tooth abscess and swollen cheek

[edward84]

i have a couple of questions about abscesses. last week i developed an abcsess in my tooth. my cheek became very swollen. the doctor said the infection from the abscess had passed from my tooth into my cheek. they put me on keeflex. within 24 hours about 60% of the swelling in my cheek had subsided. i am now on day 6 of a 10 days worth of the keeflex. my questions are how exactly does the infection from the abscess get into your cheek and even though i am now on day 6 of my medication there is still some swelling in my cheek that feels hard to the touch. all the pain from the infection as been gone for some days now and i did notice a little more improvement in the cheek today, but how long should it take for the swelling to completely go away?

[Cloudwindgate]

Thank-you for the help and i will try

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Best of luck.  Hope everything turns out well.

[Stace_case]

Wow, this is a great online service.  I have an abscessed tooth and am taking amoxicillin.  Two questions:

1.  The dentist can't fit me in for a root canal for 30 more days.  Is it safe to wait so long?

2.  My cheek is very swollen, even though I'm taking antibiotics.  (Today's my second day.)  It didn't become swollen until I started the antibiotics.  It's putting slight pressure on my eye. Is there reason for concern?

I tried calling the dentist but the receptionist wouldn't let me talk to him and said not to worry;  however, she's not a medical professional!

I appreciate your providing this service.

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Hi!

The amoxicillin should work fine in reducing the spread of infection and reducing any swellings that may occur.  Its a little bit more odd that the swelling occured after the antibiotic treatment and not before.  It does take a few days for the antibiotics to work and as long as the swelling doesn't worsen on day 3 to 4 on the antibiotics, it should be fine.  If it doesn't work and the swelling gets worse, you should see a dentist and get treatment as well as change the antibiotics.  It may be that the bacteria you have in your mouth is resistant to the antibiotics.

As for waiting thirty days, it does seem a bit longer than usual.  Has any treatment been started on it?  Or did he/she just prescribe the antibiotics?

[pupaerika]

Hi,
Thank you for this website!

I am 1st year Dental Hygiene student. We were taking pano on each other and I noticed that I had a radiolucent area around the apex of tooth #19. This tooth had root canal done 3 years ago and I got a nice crown on it too. I visited my dentist regurlaly. I had no pain or discomfort prior to the pano that we took on Nov 18. Since then, I visited my dentist and he told me it is an abscess. I started the Amoxicillin on monday, I also noticed that I had a throbbing pain since last sunday.Well...I believed that it was in my head because I had no pain before I looked at the radiograph. Pain got worst yeasterday and I noticed that my cheek strated to swell. It is horrible all night long. I called endodontis in the morning and he retreated the tooth. I look like a chipmunk now but NO PAIN:).
Well my question are:
1.Why it started to hurt now??? Did I do something to agitate it? This abscess was visible on pano that was taken in Febr.
2.Is there any home remedies for swelling?

Thank YOU!

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Sometimes with a root canal and abscess, it can be treated and leave a radiolucency in the area.  As long as there are no symptoms, we generally keep an eye on it and make sure that it doesn't enlarge in size.  Sometimes these area will scar and leave a permanent radiolucency.

I would guess that the endodontic treatment did not sufficiently clean the canal.  The infection from the bacteria may have been quite extensive and it was difficult to remove all bacteria from the canals or a canal might have been possibly missed. Also, with the anatomy of the canals, its possible you have lateral canals, canals that split, etc which make cleaning it out difficult.  

As for the swelling, the antibiotics and time will take care of it.  If theres a fistula (lil gum boil), sometimes warm salt water will help pull the pus out of the abscess.  Otherwise, your dentist can perform an incision and drainage but I wouldn't recommend that route at all.  The root canal was done and everything should be fine now.

Good luck with hygiene school!   Maybe I'll see you at some ADA functions.  Best wishes.