What Are The Different Kinds of Dental Abscesses?

Few things can be more painful for patients than a dental abscess. Any nasty infection that can require antibiotics may be painful anywhere on the anatomy, but in this case, it can strike a direct hit on some very sensitive oral nerves, causing extreme pain.

This is bad enough, but matters can be made a lot worse if you cannot get to a dentist quickly and easily.

Many people will be only too aware of the notorious ‘dental deserts’ that exist around the country, with getting signed up with an NHS dentist proving to be one of the hardest tasks for anyone to manage unless they have been with the same practice for life. And even then, it might have gone private.

A lengthy wait to see a dentist can be very painful indeed in such circumstances and a bacterial infection may get considerably worse in the meantime, which is why it makes sense to buy Amoxicillin for a tooth infection of this kind.

The Four Main Kinds Of Abscess

Without a dentist to confirm that the problem is an abscess, it can be hard to be absolutely sure this is definitely the problem, but there are ways in which you can have a particularly good idea. One of those is by learning what the different kinds of tooth abscesses are.

In total, there are four main kinds of abscess, but some are much more common than others. These are:

·       Periapical abscess

·       Periodontal abscess

·       Gingival abscess

·       Pericoronal abscesses

A Periapical abscess is the most common kind of abscess. It is located at the very base of the tooth, where the root meets the gum. This is the most common kind.

These are most likely to occur through bacteria entering the tooth through a cavity, the kind of issue that dentists can treat with fillings, which is exactly what doesn’t happen when you can’t easily get an appointment where you live. This may also be true of the other root causes of abscesses that regular dental work can help to prevent.

If this treatment has not happened and the bacteria gets into the pulp, it can infect the nerve, leading to the reservoir of pus collecting at the base of the root.

Periodontal abscesses are the second most common type of abscess. They are located in the periodontal ligaments of the gum next to the root and they may spread to the nearby tissue and even into the alveolar bone, which is connected to the tooth by the periodontal ligaments.

This kind of abscess will not usually arise suddenly, but through the development of gum disease, known as periodontitis. This is characterised by symptoms such as redness, swelling, bleeding and bad breath, all of which are caused by the same bacteria that may ultimately produce an abscess.

Less Common Abscesses

Gingival abscesses are also located on the gum, but do not come into contact with the periodontal ligaments or the bone. In effect, these are abscesses of the gums, not teeth.

These manifest in the form of boils on the gums and the more serious kinds are those nearer the teeth, as these can then spread into the pulp and nerves. While less common than other forms of abscess, these are still very serious and can ultimately require root canal treatment or a tooth extraction.

Pericoronal abscesses affect the soft tissues of the gum around the crown of the tooth. A common site for these is around the wisdom teeth, as sometimes food debris can accumulate between the gingival flap and the crown of the tooth, encouraging the formation of bacteria.

This particular problem may be avoided if the wisdom teeth are removed, although this is not done as standard, only happening if the wisdom teeth cause a problem such as suffering severe decay or not being able to come through because there is insufficient space in the jaw, a result of modern dentistry ensuring that people do not typically lose adult teeth early.

Among the worst symptoms are a foul taste, inability to close the jaw and swelling in the cheek.

Common Issues With All Abscesses

What all of these abscesses have in common is that the infection has produced a reservoir of pus, which carries with it a lot of bacteria and fills the affected area with this fluid, placing painful pressure on it. Among the most common signs you have an abscess is the pain radiating from the infected area to the ear and neck.

In addition, the common causes remain the same: bacteria from tooth decay and gum disease exploit weaknesses to get inside the tooth through cracks and gum damage, or spread through the gum membranes.

Ultimately, you will need some dental treatment in due course, which is why antibiotics can be essential in limiting the infection while you wait for the opportunity.

Treatment like root canal surgery or the removal of a tooth to drain the abscess is highly unpleasant and certainly won’t appeal to those who suffer from a fear of the dentist, which is one of the most common phobias. But the alternatives are so much worse that even if you think of a dentist’s chair the way a vampire regards a crucifix, you still have to go.

The Difference Between Abscesses And Ulcers

Oral bacteria can also lead to unpleasant things like mouth ulcers, which are very nasty but not the same things as abscesses, as they do not produce pus and are located on the surface of the gum, never in the root of the tooth. That is why antiseptic treatments that work on mouth ulcers are not adequate for tackling abscesses.

The issue with abscesses is that they can spread via the nerves, with the infection eventually spreading to areas like the head or neck if unchecked, at which point it could cause very serious conditions like sepsis, which can be life-threatening.

Obtaining amoxicillin won’t remove the infection completely, as eventually the pus will need to be drained away to bring full relief. But it will fight the infection effectively, which will stop it from getting worse and spreading, reduce pain and inflammation, and, as a result, buy you time while you wait for a dentist to become available to treat it.