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Painless Abscess?

  • 07-04-2011 7:49am
    #1
    Scotty #
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,782 ✭✭✭


    Ok so my front top molar on one side started to get loose a few months ago. Gradually getting looser to the point now where it rocks quiet a bit. Never went to dentist.

    Yesterday it started to get quiet sore in the gum over it and I could feel swelling on the out side of my cheek above it.

    Last night I woke up in quiet a bit of pain (but not severe) and tenderness and the swelling has increased. The tooth itself is not any more painfull to touch/rock.

    This morning the side of my face is huge! It looks distorted when I smile and I'm slurring my words. There is a large soft purple lump on the gum around the base of the loose tooth (only on the outside of gum) rather like a boil. However, there is almost no pain. There is mild pain from the swelling when I talk but the gum/tooth are not painfull at all. Everyone I've spoken to say abscess' are extremely painful.

    Does this sound like an abscess or could it be something else?

    I'm going to dentist this morning.


Comments

  • #2
    harpsman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,619 ✭✭✭harpsman


    Hi Scotty.

    Not all abscesses are painful.For the last few months you had a chronic non painful abscess around that tooth.
    Now the infection is SPREADING to your facial tissues.
    This is a DANGEROUS condition.You must see a dentist immediately to have this tooth removed if you dont want to end up in intensive care with a case of cellulitis or worse.


  • #3
    Scotty #
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,782 ✭✭✭Scotty #


    Yikes!!

    Dentist didn't seem that concerned about it tbh.

    I've been put on 2 courses of antibiotics. I was given the option of having the tooth out straight away (which I agreed to) but after looking at my x-rays he said that there was no decay and that the bone at the gum line was good so gave me the option of a root canal instead. Which I have chosen to go ahead with. There is quiet a large cavity in the bone at the tip of the root hence the rocking.

    The pain has been up and down today from quiet severe to almost none at all and this can change in literally 20 seconds. My face is a little more swollen than it was this morning.

    Do you think I should get a 2nd opinion?


  • #4
    btkm8unsl0w5r4
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,535 ✭✭✭btkm8unsl0w5r4


    There are two kinds of abscess, chronic or painless and acute which is painful. A chronic abscess can become acute and vice versa. If the infection is sealed inside the bone and is growing fast it tends to hurt, if its slowing growing or draining out the gum then it tends to be painless.

    Antibiotics will only mask the infection, only root canal or extraction will fix it and remove the infected dead nerve tissue. If at all possible save your tooth as replacement is time consuming and expensive. However sometimes if the tooth is badly broken or very heavily filled your better removing it and replacing it with an artificial tooth (denture, bridge, implant etc.). Some teeth you can live without but its a slippery slope ;)

    Good luck.


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