necessary.
What not to do
Do not wait and hope it will get better. Dental abscess is a very serious condition and in some cases it can cause death. So do not ignore it contact your dentist as soon as possible. Failure to treat an abscess can lead to serious infection as the pus spreads. Fever and malaise intensify when the infection penetrates the bone marrow of the jaw, producing osteomyelitis.
Do not rely only on aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen alone, they will not treat the infection, they work as a painkillers nothing else. You need antibiotics.
Make sure you are not allergic to any of the above medications, and double check with a pharmacist for a side effects.
Back to Dental emergency test
If you can not get any answers to your questions and problems, it is always the best thing to contact your dentist for further examination and assistance.
