Abscess/Gum boil

[bumble]

I have had an abscess on a broken maxillary molar now for several weeks. On my first visit to the dentist he gave me amoxicillin (as I can not tolerate metronidazole or ethromycin) which did not work. By this time I am in excruciating pain that no over the counter painkiller will kill (I also cannot take anti inflammatories due to an allergy to them) and my face had also started to swell so I went back.

He then gave me a course of augmentin which seemed to take the swelling down and cause a head to develop on the lump on my gum. It then burst. However, even so throbbing continued in the infected tooth so although most of the swelling went down I returned to the dentist a few days later after finishing the course.

He would not give me a third course and said the infection would not clear properly until the tooth was removed. However, as the tooth is very badly broken (most of the top tooth has gone completely taking parts of the root with it, leaving only one very small piece of tooth above the gum and fragments of root inside the gum) it needs to be removed by a specialist so i will have to wait for a referral...which going by the waiting list can take several months.

What concerns me is that since my last dental visit, even though the abscess drained the swelling is returning. For now the swelling is mostly in the gum, but if it continues to grow at the speed the lump is growing (with ever increasing pain) I am worried the facial swelling will return also.

I can't really tolerate this level of pain until i see a specialist...as its not just the infected tooth that hurts (what is left of it). The pain has spread to all of my teeth on both the upper and lower jaw on that side and chewing is impossible as i cant put my teeth together at all.

Although it has not yet come up to another head, is it likely the abscess will burst again? Will it settle by itself? Is there anything I can do as its getting to the point where over the counter painkillers are not effective. The last time teh pain was so excruciating I could hardly breath over it.

Any advice welcome.

Bumble.

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Thank you for your post.

Sounds like from what you are saying that this tooth needs to be removed as soon as possible. Multiple courses of antibiotics will have side effects and will not cure the underlying problem which is an infected tooth. You can book see one of our specialist oral surgeons and have the tooth removed within 24 hours.