What Is an Abscessed Tooth?

Series Summary

Many people today want a whiter, brighter smile. Some of us can achieve it with proper oral hygiene—regular brushing, flossing, and using mouthwash. Some of us need a little extra help to get our yellowing teeth to return to the land of sparkling white, especially us smokers and coffee drinkers. There are a number of products out there that will help turn our teeth a few shades whiter, including bleaching agents and toothpastes that contain whiteners. For some, these do the trick; for others, over the counter solutions are often hit and miss, with temporary results. An abscess in a tooth or the gums is essentially an infection that is trapped, and can result in a lot of pain. In this free video series, a dentist will explain what an abscessed tooth is, whether or not someone can fly with an abscessed tooth, what the dangers of an abscessed tooth are, and how to treat an abscessed truth. With these tips on home dental care, anyone with teeth can learn how to avoid an abscess, in addition to learning what to do if they get an abscess.

Video Transcript

"I'm Dr. Joe Neely, and I practice with the Barton Oaks Dental group. We're going to talk about, what is an abscessed tooth? An abscess in any part of the body is simply an infection that's being contained or restrained by structures. In the case of a tooth, the tooth sits, is encased in bone with a thin sock like ligament that holds the tooth to the bone. The gum attaches into the neck of the tooth, and so an abscess around the gum in the tooth would be an infection that is up under the gum, under the attachment of the gum to the tooth that's being held in place by the gum tissue. Gum tissue will swell because it is flexible, but if it, if the attachment of the gum to the tooth is still intact, there will be pressure from that abscess. When that attachment is lost, that abscess can drain, and even though there may be some mild pain after that, it will not be intense until such time that the abscess overwhelms your immune system. An abscess tooth typically, the infection is trapped in the ligament space between the hard tooth and the hard bone. A very, very small amount of infection can create an intense amount of pressure. Therefore, pain."