Medicine and dentistry are two separate fields of knowledge with an extensive understanding of diseases and many different specialties. It is equally important to care for your body and do the same thing for your mouth, but for many reasons, having problems in your mouth doesn’t feel the same as enduring the same problem somewhere else. We tend to be more sensitive when we have mouth sores compared to equally small lesions in other parts of the skin.
However, mouth sores are small problems compared to other ailments attended by a dentist or orthodontist. In this article, we are going to talk briefly about tooth abscesses. Why they appear in your mouth, what they are about, and what would you feel if you had one.
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What causes a tooth abscess?
A tooth abscess is a collection of pus and secretions enclosed by a membrane. Thus, there is one previous requisite to have a tooth abscess, and that is an infection in your mouth. However, it is usually a long-lasting infection you left unattended for some time, commonly associated with tooth decay.
Whatever the source of infection, your body starts enclosing the problem area and sending neutrophils and other white blood cells to attack. The remnants fill the abscess, and it starts hurting and giving out a series of signs and symptoms we will cover below:
Tooth abscess signs and symptoms
Gum swelling
In cases of tooth abscess, you may start having changes in your gums. Abscess formation is associated with swelling in the adjacent tissue. Typical changes include an increase in volume and redness in the area. Thus, your gums may start displaying changes and start deforming the lines in your face in severe cases or give out mild signs of inflammation in the starting phase of the infection.
In some cases, gum swelling is not because a tooth abscess but a gum abscess instead. Depending on the location, it can be a periapical abscess when it is affecting the end of the tooth or a periodontal abscess when the abscess is located in the gums and not inside the teeth.
Mandible pain
Whichever the case, one of the main symptoms of dental abscesses is pain, which may take the whole mandible. In the majority of cases, tooth abscesses develop nearby the nerve endings of the corresponding tooth. These nerve endings come from a facial nerve that goes directly to your brain, and it is called the trigeminal nerve.
The trigeminal nerve gathers sensory information in a very wide area. There’s a branch of the trigeminal nerve for your upper maxillary area, another for your mandible, and a third branch for the area of the cheekbone and around. If your tooth abscess is located in your lower teeth, it is highly likely that the trigeminal nerve will become sensitized, and you may feel pain in the totality of the mandibular area innervated by the trigeminal nerve.
Tooth pain
We all know tooth pain, and it is by far one of the most terrible types of pain. It is so intense and annoying that people often need emergency attention when they suddenly wake up in the middle of the night with a toothache. In some cases, it will be due to tooth decay, but dentists should also rule out the possibility of having a tooth abscess.
Tooth abscess pain is often reported as very intense and throbbing. It is pulsating and gets worse over time. It may appear suddenly, but in most cases, patients say they had some discomfort and tooth sensitivity to cold temperatures and other signs they didn’t report to their dentist until it was too late. So, before that happens and the pain gets serious, go to your dentist and talk to him about your dental problems and concerns.
Neck pain
In some cases, when the infection is really serious, patients may even report neck pain on the same side of the abscess. Other areas of pain may include your ears, depending on where the abscess is located. It is often a persistent and dull pain that feels more like a radiated pain that comes from your tooth.
Enlarged lymph glands
In the majority of cases of neck pain, patients would also have enlarged and painful lymph glands. Lymph nodes are control stages of your immune system that attend nearby infection. In cases of tooth abscess, prolonged infection has probably reached your lymph nodes, and they started creating lymphocytes at an accelerated rate to combat infection. Thus, enlargement of your lymph glands is a normal biological process in immunocompetent patients who are actually responding against the infection.
Headaches
The trigeminal nerve is in direct connection to your brain, and continuous pain signals may trigger headaches localized on the same side of the infection and the tooth abscess. If you have this symptom, chances are your problem has extended too much and you may need emergency medical attention to prevent complications, as we will explain further.
Sleep disturbances
Pain associated with tooth abscesses is intense and bothering, and won’t let you sleep properly. Pain symptoms will become worse as you lay down, which is why many cases of tooth abscess are reported at night when the patient has already gone to sleep.
Loss of appetite
It may be difficult to differentiate a tooth abscess or dental decay in cases of small children. However, in these cases, one of the most predominant symptoms is irritability and loss of appetite. Tooth pain makes it difficult and painful to chew properly, patients have taste problems and difficulty to swallow.
Fever
Another give-out sign that there’s an infection going on is having a sudden rise in body temperature. Fever is always a sign of infection or inflammation, and it is likely to be present if you have an abscess. Waiting for too long and neglecting your condition might even make the problem worse, and your fever will keep on rising. Be careful because fever is not a local sign of inflammation but a systemic symptom. Thus, if your starting to feel a change in your temperature, it is highly likely that the infection is starting to spread to nearby tissues.
Tooth decay
The most common causes of tooth abscess are either tooth decay or a broken tooth that results in infection of the pulp, a region below the tooth that contains nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue. Then, tooth decay and the associated infection progresses and leads to chronic inflammation of the tooth and periodontal area. In time, inflammation causes secretion of fluids and pus, which accumulate and gets enclosed in an abscess.
Thus, tooth decay is an important sign that allows the doctor to trace a tooth abscess in cases of tenderness and pain. Keep in mind that not all cases of tooth decay will lead to an abscess. You might even need additional imaging tests if you want to confirm the diagnosis of tooth abscess. So, be sure to talk to your doctor about your symptoms and you will receive the most appropriate treatment according to your condition.
Tooth loss
In some cases, and if you do not treat your abscess properly, it may result in total tooth loss. However, it might be possible to rescue a part of your tooth or get yourself a replacement. Your doctor will recommend the best option for you.
Purulent discharge
A tooth abscess is a collection of pus enclosed in a capsule made by your own body as a measure to prevent the spread of the infection. Pus is a mixture of plasma and white blood cells (neutrophils) that fought the infection and died in the process. It is dead tissue, and that’s why it smells so bad.
Lousy breath
If the infection is maintained for too long, the pressure inside the tooth abscess becomes excessive, and it might rupture. When a tooth abscess ruptures, it is possible you will feel less pain, but you may start having a salty and unpleasant taste in your mouth. That is probably the tooth abscess draining its contents into your mouth, and it is a major cause of lousy breath.
Bad breath is also common in cases of gingivitis and tooth decay. Thus, it is very important you do not take anything for granted and talk to your doctor right away. Do not forget that tooth abscess may progress into worse conditions, as you will see next.
Facial cellulitis
One of the complications of tooth abscess is called facial cellulitis. It is an infection of the skin and the underlying tissue of the face. However, it is a complicated infection that requires hospitalization because of the health risks associated with it and the difficulty to fight off the pathogens. Facial cellulitis features hardening or tightening of the skin, tenderness, pain, and redness.
Life-threatening infections and sepsis
Read Also:
- Tooth Abscess: Symptoms, Causes, and Signs
- Gum Disease: 14 Warning Signs Of Gum Disease You Should Not Ignore!
- What Causes Tooth Decay? – 10 Surprising Causes
Tooth abscess infections might keep on spreading, and since there’s a direct connection between your circulation and nervous system, it might lead to potentially life-threatening conditions if not properly treated. One of them, though exceptionally rare, is sepsis, which is an inflammatory process in your blood and throughout your body that requires emergency attention and might need monitoring in an intensive care unit.