What do you do for an abcessed tooth while you are waiting for your dentist appointment?

Answer 1

First off, if you have an abscessed tooth, you DONT wait on a dental visit! Thats dangerous! Abscesses can kill you, if left unattended, and antibotics arent given in a timely matter. Did you tell the doctor office, you had an abscess? If you didnt, TELL THEM. If you did, and they still made an appointment... Your Office, is jeopardizing your health. GO ELSE WHERE! Abscesses arent something to mess with or prolong. I've seen a patient die, because she didnt think it was a big deal and waited to long to come into the office and let us treat it when it should have been. She came in one day, we treated her... but was to late. 2 days later we found out she died, cause she had waited to long to be seen. The infection had gotten into her blood stream causing poisoning to her system. It went straight to her heart. Abscesses are NOT something to mess around with!

See a Dentist ASAP, if in fact you know you have one. If you cant for some reason, go to your Regular Physician or ER. He/ they can diagnose it by x'rays , and start you on antibotics until you can be seen by a Dentist for treatment on the tooth.

*By the way, the guy above this post.. is obviusly uneducated. People DO die from this kind of infection. Uneducated people like that, shouldnt give advice on things they have no clue about. I deal with abscesses everyday, its apart of my job. And YES, you do take things like that seriously. Especially if theres a 'visual' swelling going on. Swelling of the face, means... the infection is spreading!

Answer 2

The back of the bottle of ibuprofen usually says one tablet every 4-6 hours. You can PROBABLY get away with 3-4 tabs in this time for a day or so. Don't take ibuprofen if you're pregnant (actually, may be ok 1st two trimesters, but ask your OB/GYN), on Lithium, or have gastro-intestinal issues that prohibit anti-inflammatories.

I personally think tylenol is basically useless, tho' there is now some evidence that COUPLED with ibuprofen, tylenol can potentiate the pain relief available.

As a previous person wrote: If you feel any internal swelling and have difficulty speaking, swallowing or breathing, GET TO THE ER! Worst case scenario there is a closed airway. Typically the swelling goes OUT but if it goes in, you're in trouble.

Even if it feels better, say, after the weekend, SEE THE DENTIST! This will not go away for good. Even if you get antibiotics, this will only decrease (not eliminate) the infection

Answer 3

I feel your pain brother, my tooth feels like a million little miners with pick axes are pounding on it at once. I've been on amoxicillin for a little over 24 hours now with not much noticeable improvement. Dentist only gave me 8 Vicodin which are now history, aspirin helps a little. The pain comes in waves and just when it feels it's getting better those little bastards start mining again. I've had 2 hours sleep in the last 2 days, left work early tonight and would probably sell my mother for some pain relief( just kidding; maybe!) Anyway, hang in there (I'm getting mine pulled next week and I'm going to take a sledge hammer and crush that son of a *****!!) Not that I'm on edge or anything........

Answer 4

Sounds like you need some analgesics as well as antibiotics ... as per previous comment do not pop it yourself, you will cause yourself immense pain and possible increase the risk of further infection. Also the abscess may well not be ready to be incised yet so again you are inflicting unnecessary pain on yourself. Complete the antibiotics and see a dentist once the pain / swelling has resloved, you probably need to have the tooth extracted / filled. See your dentist / doctor early if you have increased pain, swelling, fevers and are unable to swallow or open your mouth

Answer 5

I just had a wisdom tooth pulled that had a cavity that was going into the root, I know your pain man,

I took like four vicodins a day for days and it took care of it at first but after a couple of days the vicodins were worthless, I'd say you might need percocet at that point,

Oh man I remmeber laying in bed in just PAIN for days.

The person that wrote that you could die from this above me,
Yeah, that is REALLY UNLIKELY, Yes it can happen but Like you'll die in the dentists office first, Just get in as soon as you can and you'll be fine hopefully in the next four days, I'm not an expert at this but i have had dental pain, WHen i've talked to the dentists, Death, was not considered a posibility

Answer 6

Ice packs help, so does clove oil....and a strange remedy is massaging your ear and/or your hand, between the forefinger and the thumb, if it's your right side that's hurting, massage the right ear/hand, if it's the left, do the left hand or ear, in about 10 minutes, you'll feel a lessening of the pain......all you can do is combat the pain until you can get some antibiotics, sorry, hope you get relief soon

Answer 7

OK, I am not trying to scare you but please if you feel any numbing in your face go directly to the nearest emergency room, I have a dear friend who had someone in her family loose their life from infection somehow getting into their system when their face was numb, other wise rinse your mouth with warm in fact I try to get it as hot as I can add salt to the water, everyone says cold is best I spent the entire night awake steady back and forth to the microwave heating a towel as it was the only thing that helped the pain, please promise if it feels numb take no chances I am only telling you because I care not to frighten you,good luck!

Answer 8

This may sound really weird, but it has helped me with the pain- ( I am assuming your in pain)

Put some ice cubes in a zip lock bag. You should hold the bag with the hand opposite of the bad tooth.

Advil works well also! You can also try those baby numb gel-I didn't get much relief with those.

Hang in there!

Answer 9

Absolutely nothing. If it hurts, gently rub a little oraagel or something on it. If the pain is bothersome-take some ibuprofen. It's an anti infammatory. If junk comes out, like pus or blood-spit, don't swallow. Hope this helps!

Answer 10

wow who's your dentist because i would never go there. how could they let you suffer like that. is it always that way in the states, cuz in canada we actually help our patients. you neec antibiotics and a root canal or extraction. pronto.