dental disorders
How To Drain a Tooth Abscess
Additional Considerations
Local anesthetic injections placed into an abscess may be ineffective (due to the low pH environment) so more solution than normal may be required. Be careful not to exceed maximum dose. Local injections also risk spreading the infection, so a dental nerve block, procedural sedation, or other anesthesia is preferred. Local infiltrations may be placed in uninfected tissue adjacent to an abscess if needed to supplement a nerve block. Do a periapical or panographic x-ray to verify the source of the infection, location and extent of bone destruction, and the type and extent of the abscess. Prophylactic antibiotic regimens should be given to certain Microbiologic testing is not usually needed for localized abscesses, but should be done if the patient is immunocompromised, if the infection is recurrent, or if the patient has failed previous surgical/antibiotic therapy. 