Abscessed Tooth: Symptoms & Treatment

An abscessed tooth is a tooth that has a pocket of pus in its tissues and tissues placed around it. Pus forms when the body tries to fight a bacterial infection, and if the pus cannot drain, it forms an abscess. Damage to the tooth, an untreated cavity, or gum diseases are all conditions able to cause an abscessed tooth. If a cavity is not treated, the inside of the tooth the pulp can infect as well. The bacteria can spread from the tooth to the tissue around and beneath it. This is leading to abscess creating. Gum disease causes the gums to pull away from the teeth, leaving pockets so if food builds up in one of these pockets, bacteria can grow, and an abscess may form. An abscess can cause the bone around the tooth to dissolve as serious consequence.

What is an abscessed tooth?

An abscessed tooth is a painful infection at the root of a tooth or between the gum and a tooth. This condition can be treated in several different ways. The most common cause is severe tooth decay. Other causes of tooth abscess are trauma to the tooth, such as when it is broken or chipped, gingivitis, or gum disease. These problems can cause openings in the tooth enamel, which then allows bacteria to infect the center of the tooth. The center of the tooth is called the pulp. The infection may also spread from the root of the tooth to the bones that are supporting the tooth.

What are the symptoms of an abscessed tooth?

Toothaches that are severe and continuous and results in gnawing or throbbing pain or sharp or shooting pain are common symptoms of an abscessed tooth. Other symptoms may include fever, pain when chewing, sensitivity of the teeth to hot or cold or bitter taste in the mouth. You could also feel foul smell to the breath, swollen neck glands, general discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling, and redness and swelling of the gums.

How is an abscessed tooth diagnosed?

Your dentist will probe your teeth with a dental instrument, so if you have an abscessed tooth, you will feel pain when he taps the tooth by his probe. Your dentist will also ask you if your pain increases when you bite down or maybe when you close your mouth tightly. In addition, your dentist may suspect an abscessed tooth because gums may be swollen and red. The dentist may also take X-rays to look for erosion of the bone around the abscess.

How is an abscessed tooth treated?

Strategies to eliminate the infection, preserve the tooth, and prevent complications are the goals of abscessed tooth treatment. To eliminate infection, the doctor needs to drain abscess. The best way to achieve drainage is through the tooth by a procedure known as a root canal. Root canal surgery is also recommended to remove any disease root tissue after the infection has subsided. Then, the doctor could place a crown over the tooth. He could also choose to extract tooth, allowing drainage through the socket. Finally, a third way to drain the abscess would be by incision into the swollen gum tissue you have. Antibiotics could help fight the infection. To relieve the pain and discomfort associated with an abscessed tooth, you could try with warm salt-water rinses and over-the-counter pain-reducing medication like ibuprofen.

Can you prevent abscessed tooth?

Following good oral hygiene practices, you are able to reduce the risk of developing a tooth abscess. In addition, if your teeth experience trauma, for example, become loosened or chipped, you should seek prompt dental attention.

Expectations or prognosis after treatment of abscessed tooth

The infection of tooth abscess is usually curable with treatment, and preservation of the tooth is possible in many cases. Complications of having abscessed tooth are loss of the tooth, spread of infection to soft tissue, spread of infection to the jawbone known as osteomyelitis of the mandible or maxilla. You could also experience spreading of infection to other areas of the body resulting in brain abscess, endocarditis, pneumonia, or other disorders. That is why it is important to call your health care provider especially if you have persistent, throbbing toothache or other symptoms of tooth abscess. The fact is that prompt treatment of dental caries reduces the risk of tooth abscess. The dentist should examine traumatized teeth promptly. An abscessed tooth has a small ball of pus surrounded by inflamed tissue, and it is important to know that pus is liquefied dead tissue, white blood cells, and dead and live bacteria. The pus that comes out is usually a pale yellow creamy consistency that causes pressure of the growing ball. With abscessed tooth, it is nothing to fool around with you needs to see a dentist immediately. In fact, years before World War II and the discovery of penicillin, it was common for patients to die from dental infections. Today, super bacteria exist that are not killed by normal antibiotics so it is extremely important to treat as soon as it begins because a smaller abscess is easier to treat than a larger one. Some dentists believe that an abscessed tooth is sterile, which means that there are no living bacteria inside the dead tooth. However, there are documented cases where serious and life-threatening infections have developed after abscessed tooth diagnosis. In light of this fact, abscess should always treat seriously and with aggressive antibiotic therapy to prevent even the remote possibility of a patient’s death.

Home treatment for abscessed tooth

You may be able to reduce pain and swelling in your face and jaw from an abscessed tooth using an ice pack on the outside of your cheek. Important is to remember not to use heat. You can also try a nonprescription medicine to help relieve your face or jaw pain, such as Acetaminophen, Tylenol or Panadol. Acetaminophen can lower fever and relieve pain but does not reduce swelling. Medicines that reduce swelling are ibuprofen such as Advil or Motrin, naproxen such as Aleve or Naprosyn, and ketoprofen such as Actron or Orudis. Aspirin can also reduce swelling although some people should not take aspirin. You should not use aspirin if you are pregnant women, if you have a history of bleeding problems, and if you are younger than 20. however, it would be the best not to have home treatment for abscessed tooth but ask your doctor what he would recommend.

Tooth extraction and root canal therapy

The reason for tooth extraction is advanced gum disease, as the reason number one for adults looses their teeth. An abscessed tooth that cannot be saved is also common reason for having tooth extraction, as well as tooth with decay too deep to save the tooth. A tooth that has broken at the gum line and cannot be saved should also be extracted. When the nerve of a tooth becomes infected or abscessed, root canal therapy is the only way to save the tooth. A tooth can become abscessed because of deep decay, a cracked tooth, or trauma to the tooth.

Types of tooth’s abscesses

• Periapical or root-tip abscess is a pocket of infection at the base of a tooth’s root, where the tooth becomes abscessed after the pulp of the tooth becomes infected. A periapical abscess is usually caused by deep decay or an accident. This tooth problem will require either root canal therapy or an extraction, and in some cases, you will also need an antibiotic therapy.
• Lateral abscess is similar to a periapical abscess, but develops along the lateral surface of the tooth’s root where the infection comes from outside the tooth instead of from within. A lateral abscess can be gingival or periodontal.
• All abscesses tooth is usually sensitive or painful with the discomfort that alerts the patient to the problem. If it is left untreated, an abscess may compromise the immune system and in some cases may become life threatening.