Many people at least once in their life have encountered the so-called flux. Nothing boded ill, but in the morning a baggy swelling of the cheek appeared. The most common cause of this trouble is an untreated carious tooth. But what if a flux suddenly appeared? What antibiotics to take? We will talk about which drugs are suitable for the treatment of flux and how best to use them, in this article.
About the disease
By the term "flux", dentists mean purulent periostitis, which is also called inflammation of the periosteum of the tooth. The occurrence of this disease is a consequence of a carious lesion, it indicates that the patient is inattentive to his health and constantly postpones visits to the dentist.
Symptoms
The gums with flux are always swollen, very reddened and painful. The swelling has a bright red color and baggy shape.
How does flux appear? If there is a purulent tooth in the oral cavity, then the exudate can get into the connective tissue - the pulp, which is rich in nerves and blood vessels. Exudate also enters the tissue of the periosteum.
Pain with periostitis can be given to the eye or ear, since pus that accumulates under the periosteum can cause irritation of the receptors.
Swollen cheek often makes the face asymmetric, which is why flux is so recognizable even for those who are far from medicine. Although there may not be any severe pains with periostitis, this is not a reason to postpone going to the doctor, because if you do not start treatment, then pus will continue to accumulate in the gums, and the consequences may be irreparable.
Without the use of antibiotics for tooth fluxes, a patient can get health and even life-threatening complications - phlegmon or purulent abscess.
The treatment process is always long and complex. The focus of inflammation undergoes mandatory sanitation: an abscess is opened, a tooth is removed, drainage is established, local preparations are introduced into the tooth cavity. Medications and rinses are also used.
Correctly selected antibiotics for tooth fluxes are mandatory drugs that help avoid relapses and the spread of infection throughout the body.
Reasons for the appearance
Flux usually appears quite suddenly, without any obvious warning symptoms, so many people wonder how it happened. Although there may not be any external manifestations, periostitis always has as its basis a long infection process. The flux itself appears as soon as the infection somehow gets into the gum pocket of the tooth.
The main causes of periostitis:
- the tooth root has a carious lesion;
- infection in the gingival pocket of the tooth during treatment (this may occur due to aseptic disorders);
- dental canals were poorly filled;
- the temporary filling was not removed and was in the oral cavity for too long;
- in case of mechanical damage to the tooth (for example, a crack due to trauma);
- tonsillitis, furunculosis, tonsillitis and other diseases that are the focus of infection in the oral cavity.
Are antibiotics mandatory for flux?
A patient with periostitis should first visit a dentist immediately. The doctor will deal with the identification of a diseased tooth and decide whether to save it. What antibiotics for tooth flux will the doctor prescribe? It depends on the causative agent of the infection.
Antibiotics are universal antibacterial drugs that penetrate all body tissues. The main thing that a doctor needs to do is to choose the right antibiotic taking into account the sensitivity of bacteria to it. A bacteriological examination can be performed, but most often the flux is caused by streptococcal or staphylococcal infection.
Antibiotics are prescribed by doctors as an independent treatment, and after the tooth is removed. With timely treatment to the dentist, periostitis can be completely avoided by using the same drugs. After the abscess is opened, antibacterial agents must be used, since otherwise the periostitis may be delayed or may develop again soon.
Will antibiotics be effective for adult tooth fluxes? It depends on several factors. Not only the drug itself is important, but also its dose, patient weight and age, intolerance to certain substances. Also important is the patient’s own immunity and how advanced the disease is. At the doctor’s appointment, the patient must inform whether in the last three months he has undergone treatment with drugs of this group, and if so, which ones.
What is most often prescribed?
So, what antibiotics do you drink with tooth flux? After the doctor examines the patient and conducts the necessary tests to identify the causative agent of the infection, specific drugs are prescribed. Most often these are Amoxicillin, Ampioks, Amoksilav, Linkomycin, Doxycycline, Ciprofloxacin. Each drug has its own characteristics of use, this must be taken into account, and the doctor chooses the dosage taking into account contraindications, other diseases and complications, the age and weight of the patient.
"Lincomycin"
What is the adult antibiotic for flux recommended by dentists? Doctors consider Lincomycin to be one of the best for eliminating infectious processes in the oral cavity. This "heavy artillery" has many side effects. Adults usually take it at a dosage of 500 mg three or four times a day. You can not take the medicine with food, usually prescribed the drug either two hours after eating, or half an hour before it. The course of treatment is at least seven days. It should be remembered that the course should not be interrupted (this applies to all antibiotics - and with flux, and in the presence of other pathologies, not necessarily of a dental nature). If kidney problems are observed, the doctor may reduce the dosage. The drug is not recommended for children under six years of age. With other medicines and vitamins, this drug should be used very carefully, since reactions can be serious.
Amoxicillin
This penicillin antibiotic has a wide spectrum of action, which makes it a suitable drug for the destruction of infections in the oral cavity and the prevention of their spread throughout the body. As a rule, dentists prescribe it for bacterial infection of bone and soft tissues. The dosage for adults is 500 mg three times a day, but no more than six grams per day. This drug can also be used to treat children. There are contraindications: it is not used for liver failure, allergies and dysbiosis. In order to avoid disturbance of salt metabolism, the drug must be washed down with plenty of water. The medicine has an analog called Flemoxin.
Amoxiclav
This drug is based on two active ingredients - clavulanic acid and amoxicillin. Another antibiotic, Augmentin, has the same composition. Due to the presence of clavulanic acid, the drug becomes stronger and has a wider spectrum of action. Amoxiclav often becomes a good medicine if conventional penicillins and cephalosporins are ineffective. It can provoke convulsions, therefore it is prohibited for use by patients with serious renal pathologies. There are no contraindications for children or the elderly.
These antibiotics for an adult with gum flux should be drunk three times a day at 125-500 mg (the doctor prescribes the exact dosage). However, it is worth knowing that diarrhea is a common side effect of a medicine.
Ampiox
Another drug, based on two active ingredients: oxacillin and ampicillin. It does not accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract, therefore, it has a minimal amount of side effects. The drug is often prescribed for mixed infections or in cases where prophylaxis of complications of purulent processes is necessary. Adults usually take 500-1000 mg three or four times a day. The maximum permitted dose is four grams per day. The exact dosage, as in many other cases, is usually prescribed by a doctor, taking into account the age, weight and severity of the infection.
Doxycycline
This drug is a group of tetracyclines with a wide spectrum of action. It copes with inflammation caused by anaerobic and aerobic bacteria. You should be aware that doctors, as a rule, do not recommend taking this drug in parallel with any others. If the patient is undergoing treatment with other medicines, it is necessary to notify the dentist. It should be reported which drugs you are taking, because, perhaps, they will be incompatible with Doxycycline!
Adults usually take this antibiotic with flux while eating, but a large amount of water is a necessary factor. You should be aware that most often antibiotics are not allowed to be drunk with anything other than pure still water, but this rule does not apply to Doxycycline. You can use milk or kefir. The patient begins the course with 100 mg of the drug once or twice a day. On the second and subsequent days of the course, 100 mg per day is taken. Age up to twelve years, as well as liver failure and leukopenia are contraindications to taking the drug.
"Digital"
This medicine is available in pharmacies and under the names Ciprolet and Ciprofloxacin. It refers to fluoroquinolones. The antibiotic copes well with bacterial infections and is often prescribed by patients with poor immunity. Usually prescribed from 250 to 500 mg twice a day. The course of treatment is from five to seven days. It is recommended to drink the medicine half an hour before a meal or a couple of hours after. With periostitis, this drug is also prescribed in the form of injections, in which case two injections per day of 200 mg are made. If the patient suffers from any kidney disease, the doctor most often reduces the dose.
Pathologies of the nervous system - this is another factor in which the drug is used with caution. During the course of treatment with this antibiotic, it is recommended to drink plenty of fluids and try not to stay in the sun. The drug can affect attention, so for a while it is better to limit potentially dangerous actions, such as driving a car. For children under sixteen years of age, this drug is not prescribed.
Treatment rules
Antibiotics are very powerful drugs that have many side effects, because together with the pathogenic flora they destroy beneficial bacteria, disrupting the body’s own microflora. To get more positive effect from treatment and minimize side effects, you must follow the instructions exactly. By breaking the rules (for example, changing the dose or frequency of admission, skipping taking the drug, self-prolonging or canceling the course), you can make these drugs not only useless, but also harmful. When starting therapy, several rules should be remembered.
1. Observe accuracy and timing
Maintain equal intervals between doses. This is done so that the concentration of the substance in the blood remains at the right level throughout the course of treatment. If the doctor prescribed an antibiotic three times a day, then the interval between doses will be eight hours. If twice a day - then twelve hours. It is important to observe this order and take the drug at the same time, and the form of the drug does not affect it. For example, if used twice a day, the antibiotic is taken at 8:00 and 20:00 every day. You can choose a time convenient for you and follow it, but do not forget about the interval of twelve hours.
2. Complete the full course
In most cases, the course of taking antibiotics is from five to seven days. In some cases, the doctor can increase it to ten or even fourteen days, but whether it is worth it or not, only a specialist can decide.
The course of admission should be complete. Often, patients, feeling better, decide that you can stop drinking harmful medicine, because then the immunity will cope on its own. In fact, doctors recommend drinking antibiotics for at least another two or three days after the onset of improvements.
Another important point is actually improving well-being. If it does not occur within seventy-two hours after the start of therapy, it is necessary to inform the doctor. He will adjust the course, increase the dosage or even prescribe another drug. Your bacteria may be resistant to this antibiotic.
3. Do not adjust the dose yourself
Some antibiotics have a large number of side effects, but people who reduce the dose of the drug, believing that in this way they will harm their health less, are wrong. The whole point of this medicine is to destroy the bacteria that cause the infection. With insufficient concentration of the drug, bacteria can even develop immunity to this drug, after which the patient will have to be treated with much stronger antibiotics.
Increasing the dose is also unacceptable - this can lead to an overdose and the appearance of many side effects.
4. Follow the features of the reception
When appointing a doctor, he most often gives recommendations on taking antibiotics for gum flux, however you can find this information in the instructions. It necessarily indicates how the medication depends on the meal. Some antibiotics are taken with meals, some before or after. Doctors advise to drink the medicine with a large amount of still water.
Unless otherwise indicated in the instructions, do not use any drinks other than water. It is unacceptable to drink the antibiotic with juice, coffee or tea, kefir or other sour-milk products. However, if your drug is taken with food, then this restriction is usually removed. The fact is that medications intended for fasting can reduce their effect if you drink it with juice and force the stomach to digest nutrients.
5. Diet
Whatever antibiotics you have for flux, this is a serious test for the body. The digestive organs are most affected, the intestinal microflora is destroyed. It is unacceptable to follow a diet for weight loss during treatment, but you need to adjust your usual diet. Exclude the consumption of canned foods, fatty and fried foods, alcohol, and sour fruits at least for the duration of the course. Include more vegetables, sweet fruits, and pure still water in your diet. Eat steamed meat and cereal. It is best to adhere to this diet for a while after completing the course of treatment.
6. Minimize side effects
One of the main side effects of antibiotics is the destruction of the microflora of the gastrointestinal tract. This causes such frequent problems as diarrhea, constipation and dysbiosis, pain in the intestines and stomach, heartburn, bloating.
To prevent these complications, maintain your intestines, “add” beneficial bacteria to the body by taking other drugs in parallel: Linex, Bifiform, Normoflorin, Lactofiltrum, Enterozhermina, Simbiter, etc. In the pauses between antibiotic doses, use fermented milk products.