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The pain is often less of a problem than a visit to the dentist, but never let a phobia allow you to avoid the treatment of an abscessed tooth says a London dentist. The first thing to tell you is that an abscessed tooth is a serious problem; it is caused by a serious infection and one that is complex to deal with in the first instance. The first thing that your dentist will do is to give you antibiotics to bring down the infection, and fight the bacterium that is causing the abscess. This can take a week or longer to treat, after that they will be able to see the tooth and find the source of the infection. This can be anything from a poor oral hygiene routine, to trapped food debris that has become infected through contact with bad bacteria. Damaged gum tissue is usually a way in for infections, and an abscess is a bad infection to get as it can more often than not leave active bacteria behind. This can flare up again from time to time and the result can be weeks of pain, and the eventual loss of the tooth. A root canal treatment can solve the problem if the infection has worked its way into the inner chamber of the tooth, this involves drilling out the inner part of the tooth, scraping the bacteria out with any damaged nerve ends, treating the area with a light source to kill off any bacteria hiding in there, and then filling the hole with an anti-bacterial material. The most important thing to remember is that when that infection starts to irritate you, you need to go and see the dentist straight away; early treatment will leave you with not just a lot less pain, but the tooth back in pristine condition.