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A tooth extraction infection and a dry socket?
What's the difference between a tooth extraction infection and a dry socket?

A tooth extraction infection is always a possibility after you have had a tooth removed. Sometimes people call it a dry socket.
But they are NOT the same thing. Most folks who think they have a "tooth extraction infection" actually have a completely different problem, called dry socket.
What is a dry socket? It's the empty socket in the gum that's left behind when you've had a tooth out. It's empty because there's no blood clot in there. And that's the problem. An empty tooth extraction socket will be SLOW to heal.
The pain is caused by an inflammation of the bone surrounding the socket, which happens when there is little or no blood clot to cover the bone.There is NO infection, no bacteria. A bone infection is usually VERY painful.


Without a blood clot, the walls of the socket are basically exposed bone.
An empty socket will also trap bits of food.
What a drag! You get a tooth pulled because it's causing a problem, and you still end up with pain!

What is Pericoronitis , And What You Can Do About This Type Of Wisdom Tooth Infection. Pericoronitis is an infection of the gum around a wisdom tooth. Infection gets into the gum because the tooth has not grown all the way through, and there is a flap of gum tissue over the top of the tooth.
Bacteria in saliva can get under the gum flap, and set up an infection.
How does this happen? As the wisdom tooth grows under the gum, it pushes up on the gum from underneath. The gum gets thinner and thinner as the tooth slowly moves up. But the gum is still intact over the tooth, and so bacteria cannot get under the gum. But at some point, one of the cusps of the tooth breaks through the gum.
 
  
 From now on, the tooth is no longer sealed off from the bacteria in your saliva. The bacteria can get under the gum, and set up a little colony right there. These are bacteria that are normally present in everybody's mouth, they are not some kind of new infection!
But problems can start because the bacteria can hide under the flap of gum that is still covering most of the top of the wisdom tooth. This means they are not exposed to the normal flow of saliva, and are in a low-oxygen situation.
Bacteria that can grow without oxygen are called "anaerobic" bacteria. While we all have them in our mouths to some degree, they are kept in check by the oxygen in our saliva.
But when they get into a low-oxygen situation, like under the flap of gum covering a wisdom tooth, they can multiply rapidly, and set up an infection.

Treatment of Tooth Abscess  - What Are Your Options?

As it turns out, there aren't many options. Tooth abscess treatment is dictated by what stage the infection has reached, how severe the infection is, and HOW MUCH PAIN you are in.
 
 The first thing is to confirm that the pain really IS caused by a tooth abscess, and not something else! This might seem simple, BUT sometimes a tooth will be painful (or you have a swollen jaw) for OTHER reasons. AND IT"S NOT ALWAYS EASY to identify a tooth abscess.
 
 Once we are SURE your pain and swelling are due to a dental abscess, the NEXT step is TREATMENT!
 Treatment will almost always include antibiotics as a first step. The next thing to decide is whether you want to keep the tooth or not. If the tooth is not really worth keeping, you might think about having it removed.
 
  
 
 Maybe it's a back tooth with nothing to bite on. Maybe you have crowded teeth and it's been pushed out of line. Or it's got a big hole in it. There are many reasons why you might not want to keep the tooth.

Tooth Dental Abscess Antibiotics - A Dentist's Guide If you have a tooth abscess, antibiotics are pretty much an essential part of treatment. Tooth abscess antibiotics for a dental infection are very effective, and the most commonly prescribed antibiotic is probably Amoxicillin, a type of penicillin. It's usually called Amoxyl.
BUT you don't ALWAYS need antibiotics, and these days we are trying to cut down on antibiotic prescribing due to bacteria becoming resistant. If it's possible for your dentist to drain an infection, either by making a small hole in the tooth or else by making a small incision in the gum to let the pus out, then the infection has a way out, and you may not need antibiotics.
The discovery of the first antibiotic - penicillin - by Nobel Prize-winner Alexander Fleming created a revolution. As Woody Allen said, "I wouldn't want to have lived in any time period before the invention of antibiotics".
When you think about it, he's right! Before antibiotics came along, many people died from simple infections that would be treated very easily today.
 
  
 ONE THING to remember, though, is that we have an increasing problem of bacteria becoming immune to our antibiotics.
ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE.
Potentially, this is a very serious problem, because it means that in the future, a simple infection might kill you if the bacteria responsible have become immune to antibiotics.
The problem of some types of bacteria developing immunity (or "resistance") to common antibiotics has developed gradually over recent years, due to doctors and dentists "over-prescribing". While there is A LOT of research being done into new, alternative antibiotics, we can all help to reduce the problem of antibiotic resistance by only taking current tooth abscess antibiotics when we are SURE that there is an infection caused by bacteria, with a swelling, difficulty opening your jaw, or a raised temperature.
 
 THERE IS ALSO NEW PRESCRIBING INFORMATION! Recent studies (in 2017) have shown that SHORT courses of antibiotics (ie. 3 to 5 days) are just as effective as longer courses (ie. 7 to 10 days). AND taking antibiotics for longer than 3 to 5 days means that you are MORE LIKELY to get an antibiotic-resistant infection!
The report recommends only taking antibiotics for as long as you still have symptoms. As soon as you feel things are back to normal, you can STOP taking the antibiotics.

Tooth Dental Abscess Symptoms - A Dentist's Guide

Tooth abscess symptoms can vary a LOT, depending on how advanced the infection is.
At the very start, the symptoms of your tooth infection can be quite mild. It may be as simple as a tooth that's just a little tender to bite on. You notice it when you're eating, and you try to avoid that tooth when chewing something hard. At other times the tooth is OK to bite on, BUT sore if you tap it from the side with your fingernail.
Either way, that tooth feels different to your other teeth. This MIGHT also be due to having bitten on something hard, jarring the tooth.
You'll know within a few days, as a "bruised" tooth generally settles down fairly quickly, whereas symptoms of tooth infection tend to gradually get worse.
 
  
 As the days go by, the tooth becomes more uncomfortable to pressure. You might even feel as if the tooth is being "pushed out of it's socket" a tiny bit. It seems like you can't avoid the tooth, constantly knocking it with the opposite teeth.
 What you might notice is that the tooth is NOT sensitive to temperature extremes at all. You can drink scalding hot coffee or ice-cold soda, and the tooth doesn't hurt. Weird, huh?
Not really. There's no pain on hot or cold because the nerve has died. There is no nerve inside the tooth anymore.

Wisdom Teeth Infection Explained by a Dentist

Do you have a wisdom teeth infection? A wisdom tooth infection is NOT actually an infection of the tooth, but an infection of the GUM around the tooth!
Wisdom teeth are at the very back of the mouth, so it's all happening right at the back there. It can be hard to see much!
But you can feel it.
The first thing most people notice is that the gum is a bit sore over the wisdom tooth. It feels like they bit on something hard and grazed the gum a bit. They usually don't take much notice at this early stage.
Then it gets a bit more uncomfortable.



The next sign of wisdom teeth infection is a swollen gum - the gum around the tooth becomes puffy and starts to swell up. Sometime only a little, but other times a LOT.
The gum will also get quite red and inflamed, although this can be hard to see!

 Tooth Infection - What are the Symptoms and Treatment? Tooth infection is a major cause of toothache. But as well as being painful, an untreated tooth abscess can sometimes progress into a serious medical emergency.
 Infection from an abscessed tooth can spread into your neck, causing difficulty swallowing and breathing. Time for the ER.
But don't panic just yet! If you're reading this, the chances are that you've just got a sore tooth at this point, and want to find out what the cause is, and what you can do about it.
But if you DO have a painful tooth with a swollen gum and you ARE having trouble swallowing or breathing, STOP READING RIGHT NOW, AND GET YOURSELF TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY ROOM. NOW.



OK, are the rest of you still here? Phew! I had to put that bit in there, just in case anybody with a serious tooth abscess is trying to treat it themselves by getting advice off websites.
 
  OK, I think my website is great, but I can't treat people by Fedex! Those of you with a seriously abscessed tooth (are you still here?) need to get treatment immediately.

Getting a Tooth Pulled -What's Involved? Getting a tooth pulled is a big decision.
The two main reasons why you might need to get a tooth pulled are either toothache, or to make some room for straightening crooked teeth with braces.
A third possiblity would be if you need to have a wisdom tooth removed.
If you're thinking about having a tooth out because of toothache, remember that the tooth doesn't grow back, and you will be left with a gap afterwards.


So don't make the decision about getting a tooth pulled quickly or lightly!
If your dentist has told you that you need to get a tooth removed, you're probably wondering what's going to happen, what will it be like, and how sore will it be afterwards.



A tooth can cause you pain for the following reasons:
 

• wisdom tooth - where there's no room for it to grow properly.
• infected tooth - and you don't want root canal or the dentist has said it isn't possible
• cracked or broken tooth - where the tooth is broken beyond repair
• gum disease - you have a loose tooth

In these situations the only option is to get the tooth out.
Orthodontics (Braces)
 If the dentist needs to make some space to straighten your teeth with braces, and a tooth needs to be removed to make that space, the dentist will look to see if there is a tooth with a big filling or some other problem.
If you only need to have a tooth out to make room for braces, it obviously makes sense to take out a weak or chipped tooth, rather than one that's completely healthy.
It is always possible to get a replacement tooth, such as a bridge or an implant, but these options are never as good as the real thing.
Also, they will involve additional expense!

Wisdom Teeth Dry Socket Do you have a wisdom teeth dry socket? OR do you have a wisdom teeth socket infection?
It can be hard to tell the difference, and you might be wondering if it even matters, when you are in pain after getting a wisdom tooth removed.
BUT IT DOES MATTER because the treatment is different. If you do the wrong thing, you will not fix the problem, and your pain will gradually get worse. SO we need to work out if you have a wisdom teeth dry socket OR an infected socket.
ONCE WE KNOW WHICH CONDITION YOU HAVE, WE CAN RECOMMEND THE BEST TREATMENT!



So let’s get down to business - what are the symptoms of a wisdom teeth dry socket?
 

• First, you will probably have a bad taste or a bad smell in your mouth. 
• Next, you will start to get pain in the extraction socket 4 to 5 days AFTER the extraction.
• You will NOT have any swelling in the area at all.

Wisdom Teeth Infection Explained by a Dentist Do you have a wisdom teeth infection? A wisdom tooth infection is NOT actually an infection of the tooth, but an infection of the GUM around the tooth!
Wisdom teeth are at the very back of the mouth, so it's all happening right at the back there. It can be hard to see much!
But you can feel it.
The first thing most people notice is that the gum is a bit sore over the wisdom tooth. It feels like they bit on something hard and grazed the gum a bit. They usually don't take much notice at this early stage.
Then it gets a bit more uncomfortable.



The next sign of wisdom teeth infection is a swollen gum - the gum around the tooth becomes puffy and starts to swell up. Sometime only a little, but other times a LOT.
The gum will also get quite red and inflamed, although this can be hard to see!


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