Abscess?

[Hoochyhoo]

Been in awful pain last night and today.
Throbbing pain in and around a couple of my lower teeth. The gum and jaw/chin is tender to touch and painkillers ain’t really helping tbh. Can feel a lump at the bottom of the gum line.
I rung my dentist today they said no emergency appts left and that a dentist would ring me to assess. They didn’t even bother :(
Does this sound like an abscess? Obviously they aren’t open on the weekend so I’m just wondering what I can do in this situation?

I'm so sorry to read that you are in pain.

I would do a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen with a warm salt water rinse. Maybe consider out of hours/emergency GP.

It could easily be an abscess, they are horribly painful. See if you can get some clove oil from a chemist. Rub it on the gum with a cotton bud, enough to make you gag (it won't take a lot). It won't fix the problem but it should numb it. Your walk in might give you some antibiotics if they think it's an abscess, you'll no doubt need them to shift it. Good luck

You can call 111 and they can make an emergency dentist appointment for you if you need one.

Please don't call an out if hours gp for a dental problem as suggested upthread.
It's the weekend now so your best bet is to call 111 and ask to speak to the dental triage team who will assess you.
In our practice we tend to have an emergency clinic most mornings. If someone calls us late on a Friday, it's quite possible gif is not to have any further availability that day ( although we do try hard to accommodate).
Be sure to call as early as possible

Take some ibuprofen

I’d call 111, they have a dental team who will be able to assess you and arrange sn out of hours appointment if necessary.

Warm water and salt as warm as you can bear. And painkillers.
I've been having loads of abscesses recently and on occasion have burst them myself.
You'll need antibiotics immediately too.

Thank you all for responding with advice I really appreciate it,
Currently in a queue on the phone to 111. In absolute agony so hoping someone can have a look.

Good luck. I had one recently and they addressed and prescribed antibiotics over the phone, and could get the script made up by local chemist. If it's clear cut there's not much point seeing you as they can't do anything other than antibiotics anyway.

If you can tolerate ibuprofen then get some with codeine in, works amazingly. I find a hot wheat bag held on outside really helpful too.

Best of luck, it's sedum

@LefttoherownDevizes

Good luck. I had one recently and they addressed and prescribed antibiotics over the phone, and could get the script made up by local chemist. If it's clear cut there's not much point seeing you as they can't do anything other than antibiotics anyway.

If you can tolerate ibuprofen then get some with codeine in, works amazingly. I find a hot wheat bag held on outside really helpful too.

Best of luck, it's sedum

I had the one half of my face resting on a hot water bottle yesterday trying to ease the pain but someone said their dentist said cold things are better and that heat is the worst thing to use?

Fingers crossed they’ll prescribe some antibiotics

If you don't get anywhere with 111 ,I would go to urgent care if you're in agony.

So turns out I do have a really bad infection and a lot of swelling along with abscess.
Been given a prescription for antibiotics and told to ring my dentist Monday to see if they can save the tooth. They did offer to take it out there and then but it’s a really visible one so id like to try and save it. This pain is making me miserable :(

Bless you. Hopefully by tomorrow the anti bots will have kicked in and you'll start feeling a bit better

Been to the dentist today they have drilled the tooth and cleaned it out etc in preparation for a root canal in may. Is it normal for it to still be a bit sore and throbbing after the treatment today?

Yes,very normal. Take some ibruprofen.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Yes,very normal. Take some ibruprofen.

Reassured that it’s normal however ibuprofen isn’t touching the pain :( managed to fall asleep for a bit but now the pain is back full force. In agony again 😭

Make sure you finish the antibiotics & don't worry if it doesn't settle for a week after finishing them. If it is still painful in 2 - 3 weeks you may need a different type of antibiotics, I have had several abcesses during Covid times & had to swap from amoxycillin to metronidazole to clear mine. Rinse with either salt water or mouthwash 3 times a day, you can increase the Ibuprofen up to a limit of 2400mg a day safely, I took 600mg 4 times a day with 2 x 30/500 co-codamol also 4 times a day.

@Nat6999

Make sure you finish the antibiotics & don't worry if it doesn't settle for a week after finishing them. If it is still painful in 2 - 3 weeks you may need a different type of antibiotics, I have had several abcesses during Covid times & had to swap from amoxycillin to metronidazole to clear mine. Rinse with either salt water or mouthwash 3 times a day, you can increase the Ibuprofen up to a limit of 2400mg a day safely, I took 600mg 4 times a day with 2 x 30/500 co-codamol also 4 times a day.

The ones they’ve given me atm are metronidazole I think they’re called - I can’t have amoxicillin as I’m allergic to penicillin. I’ll try the salt water/mouth wash. Im taking paracetamol/ibuprofen at the moment but haven’t tried cocodamol yet. Maybe they are worth a go

Not sure if you've tried this, but have you tried baby teething gel on the gum line of the affected tooth?
This works for tooth ache, as it numbs the pain, might be worth giving it a go for your abscess?

@OooohAhhhh

Not sure if you've tried this, but have you tried baby teething gel on the gum line of the affected tooth? This works for tooth ache, as it numbs the pain, might be worth giving it a go for your abscess?

I haven’t no, I’ve managed to get hold of some oragel which is meant to numb the area too so I’ll try that x

I feel your pain really. May is a long time to wait for the root canal, I can imagine this will continue to give you some bother off/on until the treatment is completed, but hopefully antibiotics and salt water rinses after having it drained will give some relief.
I'm in a similar boat. Tooth pain started a week ago mildly and built up over the weekend to the point I was practically deranged with it, saw the dentist yesterday who said it was an abscess, he gave me antibiotics and tried to numb me to remove the tooth but after 4 injections I could still feel the pain, all he could advise was to let the antibiotics settle it a bit for 24hrs and come back today. I never slept a damn wink last night I wanted to claw my face off! This morning my cheek and chin were swollen, I went back at 12pm today, 2 needles this time numbed it thank god so the antibiotics must have started to kick in then. He had to squeeze the pus out of my gum before removing the tooth, he also did a 2nd xray and said that a small amount of the infection has spread across into the tooth beside it which was soul crushing to hear but he felt the antibiotics would clear that up as it was minor. I feel like I've been run over by a truck now tbh but it's infinitely better than the constant agony I was in 6hrs ago!

If you're taking Metronidazole, DO NOT have mouthwash that contains alcohol. Not even one taste of an alcohol based mouthwash - the fact you'd spit it out would be irrelevant, it'll still get into your bloodstream and react with the medication.

Alcohol Free or warm saline, yes, alcohol - absolutely not.

@Nogodsnomasters

I feel your pain really. May is a long time to wait for the root canal, I can imagine this will continue to give you some bother off/on until the treatment is completed, but hopefully antibiotics and salt water rinses after having it drained will give some relief. I'm in a similar boat. Tooth pain started a week ago mildly and built up over the weekend to the point I was practically deranged with it, saw the dentist yesterday who said it was an abscess, he gave me antibiotics and tried to numb me to remove the tooth but after 4 injections I could still feel the pain, all he could advise was to let the antibiotics settle it a bit for 24hrs and come back today. I never slept a damn wink last night I wanted to claw my face off! This morning my cheek and chin were swollen, I went back at 12pm today, 2 needles this time numbed it thank god so the antibiotics must have started to kick in then. He had to squeeze the pus out of my gum before removing the tooth, he also did a 2nd xray and said that a small amount of the infection has spread across into the tooth beside it which was soul crushing to hear but he felt the antibiotics would clear that up as it was minor. I feel like I've been run over by a truck now tbh but it's infinitely better than the constant agony I was in 6hrs ago!

Sorry to hear you have suffered too. I bet it is a big relief having the tooth out. I feel like perhaps my infection has spread too as the whole right lower hand side of my jaw is throbbing and a couple of teeth next to the infected one

Been up most of the night in agony again. Last day of antibiotics and jaw, chin and gum and a couple of teeth still sore and throbbing so got another emergency dental appt today. Surely it shouldn’t still be this bad after a course of antibiotics and having the infected tooth prepped for root canal?