Tooth abcess?

[MegGriffin]

DD8 has a pea shaped lump on her gum which over the last 24 hours has got bigger. It's flesh coloured although the skin at the top of her gum is dark red. She says it hurts when you touch it (it's soft to touch) and sometimes on it's own. I will of course try and get an appointment tommorow with dentist but just wondered what it is and what to expect at the dentist as I have no experience. Have given her Nurofen. Please help.

Anyone please?

You may need to call Comeoveneer,

Poor little soul. I had one recently and have never known pain like it.
You could try a compress on her cheek with a facecloth and try to distract her when it gets really sore.

Please phone NHS 24 for better advice than I am giving. Let us know how you get on and get an emergency appointment first thing.

Keep an eye on it and check for a fever. The dentist won't touch it and will give her some antibiotics. The side effect of antibotics to kill mouth infections is thrush as the ab's kill off all the bacteria, friendly or not. Just give her Nurofen, I don't think calpol will do anything but you can try. NHS direct can put you in touch with an emergency dentist so she may be able to get seen tonight.

Thankyou so much. I feel for her so much. My dentist is on holiday for the next two weeks so I hope we can be seen by someone.

You can give her both neurofen and calpol. If I were her dentist I would remove the tooth (particularly if it is a baby tooth) with local anaesthetic (needle in the gum). How good is she? If she won't tollerate the needle, although IME most kids are pretty good; she may need a general anaesthetic. Wouldn't bother with antibiotics as won't solve the problem.

Hello, an update. I took DD to dentist today. He said she had an abscess (caused by a small hole). He cleaned and filled it and prescribed penicillin. The filling did not even require an anaesthetic so I assume must have been small. She was really brave and came away with a very positive experience. I hope this will be the end of the matter after the penicillin, the dentist thinks so. Phew!!! Thanks for all your help and replies as I was quite scared yesterday for her.

hug for your little one for being brave. I hope she starts feeling much better now.

That's brilliant!