Infection in jaw/wisdom teeth

[BusyCee]

Hi All, sorry, this might be a silly question, but I know I'll get a sensible answer here regardless...

Every 6months or so I get an infection behind my left hand wisdom tooth. It makes my jaw feel heavy, releases an unpleasant smelling discharge (when I press my finger against the gum. Yuck, I know), and feels very uncomfortable for about a week. I usually deal with it with salt water gargling

It's started again this week and I feel I should have some sort if professional look at it, just in case I can take action to prevent it happening again or turning into something worse. Is my NHS dentist likely to see me as an emergency appt? Or is this a GP thing? Or will I need to see a private dentist? Does anyone have experience of anything similar?

Your NHS dentist should see you as an emergency ( I would - I'm an NHS dentist!).

The position of the tooth should be assessed to see whether it will fully erupt or if extraction is the best thing to prevent recurring infection. Antibiotics might be needed.

I've had similar ( different tooth ) .
Only thing I'd add is that my NHS dentist ,after trying one anti biotic ,then told me to go to GP as GP could prescribe a stronger one that he couldn't .
Which I thought was a little odd .
Tooth out in the end . No pain at all during extraction in case you wonder ,but held someones hand v hard because lots of ( painless ) tugging .
And ok afterwards but advised sleep upright for a couple of nights - something about helping wound form a clot ?

Lovely - thanks for guidance. Have called my dentist and am awaiting a call back (quietly hoping not to need it out...two home births without pain relief, but a tooth extraction makes me queasy...) x

Abcess perhaps?

You might need the tooth drilling to drain the infection then ABs.

In the meantime a saltwater rinse could help.

Mix salt with small bit of warm-hot water to dissolve and then dilute more with water.

It helped with the unpleasant taste of pus til I could get to my appointment.

Have had tooth extraction before. I won't say it's pleasant, but was a necessary evil for me. No problems anymore!