Are You Abscessed? How To Handle This Dental Emergency

An abscess is your body's way of telling you that something is seriously wrong. Ignoring this red flag may put you in peril. To find out more about abscesses that occur along your gumline, read on.

Bacteria Causes Abscesses

Regardless of the location of an abscess, they are always caused by bacteria. Your mouth, at any given time, is filled with millions of tiny bacteria. All you can do to make sure the bacteria don't negatively affect your health is to keep your mouth, teeth, and gums as clean as possible. In some cases, though, it's not enough to brush and floss frequently. The problems begin when bacteria enters your gums by way of a tiny opening. That might be a cavity, an injury to your gums, or even a cracked tooth. Once that occurs, it's only a matter of time before your body attempts to wall off the bacteria by forming a pocket of puss around it. Then you are faced with a painful and potentially dangerous infection.

Take Steps To Stay Healthy

Unfortunately, an abscess can affect more than just your mouth. Almost any type of infection can enter your bloodstream and affect other organs, like your heart. You need to take fast action depending on the severity of the abscess. Take these steps:

1. If you are feverish, have chills, or feel generally unwell, go to the emergency room or an urgent care facility. You need antibiotic treatment immediately – possibly intravenously.
2. If you have signs of an abscess but feel fine, phone your dentist and make an appointment. This is considered a dental emergency and usually needs a fast consultation.
3. While you wait for your dental appointment, try some over-the-counter remedies like anti-inflammatory medications. These relieve the pain and also reduce the swelling and irritation of the inflammation.
4. Try using a warm water and salt rinse if your teeth are too sensitive to brush.
5. Confine your diet to soft, room temperature foods and drinks. Avoid sweets since that can increase the inflammation.

After the Abscess

Abscesses don't just randomly happen, there has to be an underlying problem causing them. Until you identify and treat that cause, abscesses are very likely to happen again and again. In many cases, you have a bad tooth that needs to be repaired. Once your mouth has healed from the abscess, your dentist will restore the tooth by putting in a filling or performing a root canal. If you also have an underlying gum disease issue, that will need to be treated too. You can help keep abscesses from occurring by using good dental hygiene and by not missing your regular dentist appointments.

Contact a local dentist office to learn more.