It starts with a little throbbing and some pain, but you push on, hoping that it will go away. A few days go by and your toothache is painful but manageable, so you avoid the dentist. What you don’t realize is the infection causing the pain could be spreading to the rest of your body.
Today’s blog from Parkcrest Dental Group discusses how mouth infections could be damaging your health and why you need to take care of them immediately.
Related Post: Reccuring Toothaches Signify Dental Issues
Symptoms of Mouth Infection
If you’ve ever had a tooth infection, you know there’s no other pain quite like it. Severe tooth pain can deplete you of energy, leaving you feeling sick and exhausted. This should be reason enough to seek help. Infections left untreated can result in serious health issues and even death.
Symptoms of a mouth infection include:
- Throbbing tooth
- Throbbing or pain in the gums and jaw/jawline
- Swollen gums
- Swelling in the cheeks
- Tender or swollen lymph nodes in the neck
- Pain in the ears
- Nasal pain
- Fever
- Bad breath
- Unpleasant taste in the mouth
- Increased pain and throbbing when lying down
If these symptoms go untreated, the infection can actually travel from your tooth and spread into other parts of the body, causing more issues. That’s why Parkcrest Dental Group suggests you solve a mouth infection as soon as possible.
Signs of Spreading
If you have a toothache and you start to experience sinus pain and a headache, this could be a sign of an abscess. If you don’t have tooth pain but suffer from chronic sinus infections and headaches, this could be your body telling you that you have a tooth infection, despite the lack of pain or swelling near the tooth itself.
Other signs of a spreading mouth infection include:
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Fever and chills
- Rapid pulse rate
- Lightheadedness
- Dehydration
- Confusion
- Increased breath rate
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
The extreme result of an untreated infection can be sepsis. Sepsis, also known as septic shock or blood poisoning, is when a serious infection causes your immune system to attach the body. This results in a significant drop in blood pressure, causing breathing difficulty, heart attack, stroke, organ failure and other life-threatening dangers. Those who survive sepsis are often left with life long issues including chronic pain, chronic fatigue and poor organ function.
Treatments
You should seek treatment at the first sign of a mouth infection. Your dentist will determine the best course of action if the doctor notices an infection in your mouth.
Typical treatments include:
- Administering antibiotics
- Pain medication
- Tooth extraction
- Fillings
- Root canals
Related Post: Why You Need Regular Dental Visits
Talk to Parkcrest Dental Group
If you are experiencing any of the symptoms you read about in this blog, seek medical help immediately. If you don’t have a dentist, contact Parkcrest Dental today or call (417) 887-1220. We would love to partner with you in better oral hygiene.
