I woke up looking like elephant man - AGAIN! What can I do to get swelling down?!
Question: Last week I woke up with one side of my face completely swollen. I went to the doctor who said I had bad gingivitis, and gave me anti biotics and anti inflammatory. All good, after a day or 2 everything went away, I finished the anti biotics, and it cleared.
Yesterday the infection came back and the dentist said get more anti biotics. Now I just woke up and I look terrible, one side of my face is so swollen it makes the elephant man look pretty. I need to work in the morning but I am sore and embarrassed. Is there anything I can do to get the swelling down? Or does anyone have any general tips or recognise this?
Answers: Last week I woke up with one side of my face completely swollen. I went to the doctor who said I had bad gingivitis, and gave me anti biotics and anti inflammatory. All good, after a day or 2 everything went away, I finished the anti biotics, and it cleared.
Yesterday the infection came back and the dentist said get more anti biotics. Now I just woke up and I look terrible, one side of my face is so swollen it makes the elephant man look pretty. I need to work in the morning but I am sore and embarrassed. Is there anything I can do to get the swelling down? Or does anyone have any general tips or recognise this?
Obviously it's a bacterial infection of some sort and probably related to your teeth. When you went to the dentist, he or she should have taken an xray of the area that was bothering you the most.
Yes, it's true, a dentist can't do anything while there's an active infection. Antibiotics for one week will take care of it, but as you know, it will come back.
Unfortunately, in the short term there's nothing you can do at home. Sure, warm compresses will soothe and area and reduce it a bit, but you should take care of it right area.
Go back to the dentist and tell them what happened. Get another Rx for antibiotics, pinpoint which tooth is the culprit (meaning has a large cavity), and schedule an appointment in a week for treatment.
From there it could go two ways. One, extraction. Two, Root canal and crown. It depends on how much tooth is left, where the decay is and how much you can afford.
Good luck and take care.
TTG
Ice packs - swelling goes away in time. BTW drink lots of water. Won't help the swelling exactly but you do need to improve raise your blood volume with fluids.
But maybe by adding a little salt (a very important electrolyte) and sugar to the water you will reduce the swelling faster.
it would help to brush every morning, night, and after lunch if possible...by not brushing germs are still in there from last nights dinner and r causing the infection...also it might help to get a cleaning...
and put sum ice on it...
gingivitis? i don't think so... you may have have a case of cellulitis secondary to dental infection.. have your teeth checked... antibiotics may help but you're not removing the cause of infection... so it checked before its too late... pls. look into the web - cellulitis and ludwig's angina
Just stay in close touch with your doctor. Ice-packs may help some, but your medical condition is number one to monitor. for now.
gingivitis is a mild inflammation in your gums and can't cause your whole face to blow up. it sounds like an abscess either from a bad tooth or severe periodontal disease, not gingivitis. you need an x-ray..and i'd go to a different doctor. you need to get rid of the source of the infection, not just treat it with antibiotics.
could also be sinuses
I would suggest going to the ER and getting some other tests done. You could have an abscess that needs to be drained or an infection somewhere else than your tooth. Gingivitis shouldn't be causing your whole face to swell... it's just an inflammation of the gums, not an infection.
I'd go to the ER and get an x-ray done... at least.