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A dental abscess is a localized collection of pus associated with a tooth. The most common type of dental abscess is a periapical abscess, and the second most common is a periodontal abscess. In a periapical abscess, usually the origin is a bacterial infection that has accumulated in the soft, often dead, pulp of the tooth.
Odontogenic infections can be severe if not treated and are associated with mortality rate of 10 to 40%. [4] Furthermore, about 70% of odontogenic infections occur as periapical inflammation, i.e. acute periapical periodontitis or a periapical abscess. [3] The next most common form of odontogenic infection is the periodontal abscess. [3]
It is a type of dental abscess. A periodontal abscess occurs alongside a tooth, and is different from the more common [2] periapical abscess, which represents the spread of infection from a dead tooth (i.e. which has undergone pulpal necrosis). To reflect this, sometimes the term "lateral (periodontal) abscess" is used.
Mouth infections spread from the root of the infected tooth through the jaw bones and into potential spaces between the fascial planes of surrounding soft tissue, eventually forming an abscess. These potential spaces are usually empty, but can expand and form a pocket of pus when an infection drains into them.
Pericoronitis is inflammation of the soft tissues surrounding the crown of a partially erupted tooth, [1] including the gingiva (gums) and the dental follicle. [2] The soft tissue covering a partially erupted tooth is known as an operculum, an area which can be difficult to access with normal oral hygiene methods.
Today, however, the condition is often a hidden infection, due in part to not being visible on most dental X-rays unless there is a substantial loss of bone density. In addition, some schools of dentistry do not recognize "silent" OM of the jaws—occurrence of the condition without visually obvious manifestations—in their curriculum.
The final structure of the abscess is an abscess wall, or capsule, that is formed by the adjacent healthy cells in an attempt to keep the pus from infecting neighboring structures. However, such encapsulation tends to prevent immune cells from attacking bacteria in the pus, or from reaching the causative organism or foreign object. [24]
A general principle concerning dental abscesses is ubi pus, ibi evacua ("where there is pus, drain it"), which applies to any case where there is a collection of pus in the tissues (such as a periodontal abscess, pericoronal abscess, or apical abscess). The pus within the abscess is under pressure, and the surrounding tissues are deformed and ...