What did you go through (symptoms) when you had an infection of the teeth or gums? What did you go through physically and what was visable?

From my own experience when a tooth was infected I would develope a little postule or pimple near the root on the gum surface and the tooth and area would throb. I've only had 1 tooth that did not develop the pimple yet was so infected my face swelled up and hurt all over, especially my ear - so it had to be removed.

For a gum infection such as advanced gingivitis or perio disease I noticed my gums looked irritated and red. Although I had no gum bleeding if I pushed on the gum tissue near the bottom of the teeth I sometimes would see some white substance ooze out but not really pus - sorry for being so graphic and gross. The area would ache and I noticed my teeth were sensitive and sometimes felt loose.

From my own experience when a tooth was infected I would develope a little postule or pimple near the root on the gum surface and the tooth and area would throb. I've only had 1 tooth that did not develop the pimple yet was so infected my face swelled up and hurt all over, especially my ear - so it had to be removed.

For a gum infection such as advanced gingivitis or perio disease I noticed my gums looked irritated and red. Although I had no gum bleeding if I pushed on the gum tissue near the bottom of the teeth I sometimes would see some white substance ooze out but not really pus - sorry for being so graphic and gross. The area would ache and I noticed my teeth were sensitive and sometimes felt loose.

How long had you let it go before it got to that point and what did you do to remedy the infection?

Tooth infections generally pop up quite suddenly although you may feel some twinges before hand - the pimple or postule would seem to pop up over night and I would have them taken care of immediately - its one of the reasons I kept antibiotics handy - I would take them while waiting to see the dentist(endodontist). If the pimple became quite large I would drain it myself as well.

Gum infections slowly develop over time - since I didn't know I had perio problems (my regular dentist missed it) it wasn't until my teeth started to feel very loose (over a one year period) and flange out that I went and had it treated - from that point on I went for cleanings at the perio every 3 mos and had several gum treatments performed. The earlier you catch it the better it is - that way it doesn't get too deep or cause too much damage or bone loss. My sister developed the same problems shortly after I did and has not treated it - its been about 10 years now and she is just starting to lose teeth - its to the point that most dentists have told her its too far gone and its best to just to either remove them now or deal with losing one tooth at a time until she is forced to get dentures.

Thelma,

Was there any concern that the infection would get into the bloodstream and cause other problems?

Jade

Not really. For tooth infections, your body's immune system should be able to handle it (with some help from antibiotics) unless it has already been compromised by some other pre-existing condition. For the perio disease - I had previously read articles about there being a correlation between perio disease and heart disease - the latter being prevalent in my family - so once I knew I had it I did what I could to address it. Although this did not happen to me - I do know that if left untreated some infection can literally invade the jaw bones and be so severe that high dose antibiotics via IV are required and sometimes even surgery.