What to do if your mouth hurts and you can't open your mouth

Regardless of whether we pay attention to oral hygiene or not, we will suffer from some oral diseases in our lives to a greater or lesser extent. The most common one may be swollen and painful gums, and a more serious one may be oral pain that makes it difficult to open the mouth. Generally speaking, if you experience oral pain and cannot open your mouth, it is most likely caused by pericoronitis. Therefore, once we encounter this disease, we need timely treatment in order not to affect our daily diet.

Judging from the symptoms, pericoronitis may also be caused by the presence of specific factors of impaction, resulting in swelling, pain and limited mouth opening. It is best to go to the oral department of the hospital for a check-up. You can consider local cleaning and local medication, combined with systemic medication for treatment.

According to clinical examination, there are third molars, which can be confirmed by dental X-rays. Based on the clinical manifestations, it is not difficult to make a diagnosis. Sometimes there is repeated infection, and a fistula is formed in the gingival-buccal groove of the mandibular first molar in the oral vestibule. This is caused by the invasion of the subperiosteal abscess to the front edge of the masseter muscle with weak resistance during acute inflammation. At this time, care should be taken not to misdiagnose it as an infection of the mandibular first molar.

In the early stage of treatment of pericoronitis, local bacterial infection should be controlled. Local treatment is very important. The gingival pockets can be rinsed with 3% hydrogen peroxide or 1:5000 potassium permanganate solution, and then iodine glycerin or Kangfuxin solution can be applied. Patients can be given gargles to rinse their mouths several times a day. Maintain oral hygiene. In addition, antibiotic treatment is given. Since the common pathogen is Staphylococcus aureus, anti-Staphylococcus aureus antibiotics should be used.

If the abscess is localized, it should be incised and drained under local anesthesia.

After the inflammation is eliminated, the pathogenic tooth should be extracted. If there is a fistula that does not heal for a long time, the granulation tissue inside the fistula must be scraped off at the same time as the tooth is extracted. If the molars are in a normal position and there are opposing teeth, the gingival flap can be removed to eliminate the blind pocket. However, this method is sometimes not effective, and for patients with recurrent disease, the affected teeth still need to be extracted.

Three major preventive measures for pericoronitis

The treatment of pericoronitis is mainly to enhance the patient's body resistance, control infection, and promote the dissipation of inflammation. After the acute phase, surgical treatment of the diseased tooth should be considered to prevent recurrence.

1. Systemic treatment

Depending on the condition, choose antibiotics or Chinese herbal medicines that clear heat and detoxify for internal use for treatment.

2. Treatment of the causative tooth

After the acute inflammation subsides, the diseased tooth should be further treated to prevent recurrence. If the teeth are in the correct position, can erupt normally, and have opposing teeth to perform chewing function, a pericoronal gingival flap wedge resection can be performed. Otherwise it should be removed.

3. Local treatment

The prevention and treatment measures for pericoronitis also include local treatment of wisdom tooth pericoronitis, which is very important. The blind bag can be flushed with 1-3% hydrogen peroxide solution, saline or other sterile solution every day, and then 3% iodine glycerol can be injected. Also give gargle with compound borax solution or furacillin solution several times a day. In the early stages, local physical therapy and external application of Chinese herbal medicine can also be used to help absorb inflammation. Acupuncture therapy can relieve pain and improve mouth opening. If abscess cavity is formed, it can be incised and drained.