numbing mouth rinse not working

I am 29 weeks pregnant and I believe I have an abcessed tooth. The gums are red and swollen, I have noticed a small hole in the tooth, it is a back top right molar. I also have a swollen lymph node below my jaw on the opposite side. The pain is always there but at times it becomes unbearable. Last night I wanted a pair of pliers to pull it out myself!

I have an appointment for Monday morning, 3 long days away. My obgyn wrote me a prescription for zithromax and a mouth rinse. The name on the bottle lidocaine/maaloxus/benadryl. I am assuming that is what it is made up of. The thing is while it numbs it makes the pain worse. I don't know if it is the swishing in the area, but the numbing effect is not worth it.

The only thing I can take is tylenol which has no effect at all. What I am wondering is this mouth rinse worth using or is just hit and miss when it comes to the pain? I just want to make it through the weekend. Also will the antibiotics help with pain once they get in my system?

thanks!

[Douglas Hauck, DDS]

First of all, congratulations on becoming a mom. The rinse is good but it numbs up only the gums. From what you are explaining, and describing, it sounds like the tooth might need a root canal, so the numbing rinses do not do much, because the pain is a deep pain of a tooth. The rinse may make your mouth numb but it is not affecting the pain and unless it is something that helps you, it would not be worth taking. Also, what I would recommend for people who are pregnant to have very close check ups and gums to be evaluated more often. The other thing is to make sure you have a letter from your OBGYN with you that it would be OK for you to have dental treatment done on emergency basis just so that your dental appointment would go through faster and more efficiently or make sure they are reachable and respond back immediately when the dentist calls them to get the OK for treatment from them. Have their phone number, email and fax numbers with you when you go to your dental visit on Monday.