Dr. Hall,
I have a problem that I think may be from a broken tooth in my mouth. This is what is going on:
About one week ago, one of my molars broke in half. It is the tooth that is located directly in front of where my wisdom tooth was. Since that time, I have been having very bad pains in my check and jaw areas. I have lots of pain in the sinus area of my face and also in my nose area. The last two days, I have started having pain in my temple area and just this morning, I woke up with tenderness in my neck. The pain in my neck starts behind my ear and goes all the way toward the front of my neck.
I do not have the money to have the tooth pulled at this time. I have been taking antibiotics. I am not sure if it is the tooth or maybe sinus troubles.
Maybe you could help me. Someone told me today that it could be dangerous. I have no idea. I just know that it hurts really bad.
Thanks for your time and help,
Lorna in Louisiana
Lorna,
Yes, this is dangerous. Your tooth is infected, and the infection is spreading. If you don’t get this taken care of, it could spread to your brain. Get this taken care of.
Call your local dental society or hospital and see if there is a way you can get help to get this taken care of. Most cities have some way that people who seriously need treatment, as you do, can get help. If you call around enough, you’ll find how people in your community get this help. If you can’t, just go to the hospital emergency room and they will help you, even if it’s only temporarily.
If you take antibiotics without getting the tooth fixed or taken out, then what you accomplish is that you can get temporary relief and you breed bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotic, and then the infection comes back worse than it was before. The reason is that you can only kill the bacteria that are spilling out of the infected tooth. You can’t kill the bacteria inside the tooth, the source of the infection, without a root canal treatment or an extraction. Get it fixed.
Dr. Hall
Related pages from the mynewsmile.com web site:
Tooth extraction can be done as a last resort to cure a tooth infection.
Read about oral yeast infection.
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.