Hi,

I'm a newby here and after much 'googling' I couldn't find my answer so stumbled across this forum.

Here's my story/question:

6 days ago I had an upper molar extracted due to a nasty abscess that had formed at the root, the tooth was broken & was re-built about 5 years ago but since then an infection had gotten in & got pretty set in there, it could be felt as a pea sized lump in my gum above my tooth with a fistula poking through. Anyway, after a lengthly extraction (not pleasant!) the wound seems to be settling down and healing well, however, I have finished the prescribed course of antibiotics (amoxicillin) and the abscess still seems to be there just as big but even more sore from all the poking around. My dentist said that it would just "drain away by itself" but almost a week in it hasn't improved at all & I can feel it still there even more prominent than ever. I guess my question is, how long does it normally take for an abscess to go away after the offending tooth has been removed? and when should I be going back to my dentist to get him to have another look at it?

Apologies for rambling & Thanks for your patience!