What are Incision and Drainage?

Incision and drainage procedures are done for abscesses. They’re done regardless of where an abscess is. At Designer Smiles in Coral Springs, FL, we perform these procedures for oral and dental abscesses, but you can expect incision and drainage for an abscess anywhere in the body like the fingers, breasts, or parotid.

These procedures are relatively simple, but they may need some precautions. If you think you might have an abscess in your mouth, you should urgently visit us at Designer Smiles so that we can treat it.

Do You Have an Abscess?

An abscess is a localized collection of pus under tension, so it’s a localized infection. Abscesses can be very painful and are associated with throbbing pain. They can make moving your mouth painful. Since abscesses are inflamed, you’ll probably notice fever and tenderness over the affected area. You might also have a fever.

The reason an abscess hurts is that it’s pus under tension. Ultimately, an abscess will rupture if it’s not incised and drained by a medical professional. We don’t like to wait until this happens because it’s always better for us to properly incise and clean the area, especially in the oral cavity.

Abscess Treatment Options

In its earliest stages, we can sometimes treat a small abscess or infection with antibiotics. A larger abscess, however, will need to be incised. It’s also likely that we’ll prescribe some antibiotics for you to take.

We make an incision in the abscess and then allow it to drain all the pus. That’ll drastically improve the pain. If all of the pus is present in a single pocket, it’ll be easier to drain. More complex abscesses that have several pockets can take a little more time as we’ll have to open and drain all the pockets.

Incision and drainage procedures don’t usually take long.

As we mentioned earlier, incision and drainage procedures aren’t complicated. We’ve dealt with oral abscesses before and have the experience and skills to incise and drain them. The important thing is for you to visit a dentist when you think you might have an abscess. Set an appointment with our Coral Springs Dentist today!