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I'm Dr. Joe Neely, and I practice with the Barton Oaks Dental Group. We're going to talk
about the signs of an abscessed tooth. An abscessed tooth, an abscess is simply an infection
that's contained, trapped in an area. In the case of the tooth, it would be trapped first,
in the inner chamber of the tooth, and then, in the surrounding structures, or between
the tooth, and the surrounding structures, of bone and ligament. The signs initially,
as the infection or abscess begins to affect the nerve tissue inside the tooth, the tooth
becomes hypersensitive. It more dramatically responds to changes in temperature, be they
cold or hot. Also, would be tactile sensation. It would be more sensitive to being tapped
on, or to being struck with an object, like a tooth brush, or a fork, or the other teeth
against it. As the abscess spreads into the surrounding structure, then the pressure becomes
more hydraulic in nature, so even more intense. As the abscess begins to expand, it would
create a void in the bone, around the infection, around the root tip, create an enlargement
of the ligament. The ligament can drain up into the gum. The gums surrounding a tooth,
could become engorged and swollen, and red, and painful to the touch. If given enough
time, there would be a period of time, where the abscessed tooth, only hurts with pressure.
It no longer responds to temperature, because there's no nerve tissue in the tooth, any
longer. That usually is a brief period of time, until the infection worsens, and you
get a much more dramatic increase, in pressure related pain.