Does anyone have experience of a dental abscess

[AutumnDance]

My partner became sore in his mouth over the weekend and his face started to swell. I sent him to the out of hours doctor and he was prescribed antibiotics until he was able to get to a dentist appointment. He got a dentist appointment and he was prescribed stronger antibiotics.

I find it strange. There has been no other recommendations or action to take for my partner from his dentist. The dentist said the gums around a wisdom tooth is very swollen and he's not able to to work on it. He didn't recommended to call back later in the week. I always thought an infection causing an abscess has to be removed either through an extraction or root canal. The dentist recommended a+e if the pain continues.

My heart breaks for my partner. I hate seeing people in pain and I wish I could do more for him.

It's a really nasty horrible thing, sorry to hear of anyone having trouble with one. I had to go through anti biotic and wait for gum to heal before any work could be done on gums. The anti ciotics started working quite quickly. I took Diazepam to help relax and heated up a beanbag to hold against it. It cleared yp and I got gum treatment and a tooth out as I couldn't face root canal. Hope you get some relief soon.

I've had an abscess a couple of times and never needed any work done. Just antibiotics to clear the infection and analgesia.

Thankfully no personal experience, but the pain my DH suffered when he had one would make him cry which is not like him at all, he's usually very stoic

I had one years ago. Seriously the most pain I've ever been in. I've never taken opiates (or anything other than over-the-counter meds) but I sure craved some with the unbearable pain. Nothing touched it.

I hope your partner gets it sorted out soon, OP. I wouldn't wish that level of pain on anyone .

If it's a swelling around a wisdom tooth it's likely to be "perichoronitis" rather than a typical abscess.
It usually happens if something gets trapped in around the gum of a wisdom tooth and causes a localised reaction. Sometimes the foreign body loosens and falls out naturally. Sometimes it needs to be flushed out.
Antibiotics will hopefully deal with the issue. It would be a different course of action if the abscess was caused by a decayed or broken tooth. Wisdom teeth can settle down in their own.

However I'd still try and get this followed up. At some point once the antibiotics have kicked in, it would be worth calling the dentist up and asking for a full check up and/or review, for peace of mind

( dentist here)

To add also- a hot salty mouthwash or corsodyl rinse helps as well

If the infection is from a very infected gum around his wisdom tooth the initial managment is antibiotics.
If it reoccurs then assessment for removal. Wisdom teeth don't get removed at the first sign of trouble because of the risks involved with removing them.
It sounds like he's never had an infection before so aside from not explaining this (to be fair they may have but if he was in a lot of pain he may not have taken it in) they have given him the right treatment.

I’ve had an abscess a while ago after damaging a tooth doing sport and the pain was horrendous. I had 2 different antibiotics from the dentist and had to have the tooth removed. I think with an abscess the tooth generally needs treatment like a root canal or extraction so maybe it’s not an abscess?

Could he call or email the dentist for clarification?

I found ibuprofen and codeine tablets (over the counter) with some paracetamol helped with the pain so would recommend if it’s suitable for him.

I had an access behind a wisdom tooth many years ago and the pain was horrendous. I lived overseas at the time and I was given antibiotics and the doctor somehow popped the abscess to let the pus drain and that helped relieve the pain. In my case the tooth is partially erupted so there is gum that covers the back and food often gets trapped in there. It needs regular cleaning out with a pointy toothbrush otherwise infections can start. The suggestion of removing the tooth was only if I had more than two recurrences in a year, but it’s much less frequent than that.

They sometimes don’t. Go back for a checkup after finishing the antibiotics. If anything worsens call back.

I had one when I was pregnant. It was extremely painful and they couldn't even give me any decent painkillers.

I rang the dr and got tramadol for a tooth abscess, I couldn’t sleep for the pain and quite frankly felt like walking under a bus, I could not function with the pain.