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Emergency!
Where to look first when a tooth gets hurt or something urgent happens.
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Emergency!
Swelling of the face, cheek or jaw that may be coming from a tooth. This page explains what it can mean and what a dentist may do. Facial swelling is not something to watch and wait on — contact your dentist, your child’s doctor, or your local emergency services.
Call your dentist or your local emergency number.
This section is waiting for reviewed guidance. Step-by-step advice for the first few minutes is being written by a pediatric dentist and has deliberately not been drafted here. Until it appears, contact your dentist or your local emergency services — they can tell you what to do for your child now.
This section is waiting for reviewed guidance too. Things to avoid are as important as things to do, and both belong with the dentist who is writing them rather than with this website.
Swelling in the face can arise from an infection that started in a tooth. The AAPD describes facial cellulitis as an acute infection involving inflammation spreading into the connective tissues of the head and neck, and notes that it may originate from a tooth or from something else entirely — the sinuses, lymph nodes, salivary glands or skin.
Because the cause is not something that can be worked out from the outside, and because swelling in this region is taken seriously, this page does not try to help you judge it. It is a situation to have assessed.
The AAPD states that prompt treatment of the source of the infection is imperative, and that management includes removing the source and establishing a pathway for drainage. It is explicit that antibiotics are indicated to halt local spread and control swelling but should not replace dealing with the source and providing drainage — which is why a prescription alone is usually not the end of it.
Assessment may involve imaging and laboratory testing to establish how far the infection extends. Where there are signs affecting the whole child rather than just the mouth, the AAPD describes immediate intervention and medical management as contributing to more rapid recovery.
Your cheek is puffy and sore. That means a grown-up needs to ring the dentist or the doctor now so someone can help you feel better quickly.
We were given antibiotics — is that enough on its own? Ask your dentist directly. The AAPD states that antibiotics are indicated to halt local spread and control swelling but should not replace source control and drainage. If the swelling worsens, or your child develops difficulty breathing or swallowing, or seems unwell in themselves, contact your local emergency services rather than waiting.
Treat it as needing to be assessed now rather than at the next convenient appointment. Contact your dentist, your child’s doctor, or your local emergency services. If your child has difficulty breathing or swallowing, or seems unwell in themselves, contact emergency services. This page cannot assess your child.
Not necessarily. The AAPD notes facial cellulitis may be of odontogenic origin — coming from a tooth — or non-odontogenic, arising from adjacent structures such as the sinuses, lymph nodes, salivary glands or skin, or from no identified cause. Establishing which is part of the assessment.
They are related but not identical. See Dental abscess. Either way the advice is the same: this is for a clinician to look at now.
Every clinical statement on this page comes from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry document below. The step-by-step guidance in the sections above is being written separately by a pediatric dentist and is not drawn from this source.
This website is for education only and does not replace care from your dentist, physician, or emergency services.