A healthy mouth should feel clean and pain-free. If you are brushing your teeth twice per day as recommended, followed by using floss and mouthwash and the pain continues, you must address it because it can turn into something life-threatening quickly.
Your Gums Look and Feel Different
The gum diseases gingivitis and periodontists, a more advanced disease, can lead to losing your teeth if not addressed. Both diseases are caused by plaque that can be almost invisible. The bacteria that become plaque burrows into the pores of your tooth. After some time, it turns into tartar or what dentist refers to as calculus. Contact our office immediately if you are experiencing any change in the color of your gums.
When inspecting your gums if you notice that the gums are lower on your teeth than usual it is a red flag. There may even be pus leaking from between teeth, with a strong foul odor. Call immediately, the bacteria in these diseases can get into your bloodstream. When that happens, you may require hospitalization.
Pain From an Abscessed Tooth
One of the most painful experiences one can go through is an abscessed tooth. After a cavity has made its way past the enamel of the tooth and it can no longer fight off all the infection, a small part of the inside of your tooth will fill with pus between the root and gums. An abscessed tooth is usually accompanied by severe swelling and intense pain.
There are many stories about people who have abscessed teeth, but because they are unemployed and uninsured, they put off the treatment and the abscess spread to the bloodstream, affecting organs and in a few rare cases it infects the brain, causing death. Call our office if you are experiencing an abscessed tooth, we will get you in as soon as possible.
Bleeding Gums and Bad Breath
When we bring up bad breath we’re not talking about after eating some onions, this is the bad breath that you cannot make go away. When your gums bleed and you have an odor that won’t go away, it is a red flag for gum disease. Waiting and hoping it will go away with brushing is what most people do allowing the infection to escalate. The smell in your mouth is a tooth rotting away. You may not see it because it can be under a filling, crown or deep in your gum line. Seek attention from our staff. This can quickly proceed into an abscessed tooth.
All of us try to avoid costly dentist visits throughout the year. The most important thing to keep in mind with the three areas we covered today is if these red flags are left untreated, they will continue to get worse, never better. The longer you wait to address it, the more costly it becomes. Give our office a call today and get scheduled for a checkup. We will get you scheduled as soon as possible.
