Treated for tooth abscess twice, just behind the wisdom tooth. Area painful, yellow pus with nasty odor. Further treatment ?
Patient: About a year and a half ago I had a tooth abscess . It was my very back tooth on the bottom right. This was just before my wisdom tooth came in behind it. I ve been treated for the abscess twice since then but haven t had the money to get my tooth pulled. Now my wisdom tooth is almost completely grown in behind the bad tooth and it s partially covered by my gums. But only covered a little bit on the top and completely covered on the back. The area is painful most of the time and now I when I put pressure on my gums by the tooth, yellow pus comes from the back of my gums. And it has a nasty odor. What s wrong with me? And what type of treatment do I need? Doctor: Hi, Thanks for posting your query.  First, the pus and discomfort you are feeling are because of the infected wisdom tooth. Some times the food also gets lodged in between the flap and the tooth resulting in infection due to degradation of food there leading to pain and bad odor (halitosis).  Getting the pus removed again and again may not resolve your problem permanently if the tooth is infected. Ideally you need to get the offending tooth extracted and the pus drained. Your dentist may take an xray of the area to confirm the diagnosis.  Meanwhile you can start with antibiotics and anti inflammatory drugs to reduce the infection. You should also do warm saline gargles 3-4 times/day to help in dissolution of the stuck food and removal of pus from the area. Mouthwash rinses twice daily after brushing are also recommended.  Regards