A couple months ago, a friend of mine woke up with a swollen face. The dentist was closed and he went to his doctor who prescribed antibiotics. Once the swelling cleared, he went about his normal life. Just yesterday, he woke up and found his face had swollen again, so he went to the ER and got more antibiotics. If he has treated the infection, why does this keep happening? I know he has some dental work that needs to be done, but his doctors have treated the infection. Shouldn’t he be fine now? Did the doctors do something wrong or not treat him properly?
-Amber
Dear Amber,
I have a friend like this too. Some people continually put off work for reasons like fear or finances, only to have what might have been an easy fix, turn into a real dental emergency. Even in today’s modern age, people are still hospitalized and die from untreated dental infections. If your friend’s swelling and infection was caused by a dental problem, it must be a very severe infection to have manifested that way. I’m glad he’s on antibiotics now because the infection from just a single tooth can spread to surrounding bone, his lungs, heart, brain and all other parts of his body, resulting in severe illness or death.
The doctors didn’t do anything wrong. What your friend needs is a dentist. The only thing a medical doctor or the ER can do in these situations is prescribe antibiotics and pain medicine. While this will solve the immediate problem, the cause of the infection (his tooth) remains untreated. Once the antibiotics wear off, the infection will flare up again until he treats the tooth. The best choice for him is to have the tooth treated with a root canal if it can still be saved. Unfortunately, this is what happens when people put off dental work. There may have been a time when the tooth could have been restored with a simple filling, but because he put it off, it now needs more costly and invasive treatment to be saved, if it can be saved at all.
Many dental offices offer payment plans if finances are keeping him from treatment or they offer sedation dentistry if fear is what’s holding him back. Please urge your friend to schedule with his dentist before the infection takes hold again.
This blog is sponsored by Port St. Lucie emergency dentist Dr. Schamback.