• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

are antibiotics always necessary for an infected tooth?

1

1398_Days

Junior member
Joined
Apr 23, 2015
Messages
13
I have an abscessed tooth. I'm trying to work myself up to going to the dentist, but I'm really, really nervous about the possibility of having to take antibiotics. It's a long story, but I have a lot of anxiety in regards to antibiotics and will do whatever I can to avoid taking them. Are they absolutely necessary for an abscessed tooth? The tooth is in pretty bad shape as well, and I'm pretty sure it's going to have to be extracted. It likely won't require antibiotics if it's extracted, right? I could really use some advice, I'm freaking out! :(
 
I am not a dentist...just giving personal experience. My husband had a bad abscess a few years ago on a top back molar. He needed a root canal, and had to take antibiotics to get the swelling down enough to do the root canal. They said the anesthetic wouldn't work if the abscess was there. He got the abscess back this year, worse than before. He had the tooth pulled this time and did not have to take antibiotics. They said they would give him a prescription but he didn't have to fill it unless he felt like the infection didn't go away. They cleaned the extraction site very well, and gave him a clove based rinse to use.
 
Hi there, as MountainMama suggests, if your tooth is abscessed, the infection prevents the anesthetic to get where it needs to be so numbing can really be a problem. That's the reason why antibiotics are used to get the infection down first and then to work on that tooth. Now if this is where your fear lies, how about to see a dentist and discuss this with him/her. I am sure that modern dentistry has some tools to deal with your case too (may you get a reply from one of the lovely dentists here on the forum). Just do not let any fear stop you from seeing a dentist. You can still decide if you go the suggested course of things or not.
 
I am not a dentist...just giving personal experience. My husband had a bad abscess a few years ago on a top back molar. He needed a root canal, and had to take antibiotics to get the swelling down enough to do the root canal. They said the anesthetic wouldn't work if the abscess was there. He got the abscess back this year, worse than before. He had the tooth pulled this time and did not have to take antibiotics. They said they would give him a prescription but he didn't have to fill it unless he felt like the infection didn't go away. They cleaned the extraction site very well, and gave him a clove based rinse to use.

Hi,

I also have a abscess in my Molar top right. Already had a root canal on it years back. In no pain now. 2 options, have the tooth extracted or have specialist re root canal for £600. I don't want to loose the tooth. Just out of interest how is your husband coping without his molar?
 
Hi 1398_Days,

Gordon, one of our resident dentists, answered this question a little while back (11 years to be precise - how scary is that :o!):


Basically, it depends on your symptoms. If you have an acute infection (the signs of which are heat, redness and severe pain), then you'll want antibiotics (to get you out of pain, if nothing else!). If you don't have these symptoms, you have a chronic abscess, which doesn't require antibiotics.

Not all antibiotics are the same, and if you've had a bad reaction to one antibiotic in the past, this doesn't mean that you'll have a bad reaction to other antibiotics. Also, some people are very worried about antibiotics (or other medications) causing nausea and sickness - again, not all antibiotics are the same and with most of them, simply making sure that you take them with food will prevent nausea. Make sure to let your dentist know about your concerns though.

Let us know how you get on!
 
Hi,

I also have a abscess in my Molar top right. Already had a root canal on it years back. In no pain now. 2 options, have the tooth extracted or have specialist re root canal for £600. I don't want to loose the tooth. Just out of interest how is your husband coping without his molar?

He said it really hasn't made much difference. You can't see it, and he can chew just fine.
 
Back
Top