A hole in the gum near the tooth - what is it? In medicine, this condition is called a dental fistula, which is a through hole in the gum or in the upper palate, connecting the inflammation in the root of the tooth with the oral cavity. Education can occur in any person, regardless of age, gender and he alth status. In most cases, it appears due to incompletely treated dental disease or due to the incompetence of the attending dentist, who incorrectly performed the treatment, removal or implantation.
Causes of occurrence
A hole in the gum near the tooth - what is it and why does it appear? The main reason for the appearance of such a formation in the gum area is the beginning of the spread of an acute inflammatory process in the apex of the tooth root.
If you do not start to treat the disease in time, then the rapid destruction of soft and bone tissues will soon begin, which will inevitably lead to the appearance of a fistulous canal connecting the focus of inflammation with the oral cavity. The inflammatory process takes place against the background of the dischargea large amount of blood and pus that exits through the fistula into the human oral cavity. You can find a fistula next to an aching tooth - this is the main feature of the disease.
If a hole has formed on the gums near the tooth, then the following causes of damage should be considered in more detail:
- pulpitis or caries;
- poorly sealed canal;
- cyst formation;
- granular periodontitis;
- difficulty cutting wisdom teeth;
- poor-quality treatment at the dentist, errors during implantation or removal.
As a result of caries
Most often, a hole in the gum appears when the patient's caries was not fully cured or not treated at all at the right time. After some time, caries begins to quickly spread not only to the outer part of the tooth, but also provokes pulpitis (inflammatory process). If you do not pay attention to this condition and do not start effective treatment, then the pulpitis will worsen and cause periodontitis. The inflammatory process at this time will reach the very base of the root and soft tissues.
At the site of the formed fistula, an acute inflammatory process begins with the release of a large amount of blood and pus. Purulent inflammation of the root apex is otherwise called periodontal abscess. Over time, the tissues are deformed, a noticeable hole is formed in the area between the teeth and the gum, through which the pus passes into the oral cavity.
Unfilled channels
In thiscase, a hole in the gum above the teeth appears by mistake of the dentist himself, who treated the patient. Due to the fact that the doctor did not completely close the canal with filling material, did not close the root itself, left empty spaces, extensive inflammation begins in the canal. Over time, its size only increases, which leads to damage to nearby tissues and the appearance of a hole in the gum.
The appearance of a cyst
The main danger of a cyst is that the patient does not know about it for a long time. In this case, all clinical symptoms occur in a latent form or manifest themselves very weakly. When exposed to a certain negative factor (overcooling of the body, deterioration of the immune system), the process of inflammation begins in the cyst, an infection occurs, a purulent abscess that spreads to nearby tissues. If you do not start complex treatment, the abscess progresses rapidly and leads to the formation of a fistula.
Granulating periodontitis
Disease granulating periodontitis is considered very dangerous, especially in a complicated and neglected form. In case of complication, bone and soft tissues in the oral cavity are quickly deformed.
Harmful granulomas lead to the death of he althy cells, the inflammatory process progresses rapidly and passes to adjacent tissues. A large accumulation of pus and blood needs to go out, which leads to the formation of a through hole between the gum and the tooth.
Problems during wisdom teething
A hole in the gum near the wisdom tooth is often accompanied by the appearance ofunpleasant symptoms and the formation of fistulas in the oral cavity. Often, teething in patients begins either too late, or the tooth climbs in the wrong direction.
The acute process of inflammation begins, and the gum increases in size. The diseased area is additionally damaged by pieces of food, teeth when biting, which as a result leads to infections and an increase in the inflammatory process. After some time, the inflammation intensifies, reaches the root of the tooth and provokes the formation of a fistula. A photo of a hole in the gum near the wisdom tooth is presented below.
Tooth root perforation
Root perforation is a non-physiological hole that occurs in most cases by mistake of the dentist. During treatment, the doctor makes an extra hole in the patient's mouth, and then forgets to close it with a special medical material. Most often, errors of this nature occur when filling canals or inserting pins during prosthetics.
Symptoms of the inflammatory process in the hole made do not appear immediately, but become more acute over time and provoke a periodontal abscess leading to the formation of a fistula.
Signs of a fistula
The first signs of the inflammatory process occur even before the formation of the through hole itself. If the fistula has already arisen, then pus and blood can freely pass through the fistulous canal, which means that they do not put pressure on the gum. In this case, it is the through hole between the tooth and the gum and various discharges fromhim and become the main signs of malaise. The hole can be easily distinguished from any other formation if you carefully examine several photos with a hole in the gum near the tooth.
Soft tissues in which the fistula is actively progressing may not cause pain, but the tooth itself (which provoked the hole) will hurt when eating or biting. The main symptoms of a lesion in the early stages include:
- sharp and aching toothache;
- the appearance of pronounced edema, severe redness, inflammation;
- sometimes the body temperature rises a lot.
Sometimes a thin outer tissue appears around the fistulous opening, in other words a pouch. In the photo, a fistula of this type will be presented in the form of a large abscess or callus. The main signs of a fistula with an outer sheath include:
- strong mobility of one or several teeth at once;
- pain that gets worse when eating;
- fever;
- pus accumulates in the sac (sometimes with blood), and inflammation and redness are clearly visible next to it.
Medication treatment
If a hole has appeared in the gum, then it will be most effective to get rid of it with the help of medicines. The dentist can prescribe effective medicines after the diagnosis. He will help to identify the cause of the formation of a fistula, assess the situation and prescribe a comprehensive treatment (maybe the tooth will have to be completely removed). The main goal of treatment is to eliminate the cause that provoked the ailment, otherwise the abscess will only get bigger.
The choice of treatment method will directly depend on the cause of the disease:
- Periodontitis, caries and pulpitis. The dentist will treat caries and its complications, clean the root canals, and also introduce a medical solution that will get rid of the infection. At the end of the procedure, the dentist will place a filling on the affected tooth.
- Poorly sealed root canals. In this case, the doctor will first have to remove the old filling and clean all the channels. After closing the tooth with a drug that will quickly eliminate the infection and pathogenic organisms. As soon as all the root canals are restored, the doctor will refill.
- The presence of a cyst can be detected by X-ray. You can get rid of it only by an operation in which all diseased tissues are removed and drugs are injected into the canal.
- Wisdom teeth are removed. In most cases, they do not have time to germinate completely, so it is quite easy for the doctor to deal with such a problem.
- If a through hole in the tissues appeared as a result of prosthetics and the installation of a crown, then its treatment may be particularly difficult. To begin with, the doctor will need to get to the inflammatory process itself through the tooth, cleaning the crown and removing the pin. The crown and pin will then have to be replaced with new ones, which will require additional financial costs. Most often in this situationdentists prescribe an operation and treat the gum with an incision.
Treatment should be aimed not only at combating the main cause, but also at eliminating the fistulous opening itself. For this, the patient is prescribed:
- a course of antibiotics to help prevent the infection from pus from spreading throughout the patient's body;
- treatment of the lesion with drugs;
- special medical pastes and mouth rinses that can be purchased at any pharmacy;
- gargling with saline to eliminate infection and tighten the hole.
What folk recipes can I use?
Traditional medicine is rich in a variety of effective ways to combat diseases of a different nature. In the presence of a fistula, traditional medicine recipes will not be able to completely eliminate the hole, but will significantly speed up the recovery process. The most common and effective recipes include:
- Infusions of herbs. St. John's wort, calendula and chamomile are taken in equal amounts (you can take one herb) - 40 grams - and pour 400 ml of hot water. Insist 2 hours, filter. It is recommended to wash the inflamed areas with infusion or use it for rinsing 2-3 times a day.
- 10 well crushed shilajit tablets are mixed with a chopped onion and a tablespoon of olive oil. The finished mixture is carefully laid out on a clean bandage, folded in several layers, and placed in the form of an application oninflamed area. The procedure is repeated 3 times a day and lasts 5 minutes. Before it is carried out, the sore gum should be treated with disinfectants.
- Mouthwash. Add a teaspoon of s alt and a few drops of iodine to a glass of water. Rinsing is carried out every day every two hours. The procedure is effective and kills all pathogenic microflora at the site of inflammation.
Early treatment
A fistulous opening in a child's mouth may appear as a result of teething, caries, progression of a chronic disease in the mouth.
After the appearance of any symptoms of malaise in a child, parents are advised not to delay and immediately seek help from a pediatric dentist. The doctor will conduct a diagnosis and external examination of the milk teeth, which will help determine the exact cause of the worsened condition.
Treatment of the cause of inflammation is carried out in exactly the same way as in adults. To speed up recovery and enhance the effectiveness of the fight against ailments, the doctor will prescribe all the necessary medicines for home use.
