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How Can I Treat a Tooth Infection at Home?

Posted on by AllSmiles.

How can I treat a tooth infection at home? I do not have dental insurance, so I need some advice. The toothache hurts daily, and yesterday, the swelling in my left cheek increased. What can I do for the infection until I save enough money to see a dentist? Rhoda

 

Rhoda,

How Can You Treat a Tooth Infection at Home?

You cannot treat a tooth infection at home because it is inside the tooth, which neither you nor antibiotics alone can reach. You need professional care from a dentist to remove the infection.

How Can You Treat a Tooth Infection?

A dentist must perform root canal treatment for a tooth infection. Although a dentist may prescribe antibiotics after root canal treatment, the medication alone will not eliminate the infection. Consider three reasons:

  • Location of the infection – Antibiotics cannot remove the infection from the tooth pulp.
  • Infection requires removal – A dentist uses instruments to perform root canal treatment and remove the infective tooth pulp. Without removing the infected tissue, the bacteria in your tooth will become antibiotic resistant. A dentist will protect your weakened tooth with a dental crown.
  • Tooth infections spread – Untreated tooth infections spread to your gums, other teeth, jawbone, and even into your bloodstream, which can be deadly.

What If You Cannot Afford Root Canal Treatment?

Diagram of root canal phases, including numbing the tooth, widening, cleaning, and filling canals and attaching a dental crown.

Only root canal treatment removes a tooth infection

If you cannot afford root canal treatment, allow a dentist to remove the tooth rather than let the infection spread. However, preserving a tooth has these benefits:

  • A missing tooth causes neighboring teeth to drift into the space.
  • Missing teeth can affect chewing or speech.
  • Misaligned teeth can lead to earaches, headaches, jaw pain, and other TMJ disorder issues.

Consider a dental clinic

Look for a free or low-cost dental clinic in your area. Even if they don’t provide root canal treatment, they can extract an infected tooth to prevent the infection from poisoning your body.

Call dental offices

Call local dental offices to ask about payment plans or health care financing if you can pay for dental care in installments.

Your oral health and well-being are worth searching for options to eliminate a tooth infection even though you don’t have dental insurance.

Metairie cosmetic dentist Dr. Duane Delaune sponsors this post. Read details about how Dr. Delaune strives to provide some of the best dental care in Metairie.

 

How Long Is Too Long to Wait for an Abscessed Tooth Extraction?

Posted on by AllSmiles.

About a month after teeth whitening and preparing to get porcelain veneers, an upper left molar broke. The tooth has an abscess and is making me tired and foggy. Now the specialist says he cannot save the tooth, so I need an extraction and dental implants. The soonest appointment the office has is two weeks away. I feel sick, and the sluggishness and pain are affecting my concentration. Is it okay to switch to another specialist who can remove the tooth sooner? – Thank you. Krystal A. from NC

Krystal,

Thank you for choosing our office for your question.

If the specialist (we assume an endodontist or oral surgeon) did not give you a reason for waiting two weeks, yes, look for one who can complete the removal and get rid of the infection. Explain to your dentist that your tooth infection is making you ill and you do not want it to linger for two more weeks.

How Long Can You Wait to Remove an Abscessed Tooth?

An abscessed tooth results from an infection. And an untreated tooth infection will continue to spread, even if it does not complicate tooth removal.

dental implant diagram

A cosmetic dentist can match your dental implant to your whitened teeth

While your body is fighting the infection, your immune system is weak and more vulnerable to other infections. Delaying tooth removal will only make things worse. Also, although many people take antibiotics to minimize the infection, it will not go away without root canal treatment or tooth removal.

Your dentist can refer you to another specialist to complete your treatment. Otherwise, if you have dental insurance that allows you to self-refer, you can see a specialist to remove your tooth an explain when you can receive an implant.

If your dentist does not have advanced cosmetic skills, look for one with training who will perfectly match your implant crown to your newly whitened teeth.

 

Dr. Duane Delaune, an cosmetic dentist in Metairie, LA, sponsors this post.A

root canal problems

Posted on by writeradmin.

I had a root canal treatment for an infected tooth. After I finished treatment, my dentist gave me a prescription for penicillin. A week later I was still in pain. He wrote me a prescription for Vicodin and said if it still hurt after another week he’d give me a different antibiotic. I don’t think I can wait that long. Plus, the Vicodin makes me feel weird. What do you recommend?

Barry

Dear Barry,

man grabbing the side of his jaw in pain

Your dentist is missing the boat here. First, the antibiotic prescription. While penicillin can work, it wouldn’t be my first choice after a root canal treatment. Instead, I’d try a stronger antibiotic such as clindamycin.

Second, the amount of time he’s waiting to get you on the correct antibiotic is way too long. You should have been feeling better after a couple of days and he wants you to wait over two weeks! No.

There’s a good likelihood you still have a dental infection because something was missed here. You don’t want the infection to spread any more than it already has.

Where to Go From Here

I think you need to see a root canal specialist and have this re-treated. When you call the office, let them know what is going on so they can get you on the right antibiotic.

To give you realistic expectations here, a root canal re-treatment is usually successful only in 50-75% of the time.

If it turns out, the re-treatment doesn’t work, you may need to extract the tooth in order to get rid of the infection. If that happens, you’ll want to discuss your tooth replacement options with your dentist. If you want the top of the line replacement, then getting a dental implant is the best bet. Your next best option is a dental bridge. However, it does require crowning the two adjacent teeth.

This blog is brought to you by New Orleans Dentist Dr. Duane Delaune.

Should I wait out pain and swelling or insist my dentist see me today?

Posted on by smiles4u.

I woke up this morning with pain and swelling on one side of my mouth. I called the dentist immediately, but they are telling me the earliest I can get in is tomorrow morning. At this point, the only thing I can do is keep popping over-the-counter pain meds and hope that it helps. I will be the first to admit that I usually have a pretty high tolerance for pain, but this is really causing me a lot of discomfort and I feel like it should be considered a dental emergency. I guess my dentist doesn’t agree since they won’t make any effort to get me in sooner. Should I wait until tomorrow or should I call around and see if I can be seen somewhere else?  — Ann Marie

Ann Marie,
This sounds like a dental emergency. It’s likely that you have an infection and the bad news is that it will continue to get worse the longer treatment is delayed and it could quickly become a very serious situation.

Maybe your dental office misunderstood you. Call again, and be very specific describing the symptoms you are experiencing and tell that that you need to be seen today and if they can’t make it happen, then you’ll have to see someone else. Hopefully they will agree to work you in or otherwise they will need to clearly explain why they don’t view it as an emergency. If the latter is the case, they will have to understand why you need to seek treatment elsewhere.

If you have to go somewhere else, call a local emergency dentist first. They tend to keep their schedules more flexible to deal with situations like yours. As a last resort, your medical doctor could buy you some time by prescribing antibiotics. Even if that makes you start feeling better, you’ll still want to see your dentist to determine the cause of the infection and get it treated so that it doesn’t come back.

This post is sponsored by New Orleans cosmetic dentist Dr. Duane Delaune. Read more about why many consider Dr. Delaune to be the best dentist in New Orleans.