How To Drain Abscess Tooth – What does a tooth abscess look like? For some people, an infected tooth may look like a gum abscess. The stages of infection vary, and symptoms vary depending on how long you’ve had an abscess, how “bad” the bacterial infection is, and the extent of tooth decay. Although abscessed teeth can be treated, the actual tooth abscess stages gradually reach a point where it is physically impossible to repair or protect your anatomical tooth.
Each tooth has a living and functional nerve and blood vessel that runs down the center of the root. The nerve is responsible for “feeding” your tooth structure and keeping it alive. But if that nerve or tissue supply becomes compromised in any way or becomes infected, you will develop a periapical abscess.
How To Drain Abscess Tooth
However, you can also get other types of abscesses that are not directly related to the tooth nerve. These abscesses are also serious dental infections, but the stages of a gum abscess look different from a traditional tooth abscess. The type of infection you have will affect your dentist’s treatment recommendations.
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Scientifically speaking, an abscess can occur anywhere in our body. In the case of a gum abscess, the infection is strictly localized within our gum tissue (not the tooth.) It can be caused by some type of oral infection, medical condition, trauma or lack of home care.
If you have severe periodontal (gum) disease, the gum and bone tissue around the root of your tooth will be severely affected. While traditional symptoms include pocketing, tartar buildup, and bad breath, some people may also develop periodontal abscesses that ooze fluid from the gums when pressure is applied to the teeth.
These are the most common dental abscesses. They are the result of an infected or dying tooth nerve, a cyst that develops at the tip of the tooth root and eventually drains through the gums and into the mouth. Periapical abscesses can only be managed with endodontic therapy.
Depending on the type of dental abscess you have, you will usually experience symptoms such as swollen gums, fistulas (small pimple-like sores), and pus draining from the area. If you have a periapical abscess, the cyst around the root is usually visible on dental X-rays. Abscesses inside the gums are usually accompanied by red, warm tissue that bleeds easily and is tender to the touch.
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It is very common for tooth abscesses to “come and go”, with symptoms appearing for a few days and then gone for the next. If it’s just like an ulcer, the blisters appear on completely healthy gum tissue and heal within a week or two.
Periapical abscesses are preventable and the most common dental disease. Depending on how quickly you address the situation, your tooth will experience the following five tooth abscess stages of infection. Although it may sound obvious, early treatment is usually the best and most affordable solution. Delaying care even in the absence of symptoms can increase the progression of oral disease and limit your treatment options.
Aside from traumatic injuries, almost all abscesses are the result of enamel decay. The outermost layer of your teeth is made up of very dense enamel. Once a cavity starts to destroy your tooth enamel, it can quickly turn into a rotten tooth…if you don’t treat it soon.
Not all cavities have obvious symptoms. But the most obvious ones include sensitivity, pain, darkening of the tooth enamel, rough edges, and cavities visible in the teeth on your dental X-rays.
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The only treatment for an active cavity is to have your dentist clean the decay and rebuild the tooth with a dental filling. Cavities are irreversible, you can’t treat them at home, and they can only grow if left without professional attention.
Dentin is a layer of the tooth under the enamel. Dentin is less dense than enamel, so once a cavity reaches this layer it spreads alarmingly quickly. The bulk of the tooth surrounding the inner nerve tissue is dentin. Dentin is more sensitive to erosion than enamel.
Once a cavity reaches the dentin, your tooth will be more sensitive. You may notice that something feels “off” every time you chew. Floss usually gets caught when cleaning around the tooth if it is the cavity between the teeth. Every bite also increases the risk of tooth breakage.
Depending on how much tooth structure is involved, a dental filling, inlay, onlay, or crown may be needed. Without treatment, an infected pulp is inevitable.
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After breaking down the tooth enamel and spreading into the dentin, it is only a matter of time before it reaches the nerve in the middle of the tooth. When active caries contaminates the pulp/nervous tissue, the entire tooth is compromised. If not treated immediately, tooth loss is inevitable.
If the pulp tissue inside the tooth is affected, sensitivity to hot foods and drinks is common. Most often, teeth are hypersensitive to daily activities like eating, drinking, and brushing. A sharp or dull toothache is common.
Endodontic therapy is the only treatment for infected pulp tissue. During a root canal, the nerve is removed and the chamber is sealed with a special filling material to prevent bacteria from re-entering the canal. You will also need a crown on top of the tooth. For children, a pulpotomy (“baby root canal”) is usually the best alternative.
Not long after the decay reaches the root of the tooth, bacteria become trapped within the pulp chamber. This leads to nerve degeneration, expansion of the pus pocket, and increased inflammation. There are only two ways to remove a tooth infection, one of which is through the opening at the root end.
Pus From One Of My Wisdom Teeth Coming In (sorry For Quality)
Not long after the tooth nerve becomes infected, the inflammation will lead to excess fluid, which drains away from the tooth. A fistula — or small pimple in the gum — allows pus to drain through the bone and gum tissue to relieve pressure inside the root. As the tooth begins to die, it gradually becomes darker and more brittle. There may be severe toothache or none at all (because the nerves are not working properly.)
Root canal treatment can eliminate the source of the tooth abscess and prevent complete loss of the tooth and additional discomfort.
An untreated tooth abscess can easily spread to nearby structures. In some cases, these have been known to cause brain infections, facial swelling, and hospitalization. Tooth loss is common, as is infection in adjacent teeth.
Facial swelling, sepsis, fever, and in very rare and advanced cases, life-threatening infection can lead to death from brain infection.
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You may need hospitalization and intravenous drug therapy to gain control of systemic infections throughout the bloodstream and secondary organs. Once your condition is stable, the tooth is extracted.
It is very important to know that the symptoms of a tooth abscess can vary from person to person. But in a broader sense, here’s what you can usually expect to see and experience at some point:
Almost all cavities are the result of untreated tooth decay. Because cavities are a bacterial infection, they can continue to spread to adjacent tooth structure if not physically treated by your dentist.
Deep cracks in the teeth can also cause abscesses. For example, if a traumatic injury from an athletic event or car accident involves blunt force trauma to the mouth, it can fracture the tooth and allow bacteria to enter the nerve cavity.
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Untreated gum disease can also cause periodontal (gum) abscesses. These infections are caused by a lack of proper preventative care, heavy tartar buildup beneath the gum tissue, and inadequate brushing and flossing.
Unfortunately, many people think that if their tooth is not injured or there is nothing apparently wrong with it, they do not need to treat a cavity or crack. Therefore, this allows the condition to go untreated, which means more and more bacteria can enter the tooth.
Early screenings, regular dental exams, and diagnostic digital X-rays can eliminate the cause and progression of dental abscesses. Sadly, many people do not heed the dentist’s recommendations about tooth abscesses, especially when there is no pain involved.
How to treat a tooth abscess? Depending on the type of abscess you have and its severity, you may need one of the following treatments:
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What to wait for?! I know what you’re thinking. I already said that you cannot treat an abscessed tooth without some kind of restorative procedure. And you can’t. If the infection in the tooth has spread, antibiotics can reduce inflammation and reduce the amount of bacteria in the area so that your dentist can comfortably freeze the tooth to remove the source of the infection. If there is severe inflammation, the numbing medicine will not work well. But you can’t take antibiotics to get rid of a tooth abscess like a throat abscess.
If you are, root canal treatment is the only common option
