Waking up with a swollen cheek or jaw is frightening, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on what is behind it. Some swelling can wait until morning. Some of it needs attention within hours. This page is written so you can tell which one you are looking at.
If swelling is spreading toward your eye or down your neck, or you are having any difficulty breathing or swallowing, go to an emergency room now. Do not wait for a dental appointment.
Call Us Today If You Notice Any of These
- Swelling with a fever
- Pain that over the counter medication is no longer controlling
- A bad taste, or drainage of pus into the mouth
- Swelling that has grown noticeably since yesterday
- A tooth that has become tender to bite on and is now visibly loose
Any one of these suggests infection rather than irritation, and infections in the mouth do not resolve on their own. They wait, and then they move. We keep room in the schedule every day for exactly this, and all new patients are seen same day.
What Usually Causes It
An abscess is the most common cause we see. Bacteria reach the nerve inside a tooth or the tissue around its root, the body walls the infection off, and pressure builds. That pressure is the throbbing, and the swelling is the body responding to it.
Advanced gum disease produces a similar picture around the gum rather than the root. Trauma is a third cause, and it is usually obvious, though a tooth injured in a fall or a game can swell a day or two later rather than immediately. Reactions to a food or medication can also swell the face, and those tend to arrive fast and are not tied to a single sore tooth.
What Not to Do While You Wait
- Do not apply heat. Warmth encourages an infection to spread. Use a cold compress on the outside of the cheek instead.
- Do not place an aspirin against the gum. It burns the tissue and does nothing for the tooth.
- Do not try to drain it yourself.
- Do not stop taking an antibiotic early if you have been prescribed one.
What Happens When You Get Here
We find the source, get you comfortable, and relieve the pressure. That usually means treating the tooth itself, most often with root canal treatment where the tooth can be saved, or removal where it cannot. Antibiotics alone are a holding measure, not a fix, because they do not reach the dead tissue inside the tooth.
You do not need to arrive with a diagnosis. Call and describe what you are seeing, and we will tell you whether to come in today. Our emergency dentistry page has the details.