Dangers of Leaving an Abscess Untreated

Painful, disgusting, and potentially life-threatening, dental abscesses are a serious issue that should never be ignored or left untreated. They require immediate evaluation to assess the damage and ensure proper care, from their earlier development to the most critical late stages.

Potential Death

The most blatant threat of leaving an abscess unchecked is that it is a festering infection currently trying to spread and grow through any tissues it can. This is not limited to just your teeth, but your entire jaw, connected tissues, and nerves. An abscess that has swollen and grown for too long might pop, injecting its diseased contents directly into your bloodstream, leading to gangrene, rot, destruction of organs, and even death.

Tooth Trauma

Even before the abscess reaches that stage, it can be very dangerous just in the damage it wreaks upon your mouth. An abscess is at its core a cyst that has become infected, and that infection is not limited to just the tooth it starts in. By traveling along nerves, roots, and even the structure of your jaw bones, the abscess can spread its disease to your other teeth and gums, multiplying to attack your mouth from all directions.

And even if you are lucky enough to not be at risk of death or further disease, you must remember that the abscess is full of nasty, foul pus, created by a combination of bacterial infection and your bodies attempts to kill that infection. You will experience foul odors, tastes, and bad breath as a result of hosting that disease-ridden combination of miasmic fluids inside of your mouth.

If you are currently suffering from a tooth abscess, you must seek out emergency care before it can grow and become worse. Please reach out to us promptly so that we can schedule you for an appointment and take the necessary steps to save your breath, your smile, and potentially even your life.