My six year old bumped his front tooth at the age of two and in result it died. A few times a month since I have checked it for abscess. Well a good four years later here it is! He woke up Tues night crying and saying his tooth hurt. I gave him some motrin and he slept the rest of the night. Then at about 11 am it came back...worse. I kept giving him tylenol because he said it was his back molar tooth that was coming in that hurt. Not until later that night did he tell me it was his front tooth and was too late to call the dentist or doctor. About an hour after that his lip began to swell. Then his cheeck and by the next afternoon all the way up to his eye was swollen. The dentist confirmed the abscessed tooth and started on pain meds and antibiotics as well as a referal to have the front two teeth pulled. My question is...after day three of antibiotics should I have seen an improvment in the swelling? Also there is now a very large (quarter sized) puss pocket on his upper gum where you can see the green color through it...it's no icky!! I do know know if this is a good thing or a bad thing! Any advice will help thank you!
I would get him back into the dentist ASAP. Call his emergency line. Is he still on antibiotics? An abcess or infection in the head area can be serious as it is close to the brain. Nothing to mess with......................
I would get your son in immediately! If there isnt a dentist open or on call, take him to the ER. At least they can drain it for him and put him on different antibiotics. Please get this done ASAP your boy can get seriously ill from this infection. This will buy some time to get ahold of the dentist and get the teeth pulled.
call your dentist back. Sounds like an infection because of the puss pocket. Puss generally needs to be drained. But I would call your dentist before you do anything. Dentist's generally have emergency phone numbers to call on weekends.
If it were my son, he'd be back at an emergency dentist right now getting it removed and treated. An infection in the mouth can spread to the brain and that is never a good thing.
If your dentist doesn't have an emergency line/on call Dr line then take him in to the ER or an urgent care office asap. Good luck!
With my abscess, my front gum swelled (I kind of had that neanderthal look going), but when I went to the dentist for the replacement tooth (they put on a crown), he lanced the pus-filled swelling, and put a plastic sort of thing inside to prevent the opening from healing shut.
It was not tasty, but all the pus drained out over the next week or so. I was taking antibiotics, too, but I still hurt for a good three weeks (only the first few were throbbing, though).
I would ask the doctor about the pus... I've never known for it not to be drained, and gums heal quickly, and lancing the gum didn't hurt at all when my dentist did it.
Anyway, that's just what happened to me.
I'll second or third the advice to take him to the ER. It doesn't appear that the antibiotic is effective against whatever bacteria is growing. I'd also like to second the person who said oral infections can turn very bad very fast. It isn't as likely it will go to the brain as it is likely to go to his bloodstream (septic). This is more likely with oral infections because there is so much bloodflow to the mouth. Also, I wouldn't drain the puss by yourself, because you can't do it in a sterile environment. Introducing more bacteria to the situation could just make it worse. Does your son have a fever? If so, please don't wait to take him to the ER.
Good luck!
S.
Take him straight to your doctor, not dentist but doctor, or to an emergency room. My husband broke a tooth last year but it didn't start hurting him til many months later so he went to the dentist to have it pulled out (he had no dental insurance at the time). The dentist couldn't get the area deadened enough to pull the tooth because it was abcessed. She sent him home with anti-biotics and scheduled him for the following Monday (this was on a Saturday). My husband kept feeling a lot of pain and keeping warm compresses on it helped. The next morning he woke up with half of his face swollen and I just don't mean swollen I mean SWOLLEN. We went to the emergency and he ended up staying in the hospital two nights so they could administer a super strong anti-biotic to him intravenously. The doctor told him if he had waited much longer he could've had brain damage or worse yet died. We were told that abcesses in the mouth/jaw should always be taken seriously as infections anywhere in the head can result in brain damage or death if not addressed.
Run don't walk to your doctor or the emergency room I say! With matters such as these it is always better to be safe than sorry and this is coming from someone who never freaks out over anything.
It should be fine, once it gets pulled. Get it pulled ASAP! I had this happen to me with a wisdom tooth. Good Luck, S.
My son killed a tooth but never abcessed. We just let it go till his perm tooth came in.
Now.... I would have thought that the antibiotics would have started working and you should see a little swelling go down, however, if you can see a puss pocket it may be extremely bad and take longer. It could be that he needs a stronger antibiotic. I would be on the phone at 8:00 sharp in the morning talking to the dentist or either meet him at the office with my son if I were you. It is always a better idea to let the doc know what is going on and it is your right as a patient to be able to talk to him and voice your concerns.
Get them pulled, Mom. It will be hard on him. And then a good dose of antibiotics and it will clear up, but not before the teeth are pulled.
That tooth needs to be pulled and drained IMMEDIATELY. There are serious complications that can happen if the infection spreads or is draining internally.
I had an absess tooth when I was 12. Half of my face became swollen including the gum. Only after the tooth was drained via root canal did I experience relief.
A friend of mine recently had a more serious complication with an absess called Ludwig's angina. His airway became restricted. He had his tooth pulled right away to allow the infection to drain out.
I don't want to freak you out as it is a rare complication, but it can happen.
Good luck!!!!
Don't risk is, take him to the Doctor ASAP. I know animals and people are different, but I had a rabbit who got an abscessed tooth, it caused an infection that went to his brain and killed him. It is not worth the risk of waiting to see if it gets better on its own.
