As if being in jail wasn't a miserable enough experience, Teen Mom Amber Portwood is apparently dealing with one of the most miserable physical maladies ever: An abscess in her mouth that's grown "so big and swollen that her whole jaw is puffed out," according to her brother Shawn. "Her mouth has become infected and the pain is making her so sick that she can’t sleep, and hasn’t eaten a thing in three days."
YOWCH. What's even worse is how long Portwood has to wait for treatment, supposedly: six weeks! "It needs to be down now. If the infection gets in her bloodstream, it can be life-threatening," says Shawn. Granted, I'm not sure how much of this is true or if Amber Portwood's brother is in fact an expert on dental disasters, but if Portwood really does have a very angry and painful tooth abscess -- Shawn is right about the life-threatening thing!
AND the pain. I can personally vouch for that one (unfortunately). Worried you might have a tooth abscess of your own? Wondering what a tooth abscess even is and/or why people get them?
Here's what you need to know (trust me, you don't want to learn this stuff the hard way!):
The Mayo Clinic defines a tooth abscess as "a collection of pus that's caused by a bacterial infection in the inner part of your tooth." Lovely, eh? These nasty infections are usually the result of either an untreated cavity or a crack that allows bacteria into the tooth.
Symptoms include:
Severe, persistent, throbbing toothache (and by "severe" I mean it hurts so much you wish somebody would knock you out with a hammer -- anything to make the pain go away!!!)
Extreme sensitivity to pressure from biting or chewing and/or hot and cold temperatures (and by "extreme" I mean any attempts to eat food will result in howls of agony)
High fever; tender, swollen lymph nodes under your jaw or in your neck; swelling in your face (in my case, the right side of my jaw puffed up to about five times the size of my left)
Really gross smell/taste in your mouth (I don't even want to remember)
If you have any of these symptoms, go straight to the dentist. Right now! You can even go to the emergency room of your nearest hospital! Because if that horrid awful yuck spreads, it could turn into sepsis, a widespread and potentially fatal infection. The abscess will need to be drained, and you might need a root canal. You might even need to get your tooth pulled (but I promise you won't care at that point).
The moral of the story, of course, is BRUSH AND FLOSS! BRUSH AND FLOSS! Or, in Portwood's case, BRUSH AND FLOSS AND DON'T VIOLATE THE TERMS OF YOUR PROBATION!
Have you ever had a tooth abscess?
Image via MTV
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Comments 28
My daughter had an abcess in '06 and it put her in the hospital for 3 days w/104 temp.,they told me if I hadn't of brought her in when I did, she would of died...same thing happened to my older sister... so if this is true, and if she hasn't gotten care for it, she could die but as my husband's ex sister n law works as a correctional officer here in TX, Amber is getting the help she needs
I've never had a tooth abscess, but I've had one near my tailbone, and it is one of the most painful things I've dealt with in my life. At least when you have surgery they put you out and give you pain medicine. Imagine being able to feel every cut of the scalpel because lidocaine doesn't work on infected tissue. I can't believe they would make her wait six weeks. She needs to find another dentist now.
Okay, I don't follow teen mom and didn't realize she was in jail. She should be able to complain to some official that she is not getting needed medical treatment.
First off, to the person who said that he got treated bad in jail and knows people who do... Are we suppose to feel bad about that? If going to jail was a trip to the store, do you think people would even fear it? Think about this. People go to jail and or prison and don't have to work for a living. Yeah they may lose their sanity because their stuck in their cells all day but I've also heard that they get their college paid for and better treatment when they get out then an average person would get because they want them to be on the right path. Obviously if you end up in there, you pay the consequences. If they got treated great in there, every person on the streets would be criminals just to end up in there because nowadays, life kinda sucks. People don't have homes to live in and food to eat, their lucky they get that!