Tooth Abscess Causes
The most common cause of tooth abscess is tooth decay. Other causes of tooth abscess can be injury to the tooth, gingivitis or gum diseases. These problems can cause openings in the tooth enamel, which help the bacteria infect the center of the tooth, called the pulp. This infection may further spread from the root to the bones supporting the tooth.
Tooth Abscess Symptoms
The common symptoms of tooth abscess are severe and continuous toothache, resulting either in throbbing pains or brief, sharp pangs. Other tooth abscess symptoms include fever, sensitivity to hot, cold or bitter taste or pain while chewing. You might also experience a bad breath problem, swollen neck glands and redness and swelling of the gum. Swollen lymph nodes under the jaw or in the neck and pain in the sinus area can also be experienced.
Tooth Abscess Remedies
Here are some tooth abscess home treatments. Tooth abscess home remedies can help you relieve the pain before you get an appointment of the dentist. You can perform the following, in order to get tooth abscess relief.
Tooth Abscess Home Treatment # 1: Apply a cold compress on the affected area to lessen the swelling. Applying an ice pack over the cheek on the side of the affected area will help reduce the swelling. Apply it for 20 minutes several times a day.
Tooth Abscess Home Treatment # 2: Gargle with lukewarm saline water. The warm water relaxes the oral cavity and the salt acts as an antiseptic over the tooth abscess infection. The pus and blood will have to be drained when there is a positive eruption of abscess. You must spit it out and should not swallow. Just keep gargling with lukewarm salt water; this will facilitate the drainage.
Tooth Abscess Home Treatment # 3: If the tooth abscess has not erupted and you want it to erupt, then take a cotton swab, dip it in a tablespoon of salt and baking soda. Use this swab as you wipe the gum line, pressing the abscessed tooth as hard as possible with it. If this punctures the abscess, the pain would suddenly subside. If cotton swabs do not work, using a sterile needle would be the best thing to do.
Tooth Abscess Home Treatment # 4: Sprinkle a dry teabag with salt and place this teabag besides the infected tooth and leave it inside your mouth for 1- 2 hours. This tooth abscess home remedy will help draw out the infection. Using a tree oil mouthwash for 5 minutes, thrice a day, is another effective tooth abscess home remedy. This will help the area to be disinfected.
Tooth Abscess Home Treatment # 5: Using clove oil as an anesthetic is the best tooth abscess home remedy. You can also continuously chew on a clove instead. This might cause hyperacidity, so don’t swallow too much of the residue when you are empty stomach.
Tooth Abscess Treatment
Your dentist might recommend one of the below three options for tooth abscess treatment. Tooth abscess antibiotics help kill the germs responsible for the tooth abscess and the body then repairs the bone and tooth. The second option of tooth abscess treatment can be root canal treatment. The third tooth abscess treatment is tooth extraction.
Remember that a tooth abscess home treatment is for temporarily controlling the situation and understand that it is not a permanent cure. You must consult a dentist for further treatment. Following dental hygiene and dental care routine is the best way to maintain good dental health and prevent tooth abscess problems.