Emergency Dental Abscess Appointment
A dental abscess or a tooth abscess is formed when pus accumulates inside the pulp of the tooth or gums. You cannot miss a dental abscess – the pain is often excruciating and can prevent you from carrying out your day-to-day activities. Book an emergency dental abscess appointment with us for first-appointment treatment and quick pain relief.
What is a dental abscess?
An abscess is typically a bacterial infection. Your mouth is the host to millions of bacteria; while some of them are harmless, some can be disease-causing in the right conditions. These bacteria are predominantly found in plaque which is a by-product of saliva and food debris. The bacterial laden plaque sticks to the teeth’ surface, where these bacteria metabolise sugars from the food we eat to release noxious by-products and generates an inflammatory response that damages the teeth and the gums.
There are three types of dental abscess.
Periapical Abscess
Forms at the tip of the tooth’s root.
Periodontal Abscess
Forms next to the infected tooth root. Progresses and spreads to the surrounding soft tissues and bone.
Gingival Abscess
These dental abscesses are purely of the gums.
Signs and symptoms of abscess
You might experience a severe, persistent and throbbing toothache, which is affected by dental abscess. Toothache worsens when you lie down.
The pain of dental abscess can also radiate to the jawbone, neck and ear region. This makes locating the offending tooth difficult. The infected tooth will be susceptible to hot and cold foods and liquids. You are also likely to experience throbbing toothache during chewing and biting. The infected tooth will be extremely sensitive to pressure, making eating and even talking extremely painful.
Abscesses are infections, which can lead to fever. Elevated body temperature with a persistent toothache is a sign of a dental abscess. Facial swelling is another symptom.
In cases where the abscess progresses, it can also lead to tender, swollen lymph nodes under your jaw and in the neck region, you may also experience foul taste and foul smell coming from your mouth. Swollen and fiery red gums which are tender to touch will be another symptom of a dental abscess.
If the dental abscess ruptures, you will feel immediate pain relief and pus drainage in your mouth.
If you have any of the above symptoms, do not ignore them. Dental treatment, in the case of a dental abscess, should not be delayed. Please schedule an appointment with our excellent dentist in London to treat your dental abscesses and prevent any complications.
Treatment for Dental Abscesses
Drainage of abscess
Our dentist will numb the affected area which anaesthetics. Next, they will make a small incision over the abscess and drain the pus. This is followed by cleaning the area with antiseptics and packing it.
Root canal treatment
Once our dentists have localised the offending tooth. They will drill a small hole in your tooth to drain the abscess. Next, they use specialised dental instruments to remove the infected pulp from the tooth’s root canal. The tooth is allowed to heal, and then the tooth’s root is filled and sealed with dental filling materials. Our dentist may advise you to opt for a crown later to strengthen and restore the tooth’s anatomy.
Apicoectomy
In some cases, our dentist in London may suggest you go for a dental surgical procedure. In this procedure, a small window is made through the jawbone, allowing access to the root tip. Next, the dental abscess and the infected root part is removed.
Antibiotics
Our dentist may prescribe you a course of antibiotics to clear the infection and prevent it from spreading.
Extraction
In severe cases of a dental abscess, the tooth cannot be saved and removed to clear out the infection. The missing tooth is later replaced with a dental bridge or a dental implant. Our dentist tries their best to prevent this from happening. Thus, it is essential to visit our clinic and consult our dentist at the earliest.
What to do when you have a dental abscess?
The first and foremost thing to do when you have a dental abscess is to call us and schedule an emergency visit to our dental clinic in London so that our excellent dentist can treat it, save your tooth and stop it from progressing.
You can take an over the counter painkiller to manage the toothache until you visit our clinic in London. Warm salt water gargles will also help manage the pain. Cold fomentation in the affected area will help reduce the swelling until you visit our dental clinic in London.