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Avatar universal

tooth abscess and swollen cheek

i have a couple of questions about abscesses. last week i developed an abcsess in my tooth. my cheek became very swollen. the doctor said the infection from the abscess had passed from my tooth into my cheek. they put me on keeflex. within 24 hours about 60% of the swelling in my cheek had subsided. i am now on day 6 of a 10 days worth of the keeflex. my questions are how exactly does the infection from the abscess get into your cheek and even though i am now on day 6 of my medication there is still some swelling in my cheek that feels hard to the touch. all the pain from the infection as been gone for some days now and i did notice a little more improvement in the cheek today, but how long should it take for the swelling to completely go away?
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662085 tn?1331345560
Thank-you for the help and i will try
Helpful - 1
662085 tn?1331345560
I have two abscess but not the money to pay for the surgery what can i do? I took antibotics and got ride of the infecttion to spread but its still there and im worried
1 it will cont to grow till my jaw bone is weakend and brakes
2 i dont have the thousands of dollars for the procude any way
3 no insurance will cover the procidure i  can try and get money back but they want the full pay up front and i just dont have that kind of money in my back pocket.
Helpful - 1
540545 tn?1377622918
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Sounds like you're doing fine.  The swelling may not resolve for awhile because you still have an active source of infection due to a bad tooth I assume.  Once the tooth it out, the swelling should probably be gone in a week or so.

Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
i think, what i want to know most also is. besides taking my antibiotic, ibuprofen, and cold packs to help inflamation. is there also anything else i can be doing to aid in healing and reduce swelling?
Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
yes they do plan further treatment. i was told that i need to get all the infection cured up first though. so my concern was that it showed such a dramatic improvement in the first 24/48 hours. what i refer to as the "infection" pain has been gone for several days. what i'm left with now is still some minimal but noticable swelling to my cheek that feels hard and has a "bruised" feeling to it. it does still feel warm to the touch which i was always taught is a sign there is still an infection present. i do of course plan to finish all 10 days worth of my antibiotics but i'm just wondering how much longer it should take for the last bit of infection to clear completely out of my cheek and it go back to it's normal shape.

Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
A related discussion, Hard swelling in cheek for last 20days was started.
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