What to do with my dental abscess?

[Laura M]

Hello

I have a dental abscess on my top side tooth that has flared up a few days ago and now its causing me tremendous toothache. I have tried taking pain killers and even some leftover antibiotics from a few months ago but nothing has even touched this pain. I assumed that since this is a dental abscess that taking the antibiotics was going to stop the pain and bring the abscess down but it has not worked. Could you please tell me if dental abscesses can be sorted out with antibiotics and if so, which type of antibiotic is the best one so that I can ask my GP to prescribe it.

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Thank you for your question.

A dental abscess needs to be first assessed and diagnosed before it can be treated. I dont think your GP would appretiate me telling him/her to prescribe a certain type of antibiotics without even seeing your first. Self diagnosis and prescription can be very dangerous. I would recommend that you see an emergency dentist and have the tooth examined and treated as necessary.

Many dental emergencies need operative treatment and antibiotics alone in many cases will not work.