Would Listerine stop an abscess from spreading?!
Question: I know it wont heal it. Just a temp solution until I can get my paws on some antibiotics.
Answers: I know it wont heal it. Just a temp solution until I can get my paws on some antibiotics.
To relieve the pain of an abscess and bring down the swelling, you need to enlist the aid of osmosis. Here's what you do. Get a glass or mug of hot water -- as hot as you can stand it in your mouth. To that, add a very high concentration of table salt -- a tablespoon or even 2 tablespoons. Dissolve the salt completely in the hot water.
Take 2 aspirin or 2 tylenol. These are anti-inflammatories. You have swelling, and the swelling is actually causing the pain. Within 15 - 20 minutes, the pain will begin dramatically to diminish, and that is about how long it will take for the first bits of the anti-inflammatory to get into your bloodstream. The aspirin or tylenol are synergistic with the osmotic pressure of the salt water.
Now take some of the hot, salty liquid into your mouth and tilt your head until the hot salt water solution sits right on the offending tooth, right on the blister or swelling and the tooth. Hold it there. Hold it right on there. Don't spit. Hold it until it completely cools to lukewarm, then spit it out. Repeat until you have used all the salt water solution.
Here is what you will feel. At first, you will feel throbbing pain, and through the first 2 - 4 mouthsful, the throbbing and the pain will actually increase. The salt in the solution will draw the pruritic fluids from the abscess to the surface of the gums. It is these fluids -- not the actual infection -- that causes the pain and the swelling. This is the stuff the infection gives off, and the body sends to the site to carry away the infection products. (If you palpate the lymph node toward the back of the mandible, on the side of the infection, at the top of the neck, it is probably tender and swollen. That is because it's trying to dispose of this junk, and not doing it fast enough, so the fluids have backed up.)
Anyway, the first 2 - 4 mouthsful will intensify the pain as these pruritic fluids come to the surface of the gums. Then, around the 3rd to 5th mouthful, the throbbing pain will peak and then will begin noticeably to diminish. In the area of the tooth in your mouth, you will be aware of a subtle but definite fluid, probably oozing out around the tooth. This is the junk that is causing the pain. And the pain will begin immediately to diminish.
About this time, the pills should kick in too. You will immediately feel worlds better, and if you palpate the lymph node, you will find that it is no longer swollen and tender.
Just sit back for a while, and relax. After half an hour or so, it wouldn't hurt to brush your teelth with an anti-gingivitis toothpaste, and then gargle really well with Listerine, just to clean your mouth.
You may have to repeat this process again, as needed, depending on how bad the actual infection is. But this will get rid of the pain and bring down the swelling. It is symptomatic relief, of course. But any infection in the head or mouth is potentially dangerous -- as I understand it -- because there is always the possibility that it could through some circuitious route, drain into the brain. You short circuit a certain amount of the danger of that here, because the salt water creates a channel out for the crud that is causing the pain, and the anti-inflammatories support the process by bringing down the swelling further.
Listerine won't keep the abscess from spreading, because the abscess is inside the gum and/or the tooth. But it can clean the mouth, and that definitely helps.
I hope this helps, too. Feel better.
No, sorry.
It is an antiseptic, so it will definitely kill germs and keep the abcess in check.
An abscess is an infection that has gone all the way through the tooth, through the pulp. Listerine is an antiseptic, yes, but is only good for cleaning the mouth, gums, and interproximally (between the teeth). Listerine will not get deep inside your tooth to have any affect on an infection that is that far advanced. Sorry!
Better to rinse out your mouth with salt water at least twice a day. Use warm water, and as much salt as you can stand. Don't swallow!
listerine won't help. get to your dentist ASAP and get on some antibiotics. people die from abscesses if they let them get too serious.