Daily recurring gum swelling

[kojakjs]

Hi, for about 2 weeks now I have been experiencing a localized swelling of my gums. It comes and goes almost daily usually at night.  It is quite painful.  It is located above my upper left molars.  The gum between the teeth is not involved.  The swelling extends from a row above my molars and partially into the roof of my mouth.  

I have been taking 800 mg of ibuprofen for the pain.  The swelling will typically last 2 hours and then subside.

I went to the dentist who thinks its a simple infection.  He froze me up and gave it all a good cleaning. Also gave me an antibacterial mouthwash. This gave me relief for 2 days and then the cycle started again. Dentist then gave me a 7 day scrip for amoxicillan. I'm now into day 3 of the antibiotic and yet the swelling cycle continues.

Is this a garden variety infection?  The fact that it comes and goes like this seems very strange.

I'd appreciate any comments.

Thanks, Kojalk

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Is there a specific trend as to when the swelling comes and goes?  Although probably pretty rare, it may be a blocked salivary gland of some sort up there which will swell when you're about to eat and subside when done eating.  These tend to occur more often in the lower lip area.  Its called a mucocele.  

But you may want to follow up with an oral surgeon if the dentist can't seem to be able to treat/diagnose the problem.

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

That's possible.  If its a sinus infection, a course of antibiotics should fix the problem.  May want to ask your primary physician for a check and see

[kojakjs]

Thanks !  The only trend that I can determine is that it occurs later at night often when I am asleep, although one episode happened at 10:30 am.  One other coincident item is that most times that it has happened I've noticed that my left nasal passage is blocked (same side as the gum swelling)... could this be related to some kind of sinus problem?