Though dental issues are not always life threatening, a few can be. Look at abscess for instance. Abscesses are infections that affect the tooth, the gums and the space between the tooth and the gums. The problem with abscess is that if it is left untreated, it can affect other parts of the body and can turn out to be life-threatening.

If you discover a pimple-like swelling on your gum and it is really painful, then you must visit the dentist immediately. You can also ease the pain by holding a mouthful of mild salt water solution, spitting it out and repeating the process until you get to the dentist. This would not only lessen the pain a bit, but would help in draining the pus out as well.

More About Dental Abscess

The normal cause of dental pus is bacteria and hence, it usually consists of germs, dead tissue and blood cells. This is what will come out in the pus form when you have the abscess. Though localized, there are two main types of abscess related emergencies:

Periapical Abscess

Periapical abscess is directly related to tooth decay because it is developed as a result of the compilation of the latter. It usually starts in the dental pulp, i.e. the center of the tooth and attacks the protective layers of the tooth, damaging the dentine and the enamel. Invariably this leads to infection and would progress to an abscess. Periapical abscess can also happen as a result of a tooth injury because if there is dead tissue within the tooth, that could cause an infection.

Periodontal Abscess

As the name suggests, periodontal abscess usually starts in the periodontium, the area between the tooth and the gum, and also known as supporting structures. Normally, gum disease is the first symptom for this kind of abscess. It can happen when the gum gets injured or something happens to the periodontium. The swelling would be made of bacteria and will develop eventually to become a full-fledged abscess. The other name for periodontal abscess is ‘gum boil’, called so because you have swelling in the gum area, next to the tooth.

An abscess must be treated quickly or else it could lead to complications. The abscess could break and it would show in the mouth and the skin. Leaving an abscess untreated would leave a sinus tract open and you have continuous infections of the mouth and skin and discharge of pus. Though complications from this are not usual, rare cases have turned fatal as well.

Your Dentist Can Diagnose the Following Life Threatening Diseases As Well:

Oral cancer

The sad part of oral cancer is that most people are not even aware of the first symptoms. It is also not easy for a person to diagnose the problem on his own because he is not seeing his entire mouth to notice the tenderness, the lumps or the white patches normally associated with oral cancer. Actually these physical signs could either be perfectly harmless or it would turn out to be the potential warning signs of an oral cancer. Getting your teeth and mouth checked regularly is the only solution to this problem.

Alcohol

Constant consumption of liquor is not just bad for the liver, but it could lead to dental decay as well. Poor dental hygiene is mostly the reason for this.

Diabetes

If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, then beware of your teeth as well. There is a very good chance that you could be suffering from gum problems and tooth decay as an aftereffect of diabetes. In fact, these are all part of the symptoms in a diabetic patient.

These may not be emergency situations, but are definitely worth noting! To find out more, get in touch with Emergency Dental as soon as possible.