Introduction
Inflammation in the mouth is in most cases extremely painful and considerably disturbs eating and drinking. It can have many different causes and manifest itself in different clinical pictures.
Inflammations of the oral mucosa
Aphtae are small roundish mucous membrane erosions (mucous membrane injuries) on the oral mucosa, but they can also occur on the tongue. The defects, which look like ulcers, have a whitish or yellowish surface with a bright red edge. This typical appearance makes diagnosis easy.
Aphtae in the mouth are extremely painful, especially when acids are present. Bubbles in the mouth can occur on the lip, tongue or cheek mucosa. Especially in children, vesicles can form in the mouth during a fever episode.
Bubbles in the mouth can also occur as a result of burns, herpes or as aphthae. They are usually extremely painful, but heal within a few days. Mouth rot (also known as gingivostomatitis herpetica) is an inflammatory change of the oral mucosa caused by a herpes simplex virus infection.
It usually occurs in children within the first 3 years of life and is extremely painful. However, adults can also be affected. Inflammation on the cheek can either originate from the inside of the oral cavity or it can be caused from the outside.
If you bite your cheek or if sharp edges of a defective crown or prosthesis irritate the cheek mucous membrane, a painful inflammation develops at this point. But also an inflammation of the excretory duct of the parotid gland radiates into the cheek. Of the three large salivary glands, only the largest gland, the parotid gland, is not located in the oral cavity. If the glandular tissue or one of the excretory ducts becomes inflamed, dry mouth, pain and difficulty chewing and/or swallowing may occur. In the case of a purulent salivary gland inflammation, taste disorders may occur because the pus empties into the mouth.
Inflammations on and around the tooth
When a tooth has been extracted, a complicated wound remains at first. Bone, gums and soft tissue must regenerate in order for the wound to close. The blood clot remaining in the alveolus (the tooth socket) is important for complication-free wound healing.
Without the blood cells, the wound does not heal, it dries out so that only the bone cavity remains and becomes inflamed. The subsequent inflammation of the bone is extremely painful and can spread over the entire jaw. In principle, the same rules apply to wound healing after wisdom tooth removal as for other extracted teeth.
However, because wisdom teeth are usually half or fully embedded in the bone, a more complex operation is necessary, which means that the wound area is larger. As a result, the wound can become infected and inflamed more quickly. The sutures in particular form dirt niches for food residue and bacteria.
Aftercare and check-up appointments allow the dentist to monitor the wound healing and intervene in time if necessary. Because apicoectomy is a surgical procedure, it also involves various risks, just like any other operation. These include, for example, renewed inflammation due to incomplete removal of inflammation foci or inflammation of the wound area due to wound healing disorders.
Sometimes pus is formed, which encapsulates itself in the tissue to protect the rest of the organism from the spreading inflammation. This process is usually very painful and is called abscess. In this case an antibiotic usually has to be taken.
